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2024 GAME. SET. EQUITY. COMMUNITY TENNIS GRANTS
In partnership with National Bank, the Game. Set. Equity. Community Tennis Grants offer opportunities for organizations working at the grassroots level to advance equity in tennis and support self-identifying women and girls to continue playing, experience personal growth, and access leadership opportunities through tennis.
The Game. Set. Equity. Community Grants seek to empower communities to develop or further enhance programming for women and girls to break down those barriers and drive forward our mission of equitable access to tennis. This is part of our long-term strategy for creating sustainable change for women and girls in sport.
BE IN THE KNOW!
Sign up to be notified when grant applications open for 2025.
Please read through the following guidelines and eligibility.
*Applicants may receive a lesser amount of funding than applied for due to funding restrictions.
TIMELINE
- Accepting applications: Monday, March 18
- Application period closes: Tuesday, April 9 at 4:00 p.m. ET.
- All applicants will be notified of their application status by May 13.
- Funding will be distributed by Mid-June 2024
Recipients Year Over Year
GRANT ELIGIBILITY
- · Non-profit organizations or community groups that serve the grassroots community. Examples of eligible groups:
- Associations
- Charities
- Indigenous Communities
- Non-profits
- Provincial/Territorial Bodies
- Schools
- Tennis Clubs
*Individuals/personal expenses are not eligible to receive funding through this grant.
- Initiatives must focus on the participation, retention, and/or advancement of self-identifying women and girls with a minimum of 70 per cent of funding being directed toward women and girls.
- Initiatives that focus on (but not limited to) the following areas:
- Increasing coaching, officiating, and/or next generation leadership opportunities,
- Increasing opportunities for girls and/or women to participate in programming, training, or competition.
- Supporting capacity building for equity work through education and training
- Registration costs
- Venue/Space/Court time
- Training/education fees
- Facilitation/Staff
- Marketing and communications
- Equipment
- Childcare to support participation in programming
*Funding cannot be applied retroactively to proposed initiatives.
SELECTION PROCESS
- All applications will be reviewed by a volunteer committee.
- Consideration will be given to ensure the inclusion and representation of recipients from across the country and those representing equity-deserving groups to reflect the diversity within our population to increase access for self-identifying girls and women.
- Consideration will be given to how applicants consider safety (physical, psychological, cultural) in their initiative for all involved.
*Please review Application Tips below for tips on how to prepare your application.
GRANT RECIPIENTS
Selected recipients will:
- Sign a funding agreement.
- Be given complimentary access to up to 5 codes to complete Canadian Women & Sport’s Gender Equity LENS e-module to support continued learning on the subject.
- Collaborate with Tennis Canada’s team to share stories about their funded initiatives. Recipients may be profiled through Tennis Canada’s marketing and communications channels.
- Be invited to join our grant Community of Practice to network, learn, and share with other funded recipients from across Canada through three, one-hour learning sessions.
- Complete a simple Impact Report upon the conclusion of their programming.
- Reporting will include detailing:
- How many girls and women were impacted by the initiative
- Initiative outcomes
- Initiative impact
- Reporting will include detailing:
*Recipients will be given a toolkit to support them with social media and branding.
APPLICATION TIPS
A strong application will include:
- Initiatives that intentionally support:
- The participation and retention of girls and women in tennis
- The advancement of women’s leadership through professional development (i.e. coaching/officiating certifications, etc.)
- The engagement of equity-deserving communities in tennis
- Outlining clear and concise initiative activities and SMART program goals
- Considerations for initiative sustainability (where appropriate)
- Thoughtful consideration for safety for all involved in their initiative (considering physical, emotional, and cultural safety)
*70% of the funding must go toward supporting self-identifying women and girls.
Testimonials from the Game. Set. Equity. Community Grant recipients:
“We have been involved in the tennis world for more than eight years, and never before have we had the opportunity to participate in an event like this! Tennis in our province and country is lacking in terms of female-specific coaching and programming, but GLGPALOOZA provided two weeks of training, competition, nutrition, workshops, and more (including a lot of fun), with some of our country’s best leaders! It was my daughter’s favorite two-weeks of tennis, thus far, and we are so grateful to all that made it happen!”
– This is from a National level player aged 11 (player won U12 doubles junior nationals this year)
“The GLG program provides mentorship and values to my daughters to make them better tennis players, but more importantly to be better people in their community. This program provides junior female tennis players with informational, coaching and training support. The most important thing about GLG is that the program is accessible for players with different backgrounds and skills levels; it is diverse, inclusive, and very welcoming for everyone.”
– Anonymous
“We are hoping to develop a more robust “learn to mentor” program for 2023-2024. We know that if we help 12–15-year-old girls become good mentors to new players (age 8-10) then as they grow as players, they may find several reasons to stick with tennis when they are in high school.”
– Anonymous
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“The instructor certification weekend gave me a lot of knowledge about how to run a fun and engaging program. Many of the activities are what I already use in the girl’s program, so it made me feel more confident about my coaching skills. I am working towards improving the play aspect of my certification.”
– JFCTA female participant (who received financial support for the Instructor Course)
“As a result of this grant, four participants were able to partake in the Instructor Course. It is our hope that they will become role models for the next generation of female participants in our community as they highlight the power of sports and the socio-economic benefits of staying in sports! Thank you, Tennis Canada, for supporting access to leadership and coaching development for our female members!”
– JFCTA staff member
“Keep up the good work – let us continue to increase opportunities and possibilities in the future together.”
– Anonymous
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“Applying for this grant has been remarkably straightforward. Given the current situation and the existing initiatives in our province, accessing this grant becomes much simpler. It is essential to have a clear vision of the resources required for the event/program, and with the support of this fantastic grant for gender equity, our mission has undoubtedly flourished so far. The outcomes we have achieved using these funds have been truly remarkable, making it all worthwhile.”
– Maheen Dada @ Tennis British Columbia
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