Falls Prevention and Healthy Aging grant

• Not-for-profit organizations
• First Nations Bands and health centres
• Indigenous organizations
• Municipalities and Regional Districts
• Community organizations and service agencies

Preference was given to projects that:

• Supported fall prevention activities - initiatives that support local implementation of key strategies that reduce falls
• Supported partnerships and build relationships - will encourage different groups to work together, connecting people to each other and their community
• Addressed a community need - will address something that is missing that could benefit the community and its residents to improve health and well-being
• Reduced health inequities - improve access to supports and resources for better health for all
• Built capacity - will develop and strengthen skills and resources within the community
• Last - will have a good chance of living on after the funding ends

Our grants did not fund:

• Prize money or gift cards
• Food for food banks, breakfast programs or large-scale catering
• Academic research
• Individuals or personal businesses
• One-time events or projects that do not have a lasting impact
• Projects outside of the Northern Health Region
• Northern Health employees, programs or facilities cannot apply for funding but they can be listed as a support or partner in the project

Did I need a project partner to apply?

Projects were not required to have partners working together but preference was be given to projects that included partnerships and relationship building within community. When listing partners on the application, they had to be from outside of the applying organization and each partners’ roles and responsibilities in the project needed to be clearly stated. It was strongly recommended that letters of support from project partners be included with the application.

Example - if a community group was listing their local municipality as a partner on the application, it was ideal to have a letter of support from the municipality declaring their support for the project.

How detailed should my application have been?

The more details you had included in your application, the better. This ensured that the project budget was clear and included all costs that would be associated with the project activities.

Our project required a lot of funding to achieve our goal. Could we have applied for a “donation” to our funding pot?

Falls Prevention and Healthy Aging Grants were considered seed funding to get grassroots projects off the ground in community. Falls Prevention and Healthy Aging Grant was not a donation for large scale projects and could not be used to leverage other funding in early phases of a project. We required that the total cost of the project was identified in the application and that it was clear how the Falls Prevention and Healthy Aging Grant funds (maximum $10,000) would be used to support and complete the project within our identified timelines.

All other sources of funding listed on your application needed to be confirmed. We supported large scale projects that fitted within our criteria, if the Falls Prevention and Healthy Aging Grants funds completed or supported a piece of the project.

Example - if a recreation center was applying for funding to build a new pickleball court but were $10,000 (or less) short of their final goal and installation is planned for within the Falls Prevention and Healthy Aging Grant deadlines, their application would have been considered.

Could we apply for a one-day event or community celebration?

Falls Prevention and Healthy Aging Grants fund projects that have a lasting impact in the community. These funds are not for one-time events. Preference was given to projects that have a good chance of continuing after the funding is spent and support ongoing programming and activities within a community.

Could I submit applications for multiple projects?

Yes, applicants could submit more than one application for different projects.

Could the funds be used toward costs incurred before the project start date?

Falls Prevention and Healthy Aging funding could only have be used toward expenses incurred after the grant funding had been distributed. Retroactive payments were not allowed.

I would have liked to submit my grant application in video format, how would I do that?

We welcomed applications in text or an alternative format such as video. All applications regardless of the format could be submitted online.  All applications, regardless of what format they were submitted in, were evaluated the same way.