RBC Blue Water Project offers two levels of grants:

• Community Action Grants: These grants range from $1,000 to $10,000, and are awarded to local or community-based organizations in Canada, the United States or the Caribbean. We have established an application deadline for Community Action Grants, rather than accepting applications year round. This will allow us to review all applications in a fair and consistent manner. The application period for 2013 Community Action Grants is closed. The application deadline for 2014 grants will be announced in late 2013.
   
  
• Leadership Grants: These grants range from $10,001 to $100,000 and are awarded to organizations that are leaders in providing programs in North America and other countries where RBC does business. The application period for 2013 Leadership Grants is closed. The application deadline for 2014 grants will be announced in late 2013.

What We Fund

In 2013-2014, the RBC Blue Water Project will focus on supporting initiatives that help protect and preserve water in towns, cities and urbanized areas with populations of more than 10,000 people that focus on:

• Improved control and management of urban storm or rain water
• Efficient and innovative use (or capture and reuse) of water in towns and cities
• Protection and restoration of urban waterways
• Improved urban water quality

Funded projects are expected to achieve measureable outcomes such as:

• Increased riparian green space and aquatic habitat
• Reduced damage from flooding
• Reduced energy consumption in the use or treatment of water
• Reduced rate of water runoff
• Increase water absorption through natural landscape or infiltration
• Reduced water pollution
• Improved water quality of beaches
• Reduction in public health risks caused by polluted water
• Decreased use of potable water for landscaping, toilet flushing, and other industrial uses
• Increased knowledge or awareness about water management in urban areas

This could include projects such as:

• Stormwater harvest
• Infiltration
• Bioretention (e.g., rain gardens )
• Retention ponds, bioswales , infiltration trenches, sustainable pavements
• Public education on better water management practices and water conservation

Who Can Apply

Organizations applying for RBC Blue Water Project grants must be

• a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) registered charity or other qualified donee in Canada
• be an IRS 501 (c)3 charity in the United States
• or if outside Canada or the United States, have official charitable status as designated by local regulatory authorities.

RBC doesn't accept applications from any of the groups mentioned as exclusions in our general donations guidelines, nor from post-secondary institutions that have received capital funding from RBC in the last ten years.

Terms and Conditions

We do not fund programs or projects that:

• Take place in countries where we do not have a business presence
• Have goals that are purely research
• Are solely infrastructure related
• Will use the funds to underwrite advertising, media production or media buys.

How to Apply

To begin the application process, click on the button below. Please complete the appropriate form and submit according to the instructions provided on the form.