North American Partnership for Environmental Community Action

The applying organization must be located in Canada, Mexico or the United States and project implementation must take place within North America (including all territories), whether in the same country where the organization is located or in a different North American country, or whether the project is a transboundary effort in Canada and/or Mexico and/or the United States.

The following entities are eligible to apply:

• Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), environmental groups and community-based associations that are incorporated as nonprofit organizations;
• Tribal nations, Indigenous governments, councils and organizations; and
• Universities, academic and public research institutions.

The following entities are not eligible to apply:

• Businesses;
• Private individuals; and
• Municipal, provincial/state, territorial and federal governments.

However, proposals from qualified organizations that partner with the private sector or with local government entities are eligible, as long as a major part of the project resources and benefits go toward the participating community/ies.

The CEC cannot accept proposals from applicants:

• Residing outside of North America and for projects implemented outside the North American region.
• Currently under another CEC grant agreement (EJ4Climate or NAPECA).
• Currently receiving or applying for funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) for the same project.
• Whose employee, officer or any other member of the applicant’s contractors or delegated authority is also:
• A present or past official (within the past year¹) of an Agreement for Environmental Cooperation (ECA) Party (i.e., the Government of Canada, the Government of the United States of America or the Government of the United Mexican States);
• A present or past official (within the past year) of the CEC Secretariat;
• A present or past member (within the past year) of the CEC Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC);
• A present or past member (within the past year) of the domestic advisory committees; or
• An immediate family² member of any of the above.

(For greater clarity, the applicant’s contractors or delegated authority include fiscal sponsors or any other entity with financial or decision-making control over the applicant.)

For more details, please refer to the Call for Proposals.

Projects must have a duration of 12 to 24 months. The start and end dates indicated in your proposal must be within the range specified in the Call for Proposals.

The applying organization must be located in Canada, Mexico or the United States and project implementation must take place within North America (including all territories), whether in the same country where the organization is located or in a different North American country, or whether the project is a transboundary effort in Canada and/or Mexico and/or the United States.

Each organization can submit a maximum of one proposal per country. This means you can apply for funding for up to three projects, as long as each project is located in one of the three countries.

The following categories of projects and activities are not eligible for funding:

• Activities for which the local, state/provincial or federal government is responsible (e.g., construction of roads, bridges, sewage treatment plants);
• Purchase of motor vehicles, property, or land;
• Renovations;
• Pursuing legal action;
• Projects dedicated exclusively to planning;
• Projects meant only to beautify an area;
• Lobbying or advocacy;
• Annual or regular organizational events/campaigns;
• Expenses to attend general conferences; and
• Projects implemented outside the territory of the three ECA member countries.

Remember that your project must be more than a paper exercise. Project activities must conclude in tangible and measurable results that will be achieved at the community level within the project timeframe.

You can submit proposals for up to $150,000 Canadian dollars. There is no minimum grant amount established.

Please use the provided worksheet template (available at the bottom of this webpage and on the online application form) to detail the total budget requested and its breakdown in Canadian dollars. Make sure to include a thorough and clear budget breakdown to help the selection committee better understand your proposal and how you intend to use the grant funds. Budget breakdown in Mexican pesos or US dollars will not be accepted.

The budget may cover the following expenses:

• Salaries and benefits;
• Equipment and supplies;
• Travel (note: the CEC will not fund travel expenses that exceed 15% of the total grant amount);
• Consultant services (if applicable);
• Overhead (note: the CEC will not fund overhead and administration expenses, such as rent, telephone, fax, and photocopies, that exceed 15% of the total grant amount); and
• Other costs.

There is no limit on the amount requested for each of the categories, except for the travel and overhead limits. However, keep in mind that the selection committee will pay attention to your budget items to ensure that the resources allocated by the grant program meaningfully impact and/or remain in the community/ies involved in the project as much as possible.

Please note that having counterpart funding is not required. Proof of other financial support is optional; however, if applicable, we encourage you to detail other financial support to your project (confirmed or not) in your application form in the appropriate section.

