Daylight Fund applications are open for 2026. The Daylight Fund is an open call grant that supports organizations directly addressing gender-based safety issues with operating grants up to $25,000.
Why Safety?
Women and gender diverse people across Canada continue to face rising rates of violence, heightened discrimination, and growing barriers to accessing safe housing and community support. The conditions that should foster safety, stable shelter, affirming care, and freedom from harm are increasingly out of reach, especially in rural and remote areas across the country.
Safety for women and gender-diverse people means living free from violence, discrimination, and harm in all forms—physical, emotional, and systemic. It ensures autonomy over one’s body, access to supportive resources, and the ability to participate fully in society.
The Daylight Fund responds to this urgent reality. It supports the organizations working every day to strengthen the systems of care and connection that make all communities more secure. See our list of 2025 Grantees here.
Who can apply for the Daylight Fund?
Funding is open to organizations directly serving women, gender-diverse and trans communities in Canada with programs specifically designed to meet the needs of those populations. Applicants must demonstrate a clear commitment to creating safer, more equitable environments through established programming that is designed to meet the needs of women and gender-diverse people in a community.
Daylight funds are one-year grants that can be applied to an organization’s operating expenses. To apply for a Daylight grant you must either be a registered Canadian charity or a non-profit with a confirmed charitable partner.
How are grants decided?
The Daylight Fund provides grants ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 with a goal of supporting a range of work in communities across the country, particularly those in rural or remote communities or whose work has been otherwise historically under-resourced. Organizations that are doing work through established programs that have been designed to address the particular safety needs of women, trans and gender non-binary people are encouraged to apply.
The Daylight Fund grants will be decided by a participatory committee of individuals who have lived and professional experience with this work. The committee will review applications submitted through the application form here. Grants will be decided on and distributed in summer of 2026.
Applying to Daylight 2026
The Daylight Fund is open for applications now and will be closing on April 14 at 6pm PT.
If you have any questions about the application, please contact grants@houssianfoundation.org
FAQs
Do we need to be a registered charity?
You do not need to be a registered charity to receive a Daylight Fund grant, however you do need to have an established relationship with a charitable partner who can receive the grant on your behalf. Please confirm with your charitable partner before applying for the grant.
Does the fund only support gender-based violence work?
The Daylight Fund defines safety broadly and understands that community services, access to safe housing, food security and other programs all contribute to safety for women and gender-diverse people. Gender-based violence programs are an important part of this work and have been represented in the granting decisions of the past, along with other community programs. The committee will determine grant recipients by reviewing submitted applications and assessing how each program contributes to safety within its community.
If women are a part of the community we work with, are we eligible for the grant?
We recognize that many community-based programs support women and gender-diverse people as part of a broader mandate. However, the Daylight Fund is intentionally designed to support programs and organizations specifically meeting the needs of women and gender-diverse people.
Programs that welcome women and gender-diverse participants but serve the broader community without a targeted focus will likely not be considered. Organizations with a broader mandate may still be eligible if they offer programs or services intentionally designed for women and gender-diverse people.