Innovation Grants

Solutions to many of the most pressing social and environmental challenges we face today require new ways of thinking. Innovation Grants offered funding for “moonshot” ideas that can help Canadian registered charities and qualified donees create breakthrough changes for youth in their communities.
Two young women standing at a classroom table interacting with a piece of computer hardware
In 2022, we launched a multi-year Innovation Grants stream as a complement to our TELUS Canadian Community Board grants. The focus was on supporting initiatives that advance some of the
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
 (SDGs); specifically, good health and well-being, quality education and climate action. 
The programs selected serve youth experiencing obstacles to reaching their full potential and incorporate the innovative use of technology. 
This program is now closed and we will not be accepting new applications for funding. 
Registered Canadian charities seeking funding are invited to apply for a
TELUS Community Board grant
.

Impact of our Innovation Grants

We are pleased to share that from 2022-2024, we provided more than $4.2M in multi-year grants to 26 youth charities across Canada. Projects that received an Innovation Grant focused on two areas:
  • Youth Mental Health 
  • Environmental Education or Climate Action. 
We are grateful to
Desjardins Foundation
 for partnering with us to co-fund projects focused on youth environmental education.
Some examples of how our Innovation Grant partners have made an impact include:
  • Fernie Youth Services’ Beat Builders Program seeks to revolutionize how music therapy is used for justice-involved youth. Male youth aged 14-24 had a unique opportunity to work through trauma and improve their well-being, while obtaining digital technology experience essential to gaining employment in the music industry.
  • The pediatric Brain Computer Interface technology developed at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital enables children with severe speech and motor impairments to use a computerized headset that turns brain signals into commands. This allows them to express themselves, connect with others and perform motion control tasks in ways that they could never imagine would be possible before. 
  • London Health Sciences Foundation’s Innowell Platform uses innovative software for the First Episode Mood and Anxiety Program to stay connected with patients between appointments, reach youth on waitlists, and expedite treatment for the most serious cases, increasing access to targeted care and reducing wait times from 18 months to 3-4 months.  
  • The Ocean Data Project at SuperNOVA, a non-profit arm of Dalhousie University, is working collaboratively with Mi’kmaq communities to engage hundreds of Indigenous youth in grades 3 to 12 across Nova Scotia to use cutting-edge Sofar Spotter Buoys to monitor the health of the ocean. 
  • Alberta Council for Environmental Education’s Our Students, Our Future Project is contributing to K-12 students’ well-being and empowering them to become sustainability leaders, introducing them to green careers, building teacher capacity in environmental education and promoting reconciliation by building relationships with local Indigenous communities.
  • Fresh Roots Exploring Agritech on Schoolyard Farms harnesses innovative technology to offer hands-on learning, peer leadership opportunities, and new career pathways to Indigenous, racialized, low-income, and developmentally disabled students, increasing resiliency, personal agency and optimism regarding the climate crisis.
  • Earth Rangers Foundation’s New Earth Rangers School Assembly is re-imagining environmental education across Canada using cutting-edge technology to create an immersive experience that transforms school gymnasiums to transport over 100,000 students aged 6 to 11 to diverse ecosystems. The project aims to expand its reach within low-income and racialized communities and to deepen curiosity and instill climate optimism in our future leaders, voters and policy-makers.

We look forward to staying connected with, and learning from, our 2022-2024 cohort of Innovation Grant recipients and sharing the impact of their projects. 
No new Innovation Grants will be awarded this year.