Grants and Student Awards

ABACUS Small Grants Program for Teachers

Teachers play an essential role in supporting students to learn, grow and thrive in the middle-school years. To help teachers continue to foster creative approaches to student learning, HCF offers a small grants program. The program provides funding to teachers offering enrichment experiences for students.

Grants are available to support middle school age children for the 2026-2027 school year.

Last year, teachers received funding for their class activities, such as:

New for 2026-27

We are inviting applications for Youth Environmental Leaders Grants. Schools may request up to $500 to support school-based environmental projects focused on waste reduction, sustainability, or greening spaces. Successful projects will actively engage students in meaningful leadership opportunities, empowering them to develop ideas, make decisions, build skills, and contribute to positive environmental change within their school community. Projects should inspire and create space for students to take on leadership roles throughout the planning, implementation, or promotion of the initiative.

Who can apply? What kinds of projects will be considered?

Funding available

Grants range from $100 to $500. Grants will be limited to three per school per school year. Please note: funds may not be used for salary costs.

What is ABACUS?

Hamilton Community Foundation has a commitment to increasing the likelihood that young people who face multiple barriers will graduate high school and access post-secondary opportunities by focusing on the pivotal middle school years and supporting the transition into high school. We are doing this through an initiative called ABACUS, launched in 2015. In spring 2022 we launched ABACUS Phase II: Equity, Wellness, Academic Achievement, which further refines our grants and systems change work to include:

You can read more at here.

Questions? Please email us at r.ocean@hamiltoncommunityfoundation.ca