Canton Greater Together Community Fund
The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has established a $100,000 Greater Together Community Fund for the Town of Canton.
The purpose of the Greater Together Community Funds is to:
- support the community in taking ownership around the needs in their towns
- encourage broad and inclusive civic engagement and
- anchor the Hartford Foundation in each town.
Grants Awarded
In 2023, the Canton Greater Together Community Fund has awarded nearly $14,000 in grants to five organizations serving Canton residents. Click here to learn more.
- Boy Scouts of America Troop 117, $2,040: For outdoor service enrichment, providing camping gear, including tents and propane stoves, to allow scouts from all backgrounds to experience camping and outdoor service projects.
- Canton Schools’ Music Department, $4,900: To commission a composer to create a choral piece of music that all Canton choirs, Grades 2-12, can sing together. The students will have the chance to work with the composer on the piece, and choir members from all the town’s schools will sing the piece together at the high school auditorium in the spring of 2024. The choral teachers hope this opportunity will reignite interest in the district’s choral programs, which was hurt by pandemic-related school closings and restrictions.
- For All Ages, $1,580: To support the Tea @ 3 Intergenerational Friendship Community, addressing the loneliness crisis exacerbated by the pandemic. The Tea @ 3 intergenerational program provides a free, 12-week opportunity for older adults to connect with college students for a weekly phone call over a cup of tea. The program also offers virtual, communitywide live events designed to promote a sense of belonging.
- Roaring Brook Nature Center, $1,910: For signage and lecture series with the Canton Public Library around wildlife rehabiliation. In response to an increase demand for the Roaring Brook Nature Center’s (RBNC) staff to help with wildlife rehabilitation, the grant will fund signs designed to educate visitors about what wildlife rehabilitation means and how the staff treats wildlife brought to the RBNC. It will also cover printing costs for a pamphlet explaining the “dos and don’ts” regarding wildlife rehabilitation, as well as a free, three-part lecture series on the necessity and benefits of wildlife rehabilitation.
- SpiritHorse Therapeutic Riding Center of Canton, $3,500: To provide summer equine therapy and half-day camp to Canton children with special needs who would not be able to afford the camp experience otherwise. The summer program includes a 30-minute therapeutic riding lesson, arts and crafts, farming chores, horse care, gardening and nature walks, according to each participant’s ability.
2022 Grant Awards
The Canton Community Fund was proud to fund the following projects and organizations in 2022:
- Canton Historical Society: $3,500 to support an electrical safety and energy conservation program
- Canton Land Conservation Trust: $6,000 to help fund the creation of the Pratt Preserve nature area, educational area and public access point to Cherry Brook
- Canton Main Street: $4,000 to provide public seating areas in Downtown Collinsville, including wheelchair-accessible tables
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Canton Youth Soccer Association: $1,500 to support the TOPS adaptive soccer program for athletes with special needs
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Cherry Brook Garden Club: $4,000 to design, plant and maintain a pollinator-friendly native plant garden and revitalize the pathways at the Bicentennial Park beside the Farmington River
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Friends of Canton Public Libraries: $4,000 to create the Nancy Donoghue Memorial Garden and wheel-chair accessible outdoor table, with a solar-powered electric outlet at the Canton Public Library
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SpiritHorse Therapeutic Riding Center of Canton: $2,500 to support equine therapy for Canton residents in its early intervention program.
Final Reporting Process for 2022 Grant Recipients
If your organization received a grant in 2022, we ask you to complete a short report to complete the reporting requirements. At the end of the grant year (August 2023), please send a concise accounting of the use of the funds and your evaluation of the results achieved. This report should include a final financial statement accounting for the use of the grant funds and a short narrative report stating whether your organization believes the grant accomplished the purpose intended. Please email these materials to CommunityFundCantonCT@gmail.com.
Note: If your organization is applying for a grant in 2023, your final report is due prior to, or by March 15, 2023 at 5:00 PM.
Call for Advisory Committee Members - Join Team Canton!
The Canton Greater Together Community Fund Advisory Committee is seeking members who will help us maintain a diverse, inclusive membership reflective of our town’s unique character. All Canton residents are eligible to apply including students or young adults ages 14+.
The Advisory Committee plays a lead role in deciding how Canton's Greater Together Community Funds will be used. This Advisory Committee will identify community needs and design a grantmaking process aimed to ensure that the community funds can have the greatest impact for the benefit of town residents. Please consider joining this exciting committee! The application can be found in the link below and are reviewed on a rolling basis throughout the year. If you have any questions, please email: CommunityFundCantonCT@gmail.com.
COMPLETE THE ONLINE APPLICATION
Advisory Committee Members
In 2021, people who live and work in Canton selected, from a group of residents who volunteered to serve, Canton’s Community Fund Advisory Committee. The role of the Advisory Committee is to design and lead an inclusive process to identify
the needs in your community, and design a grantmaking process aimed to ensure that
the Greater Together Community Funds can have the greatest impact for the benefit of
town residents.
This year, the 2023 Advisory Committee members for Canton are:
Jay Kaplan, Kimberly Marze, Mary Tomolonius, Alan Weiner, Wendy Young
Committee co-chairs: Theresa Sullivan-Barger and Rie Poirier-Campbell
Questions? Please contact the advisory committee at
communityfundcantonct@gmail.com.
For more information about the Advisory Committee, please review the FAQ.
Click here to read the Advisory Committee Conflict of Interest Policy.
For media inquiries, please contact Chris Senecal at csenecal@hfpg.org.
Frequently Asked Questions around grant application
Yes, you may apply again in 2023 if you have completed the 2022 final reporting process as outlined on this web page in the section “Final Reporting Process for 2022 Grant Recipients.”
Yes, absolutely! You may apply, but you’ll need to find a nonprofit organization - such as a religious, youth, arts or civic organization with 501c3 status - to serve as your fiscal sponsor. Don’t know any? Please email us for suggestions!
You may apply for funding for a project with Canton Schools as your fiscal sponsor (or another 501c3 associated with the school such as a PTO or Booster Club). The applicant would answer questions 7 and 8 on the application with the information of your fiscal sponsor. A school may be the fiscal sponsor for many projects, but only submit ONE application of its own as well. For example, you may submit an application with Canton Middle School as your fiscal sponsor, Library staff may also submit one with CMS as their fiscal sponsor, and PE may also submit another with CMS as its fiscal sponsor. However, if CMS decides that it wants to submit an application for a school-wide project, then it may only submit that ONE application for itself in addition to the others that it is acting as the fiscal sponsor.
Yes, you can apply to multiple towns’ Greater Together Community Funds, but Canton Community Fund will only evaluate the application from the perspective of Canton residents. In addition, your organization must submit a budget that applies to Canton residents only. Last, be aware that other towns have different grant cycles.
Yes, but everyone that is served by a project should be served without discrimination.
Yes, as long as the intended recipients reside in Canton.
Projects should begin after June 1. Funds generally should be spent within a year but this can vary with the size and complexity of the project.
Yes.