Grants and Contributions

This 42-month cost-sharing project aims to increase the economic security and prosperity of women in Canada, particularly among those from equity-deserving groups. The LEAP Pecaut Centre for Social Impact (LEAP) will define, select, and scale innovative, high-impact programs across a cohort of not-for-profit Canadian organizations working to address the systemic barriers to women’s economic well-being. Programs and services will address one or more of the key barriers to women’s economic well-being: basic needs and social supports, education and training, the opportunity cost of caregiving, and workforce opportunity.

LEAP has secured financial and in-kind commitments from private sector donors in the amount of $3.425M, for a total project budget of $6.925M.

The project will define, select, and scale programs up to 4x-10x that address key barriers to economic security through investing in a cohort of eight (8) social ventures focused on women’s economic well-being. LEAP will provide scaling strategy and execution support together with pro-bono professional services from best-in-class private sector partnerships. The project will also distribute funding in support of targeted scaling strategies across the cohort, measure the impact of the program against LEAP’s Impact Framework, and disseminate knowledge across public, private, and social sectors.

As a result of LEAP’s model to scale social impact, women’s economic security and prosperity will increase, organizations will become more sustainable, and the collaboration between organizations and private sector will be strengthened. This initiative will contribute to a more equitable and resilient future by strengthening and modernizing organizations across Canada.

The first supplemental funding will allow for a deepening of the impact of the project through two additional activities focused on strengthening systemic change measurement across the cohort, and on better understanding potential innovative program models among the cohort.

The second supplemental funding will further strengthen the capacity of participating organizations to measure impact across the cohort, including through the adoption of technology infrastructure for data management.

Through this 30-month project, Living in Community Society will scale its community development model, strengthening the gender-based violence (GBV) sector by addressing how sex workers across British Columbia experience GBV. It will scale deep to impact the root causes of violence, scale up to impact laws and policy, and scale out to reach greater numbers of sex workers and sex-worker serving organizations, prioritizing BIPOC, disabled, im/migrant, and rural and remote women and non-binary sex workers. It will address the gender-based violence that sex workers experience and their needs for safe supports and an end to stigma. To do so, the project will create and strengthen a provincial convening model of key stakeholders, impact provincial laws and policy to address the roots of violence, and track and measure the project’s impacts. Living in Community Society will publish reports and updates via its website and social media regularly to share the promising practice with others so they may replicate it or expand upon it and share information with Women and Gender Equality Canada GBV Knowledge Centre.

Through this 30-month project, Woman Abuse Council of Toronto will develop and put in place a model of coordinated support for survivors of economic abuse to strengthen the GBV sector, based on the Domestic and Economic Abuse Project (DEAP) model, already successfully piloted in the UK. It will address a gap in the capacity and financial services of one urban and one rural community to help them prevent and respond to economic abuse. To do so, the project will include establishing partnerships in these two community pilot sites, developing and adapting a model based on the DEAP model to address the needs of the diverse populations in Ontario, and implementing the program in these pilot sites. An external evaluator will measure and assess the impact of the promising practice. Woman Abuse Council of Toronto will document the knowledge gained through the project and organize webinars and other outreach events with relevant communities, and advocate for system and policy change to share information on the promising practice with others so that they may replicate it or expand upon it.

Through this 30-month project, Sher Vancouver LGBTQ Friends Society will build stronger capacity of queer community organizations and networks to advance queer equality. It will address how the organization develops financial sustainability. The project will include developing and putting in place HR processes and systems to hire grants committee members, creating a grants committee that will research, learn and develop resources on how to find and write funding proposals and how to develop other financial sustainability options and funding partnerships with the private sector, creating two strategic plans for the committee, gathering feedback, evaluating and updating the resources, and developing an online resource library to train new committee members and the Sher Vancouver team.

Through this 30-month project, Interval House of Hamilton will scale the MentorAction program to strengthen the GBV sector. It will address gaps in gender-based violence prevention training in the male-dominated skilled trades sector across Ontario. To do so, the project will deliver GBV prevention training within workplaces and establish training networks throughout skills and trades unions in Ontario. Interval House of Hamilton will author blogs and articles to be published in participating companies’ and unions’ newsletters to share information on the promising practice with others so that they may replicate it or expand upon it.

The supplemental funding will be used to enable Interval House of Hamilton, in partnership with White Ribbon Campaign, to develop a new application and supporting webpage that embed violence prevention education into workplace safety discussions within the male-dominated skilled trades sector, strengthening norms of respect and accountability. The project will include an external evaluation to assess the impact of the promising practices.

Through this 30-month project, the Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services (AASAS) will develop and put in place an online third-party system for reporting sexual assault and abuse in Alberta to strengthen the GBV sector. It will address gaps in access to justice for sexual assault survivors, particularly those who are most vulnerable, reluctant to report to the police, and face significant barriers when seeking justice. Additionally, prevalence data will be collected to identify patterns and trends and inform future practice. To do so, the project will engage key provincial stakeholders, including survivors, police and court professionals, and representatives from sexual assault centres and agencies serving marginalized and at-risk individuals. Together, they will collaboratively guide the development, testing, implementation, and promotion of the 24/7 online third party reporting program, which will be designed with a focus on preserving survivor agency, choice, and control. An external evaluator will measure and assess the impact of the promising practice. AASAS will create and host a series of webinars to share information on the promising practice with others so that they may replicate it or expand upon it.