OISE's Sustainability Fund
Overview:
OISE offers a Sustainability Fund to support OISE students, faculty and staff to engage in educational activities and projects to advance the actions and strategies of its Sustainability & Climate Action (S&CA) Plan. This funding aims to support projects led by individual members of the OISE community (up to $500) or by groups (up to $2,500). Collaborations between students and faculty/staff are encouraged in creating and implementing S&CA projects.
Eligibility of Applicants:
Current members of the OISE community are eligible to apply to this Fund, including OISE graduate students (currently registered in an OISE program), OISE faculty, OISE staff (with manager's approval), and OISE sessional lecturers (currently teaching at least 1 course at OISE). Group applications are encouraged (the Lead applicant must be a current member of the OISE community.) Graduate students applying for individual projects will be asked to provide an academic reference of an OISE professor.
Project Eligibility:
Funded projects must:
- be initiated and led by current members of the OISE community
- be awarded funding through an application and adjudication process
- support and enact at least one of the actions and strategies of OISE’s Sustainability & Climate Action (S&CA) Plan Strands
- involve and positively impact the OISE community
- adhere to the Sustainability Fund guidelines, as well as to existing OISE and University of Toronto policies, principles and practices
Funding can be used for the following:
- Projects that plan & implement OISE educational campaigns, programs and/or events for the OISE community related to S&CA (i.e. speakers’ fees for public events, promotional costs, catering costs, materials, resources, etc.)
- Projects that deepen awareness of S&CA at OISE (e.g., developing educational resources related to S&CA)
- Projects that encourage/enable community behaviours that reduce OISE’s carbon/ecological footprint (e.g., water, waste & energy reductions or conservation)
- Projects that bring S&CA to OISE’s practices and spaces through individual and community behaviours and choices
- Projects that mobilize/share knowledge & research around S&CA (e.g., events, lectures, resource development)
- Conference registration fees for OISE graduate students to present on S&CA research (up to a maximum of $200)
- OISE students’ work on S&CA events, programs or projects (hourly rate for OISE students’ time on a funded S&CA project up to a maximum of $500)
Funding cannot be used for the following types of projects:
- Projects that duplicate another project, program or service currently being offered
- Retroactive funding for costs incurred before the application submission
- Course development
- Students’ work for which they receive course credit (e.g., coursework or course assignments)
- Cost of alcohol or cannabis served at any event
- Fundraising events for individuals, groups or donations to charities
- Administrative or operating costs of an organization or company
- Travel expenses associated with projects, events or conferences
- Conducting research for faculty, staff, sessional lecturers or graduate students (e.g., literature reviews, data collection or analysis)
- Compensation for staff or faculty
Conditions:
- Projects will be considered only if a full Sustainability Fund Application Form is submitted by the deadline (applications will be reviewed by the Sustainability Fund Adjudication Committee as soon as possible)
- Funded projects must be completed within one year of receiving the funding.
- The Project Lead must submit a one page final report within 30 days of the project end-date, outlining the project’s outcomes, impacts, and future potential of the project
- A Sustainability Fund Reimbursement Form must be completed within 30 days of the project end-date to access funding.
How to Apply:
The most recent fund application period (October 1 - December 10, 2024) has now closed. Consider downloading the for reviewing & preparing the info required in advance of completing the official application. The online official Application Form will be re-opened again in the spring.
Questions? Reach out to the SCAN Team at oise.scan@utoronto.ca
