Community Grants
Community Grants address the greatest needs across the Southeastern Alberta region. They provide essential funding to local charities & non-profit organizations, helping enhance our communities’ quality of life.
These grants are made possible by donors who contribute to the Community Fund. Investment income is distributed through an application-based granting process held twice a year.
Community Grant cycles occur in the Spring and Fall. For detailed dates and information on the application process, please refer to our Grant Guidelines.
CFSEA has a two-step application consisting of a Letter of Intent (Phase 1) and Application (Phase 2). Feedback from Phase 1 may take up to seven business days. The deadline for the Letter of Intent will be at least two business days before the application deadline.
To view a full listing of past grant recipients, click here
Spring 2026 Applications Open In:
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Key Dates
Application Opens
February 4, 2026, at 12:00 pm
Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline
March 4, 2026, at 4:30 pm
Application Deadline
March 16, 2026, at 12:00 pm
Granting Priorities
Our granting priorities are shaped by local data and community insight, ensuring funds support solutions that address the region’s most significant challenges.
This information supports evidence-based, locally relevant solutions that improve quality of life, inspire civic engagement, focus public discussion, and help residents, businesses, community organizations, and local leaders direct resources where they will have the greatest impact.
Basic Needs – Food, Housing, Health
Work & Economy
Connection & Belonging
Additionally, our rural granting priorities are informed by Rural Futures: Regional Development and Conversations in Southeastern Alberta, which explores the urgent priorities and opportunities identified by non-urban communities in our region.
Applicants in our Rural Community Fund Areas are encouraged to submit projects that address the unique challenges facing Cypress County, the County of Newell, Special Areas No. 2, 3, and 4, the M.D. of Acadia, and the County of Forty Mile.
Healthcare Access
Housing Availability
Social Isolation
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Charitable Purpose?
CFSEA ACT Definition: “The objects of the Foundation are to promote such charitable educational, recreational, cultural, and benevolent purposes as will, in the sole discretion of the Board, most effectively assist, encourage, and promote the well being of Mankind, primarily the inhabitants of the City of Medicine Hat and Southeastern Alberta regardless of race, national origin, colour, or religion”.
CRA Definition: “Registered charities must have formal purposes that are exclusively charitable and fall into one or more of the following categories:
- Relief of Poverty
- Advancement of Education
- Advancement of religion
- Other purposes beneficial to the public in a way that the law has recognized as charitable”. For example: protect the environment; promote health; uphold human rights; animal welfare; arts and culture; emergency and disaster relief; address or prevent specific problems faced by children, youth, or families, promote volunteerism, relief of the aged, relief of conditions associated with disability, promote racial equality, rehabilitation of those involved in the criminal justice system.
Am I Eligible to Apply for Funding?
If you can answer “yes” to the following questions, you are eligible to apply.
1. Will your project provide services within the Southeast Alberta Region?
2. Are you a qualified donee (registered charity, church, school district, municipality), a registered Alberta non-profit society, OR an agency partnering with a qualified donee?
How Are Funding Decisions Made?
Applications are reviewed by the Community Foundation’s Grants Committee or, for applications to one of our Rural Community Funds, by Community Fund Advisory Committees.
These committees are composed of members of the Board of Directors and community volunteers who bring local knowledge and expertise to the decision-making process
CFSEA prioritizes impact and equitable granting distributions across the region. The committees review all eligible applications carefully and recommend funding decisions to the Board of Directors for final approval.
We’re Here to Help!
Speak with our Grants and Communications Coordinator, Emily today!
For more information, contact: