About CCEL Grants
At the Centre for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL), we empower students to drive social change through funding for meaningful projects in partnership with community organizations based in British Columbia.
CCEL grants support students in co-designing and implementing impactful initiatives that directly address community needs. We encourage bold, creative ideas and offer hands-on experiences in tackling real-world challenges.
The Centre for Community Engaged Learning offers 3 grants:
- Connect to Community Grant
- Global Fund
- Chapman and Innovation Grants
Applications for 2027 grants open from Nov 1, 2026 to Jan, 31, 2027.
Connect to Community Grant
Connect to Community Grants (C2C) are designed for students embarking on the initial phases of their changemaking journey, intended for those taking their first strides. They offer UBC students the opportunity to create and carry out introductory, trial, and smaller-scale projects that support community priorities.
Designed as an introduction to the grants experience, students are challenged to learn from the application process through to project completion.
Successful applicants can request from $500 to $2,000 per project. Projects must be completed within 6 months of the grant being awarded.
Review the scoring rubric (pdf) and application toolkit (pdf) for more details.
Global Fund
Global Fund Grants are funded in partnership with the UBC Alma Mater Society, and are intended for students who have some experience working alongside communities towards social change, to further empower them in expanding their learning and capacity to work in partnership with the community. They offer UBC students the opportunity to create and execute a more robust project to address a community priority.
The Global Fund seeks to uplift projects that thoughtfully engage with the theme of intercultural collaboration, such as:
- Creating space for intercultural learning and exchange
- Building relationships across cultural communities through dialogue, shared practice, or co-creation
- Addressing barriers to understanding, inclusion, or equitable participation across cultures
- Fostering and celebrating cultural heritage, and deepening cultural understanding through locally grounded, lived experiences
- Elevating underrepresented or historically marginalized voices within a community
Successful applicants can request from $2,000 to $10,000 per project. Projects must be completed within 6 months of the grant being awarded.
Review the scoring rubric (pdf) and application toolkit (pdf) for more details.
Chapman and Innovation Grants
Chapman and Innovation (C&I) Grants are designed for students who are well advanced in their efforts to create positive change and meaningful contributions to the community. They offer students the opportunity to work on projects that promote the self-empowerment of communities through meaningful collaboration.
Strong projects will have an innovative or creative approach to addressing social issues.
Successful applicants can request from $5,000 to $10,000 CAD per project. Projects must be completed within 6 months of the grant being awarded.
Review the scoring rubric (pdf) and application toolkit (pdf) for more details.
Eligibility requirements
You must meet all of the eligibility requirements for each section to apply.
All successful grant applicants must submit a final project detailing the project outcomes and an expense report of how the fund was used.
You must be enrolled in an undergraduate program or Master’s degree at the UBC Vancouver campus.
PhD, diploma, certificate, and non-degree students are not eligible for CCEL grants.
If you’re a UBC Okanagan student, refer to UBC Okanagan funding opportunities.
- Projects must take place off campus in British Columbia. The community you’re working with should not be affiliated with UBC.
- Students are not limited in the number of grants received. However, funding will not be considered for the same project in the following year or in subsequent years if the project is unchanged.
- If you have been awarded a CCEL grant, you must fulfill reporting requirements before you can apply for new funding. Reporting requirements include a Project Report detailing project outcomes and learning and an expense report.
- Funding must not be used for personal gain, or to fund an organization’s ongoing operational or core expenses.
- Your grant project cannot be for course-credit. Projects that are extensions of or innovations on course-work are eligible, but should be discussed with a grants advisor.
- Projects that are deemed politically partisan may not be considered.
- You cannot submit an application for a project or event that has ended.
- Priority is given to projects that support marginalized or under-served communities.
- Eligible community partner organizations include non-profits, public sector organizations, registered charities, societies, cooperatives, First Nations Communities, schools and municipal, federal or provincial government offices.
- Partnerships with for-profit businesses or UBC student clubs are not eligible.
- If your project involves community partners beyond the primary partner organization listed on the application, a representative from each partner organization must complete this form. You can submit all the completed forms together with the letter of endorsement from the primary partner.
- You cannot receive funds to partner with an organization you founded or co-founded.
- If you wish to partner with a community organization that was founded by a current or former student, and the organization is composed primarily of students, please check with the Grant Advisor to determine the organization’s eligibility as a potential community partner.
- All project expenses need to follow the UBC Expenditure Guidelines.
- There is no limit to the number of grants a student may receive over time. However, the same project will not receive future funding if it remains unchanged from a previous year.
- If you’ve previously been awarded a CCEL grant, you must fulfill reporting requirements before you can apply for new funding. Reporting requirements include a Project Report detailing project outcomes and learning, as well as an expense report.
- Funding must not be used for personal gain.
- Registration or travel to academic conferences are not eligible expenses.
- Funding for community partner administrative costs cannot be used for general or shared operating expenses, such as office rent or utilities.
- For the Connect to Community (C2C) grant, funds cannot be used for a student stipend.
- For the Chapman and Innovation (C&I) grant, up to 12% of the requested funding may be used to compensate the community partner organization for administrative costs directly related to hosting and supporting the student during the project. Up to 30% of the requested funding may be allocated to a student stipend.
- For the Global Fund, up to 12% of the requested funding may be used to compensate the community partner organization for administrative costs directly related to hosting and supporting the student during the project. Up to 20% of the requested funding may be allocated to a student stipend.
Application timeline
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| Sun, Nov 1, 2026 | All CCEL Grant Applications are open. |
| Sun, Jan 31, 2027 at 11:59 pm | Deadline to submit an application for all CCEL Grants. |
| April 2027 | Funding decisions are announced. |
| May 2027 | CCEL Grant projects begin. |
How to apply
Applications for 2027 grants are open from Nov 1, 2026 to Jan, 31, 2027.
You can apply individually, or as a team with other students. Each application must include at least one UBC student and one community organization listed on the application. A maximum of one application per cycle can be submitted.
Including a Notice of Intent (NOI) in your application is optional but highly recommended, as it can help you build a stronger application and provide early access to valuable resources and support.
Review the application toolkits in detail and prepare all relevant documents before submitting your application online:
- Connect to Community Grant application form (pdf)
- Global Fund application form (pdf)
- Chapman and Innovation Grant application form (pdf)
Apply online
Once you have prepared all the relevant documents, including the forms above, submit your application through the portal:
- Connect to Community Grant application portal
- Global Fund application portal
- Chapman and Innovation Grant application portal
Year-round advising
UBC CCEL Grant Advising is available to support students throughout the grant application process. Example discussion topics include:
- Connecting with community partner organizations
- Exploring, scoping, and evaluating project ideas and their feasibility
- Answering questions about the application process
- Determining eligibility to apply to grants
- Preparing grant applications, including offering resources for grant writing
- Creating and revising project budgets
Appointments are available Monday to Thursday from 10 am to 4 pm, virtually via Zoom or in person at the CCEL office.
Contact Jacquie at jacquie.kwok@ubc.ca with questions or to book an advising appointment.
Additional resources
Learn how to build a partnership with a community organization through the Reaching out to a Community Organization guide (pdf).
Check out our CCEL Grants Project Library for examples of previously funded CCEL grant projects.
Review the Identifying a Project Idea guide (pdf) for tips on drafting a problem statement. You can also use the brainstorming matrix in the guide to develop a strong project idea.