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 2024
The Canton Advisory Committee awarded grants ranging from $2,000 to $6,500 each for a total of $46,100 to organizations and programs serving kids with different abilities, student athletes, student musicians, seniors, people in need of energy assistance, domestic violence survivors, people interested in bringing nature to their homes and dog park visitors.
Over the past three years, the HFPG’s Canton Greater Together Fund has awarded 23 grants totaling $85,530 to address a wide range of community needs and improvements.
The following grants were awarded in June 2024:
o SpiritHorse Therapeutic Riding Center of Canton: $4,550 for its Canton Summer Equine Therapy Session, which combines riding, caring for the horses and arts and crafts for Canton children with special needs.
o Girls on the Run: $3,000 for its Girls on the Run Canton after-school girl empowerment and running program for Canton Intermediate School girls in the Fall of 2024.
o Roaring Brook Nature Center: $4,900 for its Sunday Series: How to Bring Nature to Your Home, a collection of educational talks about how to attract bees, butterflies, birds and other beneficial wildlife to your yard.
o Canton Fuel Bank: $2,000 to pay fuel and electric bills for Canton residents in need, as determined by the town social services director.
o Operation Fuel: $5,000 Emergency Energy Assistance for Canton residents in need, as determined by the town social services director.
o Hartford Interval House: $5,000 for Canton residents to participate in the “Victim to Survivor: Empowering Survivors” program.
o Canton Music Department: $4,900 for a Canton Summer Arts Camp Bandfest for music students in the summer of 2025.
o Canton Lions Club: $3,500 for Lions Kidsight USA, an eyesight screening tool that Lions Club volunteers can bring into the community to screen young children in day care centers and preschools so any vision difficulties can be caught early.
o Canton Dog Park: $2,000 for the materials for volunteers to build a “Weather Protection Structure” at the Dog Park on Commerce Drive.
o Canton Historical Museum: $4,750 for a 2024 “Lighting Improvement Plan” that will save energy and money.
o New Horizons, parent company of Cherry Brook Health Care Center: $6,500 for recreational transport for seniors living at the nonprofit nursing home, most of whom are on Medicaid.
Grants Awarded
2023 Grant Awards
In 2023, the Canton Greater Together Community Fund awarded nearly $14,000 in grants to five organizations that serve Canton residents. See below for a detailed list of the 2023 grant recipients and their projects.
- 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
In 2022, the Canton Greater Together Community Fund awarded $25,500 to seven organizations that serve Canton residents. See below for a detailed list of the 2022 grant recipients and their projects.
- 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 Requirements for 2023 Grant Recipients
If your organization received a grant in 2023, you will need to submit a brief report to us that includes (a) a final financial statement accounting for the use of the grant funds, and (b) a brief narrative of the results achieved and an evaluation as to whether your organization believes the grant accomplished its intended purpose.
Please email a copy of your final report to CommunityFundCantonCT@gmail.com before the end of the grant year (August, 2024).
NOTE: If your organization intends to apply for a grant in 2024, your final report will need to be submitted no later than March 15th 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 the community and to design a grant-making process aimed to ensure that the Greater Together Community Funds will have the greatest impact for the benefit of town residents.
This year’s Advisory Committee members for Canton are:
- Theresa Sullivan-Barger (Co-Chair)
- Rie Poirier-Campbell (Co-Chair)
- Maggie Meehan
- Mary Tomolonius
- Alan Weiner
- Bryan Adams
- Mark Pickett
- David Santis
Questions? Please contact the Advisory Committee at CommunityFundCantontCT@gmail.com.
For more information about the Advisory Committee, click here.
To read the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving’s “Conflict of Interest Policy,” click here.
For media inquiries, please contact Chris Senecal at csenecal@hfpg.org.
Frequently Asked Questions around grant application
Yes, you may apply again in 2024 if you have completed the 2023 final reporting process as outlined in the section “Final Reporting Requirements for 2023 Grant Recipients” on this web page.
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!
A fiscal sponsor (also known as a fiscal agent) is an established 501(c)(3) non-proft organization that agrees to accept donations on behalf of a group that is not registered as a non-proft. The fiscal sponsor must submit the application on behalf of the group and is legally responsible to account for the funds used. Best practice recommends that the fiscal sponsor and the group have a written agreement on how they will work together. Municipal governments may also serve as fiscal sponsors.
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 evaluate the application only from the perspective of Canton residents. In addition, your organization must submit a budget that applies to Canton residents only. Lastly, 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.