Proposals must be submitted electronically through the online application portal, available at  https://www.grantinterface.ca/Process/Apply?urlkey=cec. To submit a proposal, you need to create an account and complete the online form. If you are having difficulties creating an account or completing the online form, please contact us at napeca@cec.org.

Please note that the forms are available in English, French and Spanish, allowing you to answer the questions in your preferred language.

Include as many relevant details as possible in your proposal to ensure clarity. However, be concise and avoid repetition, as you will be limited by the number of characters allowed.

The portal allows you to create and save drafts of your proposal, enabling you to work on it and return later.

Be sure to submit your proposal on time. Please verify the deadline time in your current time zone to avoid any confusion. After submission, a confirmation email will be sent to your provided email address. If you do not receive it, please check your junk or spam folder.

Each organization can submit a maximum of one proposal per country. This means you can apply for funding for up to three projects, as long as each project is taking place in a different country.

A letter of support is required only if the applicant organization is not part of the local or Indigenous community(ies) where the project activities will take place.

In this case, you should provide a letter from an authorized representative or your main point of contact within the community. This letter should explain how, as an external partner, you have been involved with the community over time and how you will contribute to or promote the long-term emancipation of the community.

While not mandatory for all applicants, letters of support are highly encouraged, as they can strengthen your proposal.

No, the deadline is fixed. The online portal will close immediately after the deadline, and you will not be able to submit your proposal.

Please note that the deadline is based on Eastern Time, so be sure to adjust for your local time zone.

Grant applications are reviewed and evaluated by the Secretariat (with the support of a team of external consultants) and a Selection Committee, based on the selection criteria outlined in the Call for Proposals. For the details of the evaluation process, we invite you to consult the Administration and Funding Guidelines.

The CEC receives an average of 300 applications per funding cycle and generally supports 10 to 15 projects with a grant, aiming for a balanced representation among the three countries.

You will receive a written notification about the decision on your proposal via the email address provided in the online application portal. Please check your email, including your junk or spam folder, around the date for “Official grants announcement” indicated in the Call for Proposals.

The Secretariat is not able to provide individual feedback on its evaluations due to the high volume of applications we receive.

However, we can share some common reasons why proposals may not be selected. These include, but are not limited to, the very competitive nature of the process due to the high number of strong submissions and the fact that we need to balance the number of recipients among the three countries, the degree of alignment with our current organizational priorities or the grant cycle theme, and the completeness and clarity of the application, including the project objectives, activities and budget items. Lack of community involvement in the project, or too few tangible and measurable expected results at the community-level are also frequent reasons for disqualification.

Successful candidates will need to enter into a funding agreement with the CEC before any contribution is made to their projects. Grant funds are disbursed based on progress reports and financial statements that demonstrate how the funding is being used to generate the intended results.

Grantees will be required to submit one progress report and one final report, according to a Payment and Reporting Schedule. The project summary section of the final report will be used for public distribution (CEC’s website) once the project is completed.

It is not necessary to enclose receipts with your reports, but they should be retained in case of audit.

1. Government of Canada:
   In a circular economy, nothing is waste. The circular economy retains and recovers as much value as possible from resources by reusing, repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, repurposing, or recycling products and materials.¹
2. Government of the United States:
   A circular economy keeps materials and products in circulation for as long as possible. It is an economy that uses a systems-focused approach and involves industrial processes and economic activities that; are restorative or regenerative by design; enable resources used in such processes and activities to maintain their highest values for as long as possible; and aim for the elimination of waste through the superior design of materials, products, and systems (including business models).²
3. Government of Mexico:
   [translation] System of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services, oriented to the redesign and reincorporation of products and services to maintain in the economy the value and useful life of the products, materials and resources associated with them as long as possible, and that the generation of waste is prevented or minimized, reincorporating it back into cyclical or biological production processes, in addition to encouraging changes in production and consumption habits.³
4. Ellen MacArthur Foundation:
   Systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature.It is underpinned by a transition to renewable energy and materials. Transitioning to a circular economy entails decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources. This represents a systemic shift that builds long-term resilience, generates business and economic opportunities, and provides environmental and societal benefits.⁴