The Community Foundation manages delivery of the City of Penticton’s municipal grant funding, including Special Events grants. These funds are delivered as part of our annual Foundation grant cycle.
This year’s grant cycle opens on September 8th. Please see this page or more details.
Annual municipal grant funds will be allocated to the Community Foundation during budget deliberations based on Council’s priorities and will focus on areas such as Arts, Culture & Heritage, Health, Safety & Social Services, Parks, Recreation & Sports, and Community Events. Evaluation of grants will remain focused on providing community value, aligning with City priorities, and meeting the needs of the service or event.
Frequently Asked Questions
Please read these FAQs carefully. If your question is not answered here, please contact grants@cfso.net for further help.
Who can apply?
Registered charities and non-profits are welcome to submit an application. For Foundation grants, please see the Eligibility Guidelines here.
The following policy will continue to apply for City of Penticton Special Events grants:
Please note that the dates set out in the “Policy Conditions” section of this document pertains to previous year’s offerings of the program.
When will the application forms be available?
You can access application forms on the Community Foundation’s grant portal starting Tuesday, September 8th, 2026. Applications will be accepted until October 16th, 2026.
Will the City grants application process be different with the Community Foundation now administering the program?
Applicants will now use the Community Foundation’s grant portal to apply for a City grant. The City and the Foundation use the same software platform for grant administration, so the Foundation’s application portal will feel familiar.
You will see some changes to the content of the application forms, which we’re confident you can navigate. If you encounter challenges, please reach out.
Will this change impact our plans to also seek funding through the Community Foundation’s grant programs?
Those organizations that submitted an application to the Municipal grants program and the Foundation grants program for the same activity will now submit one application to the Foundation grants program. In the past, you may have planned to ask the City for $10,000 and the Foundation for $5,000 to support your project. Going forward you would ask the Foundation for $15,000. If the application is successful, the Foundation will make a grant from its pool of available funds – including the City’s Municipal grant funding – in the most efficient way possible.
Some organizations have traditionally applied to the City for one activity and the Foundation for another. In these cases, we will work with you to tray and combine your needs into one application. If that’s not an option, we’ll consider two applications.
My organization has an existing agreement with the City that provides funding for our event/project/program. How will this relationship be impacted by the change?
The City will continue to provide ongoing funding to groups that they have previous agreements with. In addition, the City may choose to provide additional ongoing funding to new groups in a given year. These groups will work directly with the City rather than the Community Foundation.
My organization requests in-kind support from the City. How will these requests be handled now?
Requests for in-kind support will now be included as part of your application’s total financial request. The process now looks like this:
- Applicants will verify the costs of in-kind requests through the City.
- They will include and itemize the amount(s) required to pay for those requests in their application budget.
- If successful with their application, the applicant will pay the City directly for the in-kind support using the funds granted for that purpose.
Will I have to create a new user account in the Community Foundation’s grant system?
If you have applied for a grant from the Community Foundation before, you will be able to use your existing user credentials to apply for a City grant. We were not able to transfer log in credentials from the City’s grant system, so if you are new to the Community Foundation’s grant system, you will have to create a new profile.
To do so, simply visit the system landing page, click on “Create New Account” link, and follow the instructions. If you run into trouble, contact grants@cfso.net for help.
Okay! I’m signed in to the Community Foundation’s portal. What’s next?
Once you sign in, you will be taken to your Applicant Dashboard. Click on the Apply link at the top left of the page:
In the Apply tab, look for either of the following titles in the program list, depending on the grant you wish to apply for. These should be the only active grant cycles available:
- 2027 Foundation Grants
- 2027 Special Event Grants: City of Penticton
Follow the appropriate link to enter the application of your choice.
I have further questions. Who can I contact?
Please send an e-mail to kevinronaghan@cfso.net.