The earliest stages of a project are the most critical, but they also are the most uncertain and face significant barriers. We’re here to help with grant funding for the vision, feasibility and business planning phases of a project.

Project Vision and Concept

Your real estate decisions should be grounded in your organizational vision, strategic priorities and values. Through grant funding, we can help you explore your project concept and build a vision that aligns to your mission and serves your organization’s priorities and space needs.

Feasibility and Business Planning Grants

When you have a project concept that you are ready to explore further, we can support you with grants to help you engage the expertise you require to carry out feasibility and business planning for your affordable community housing real estate project.

• Refinement of your project concept
• Municipal and community consultation and engagement
• Development options analysis
• Completing your preliminary financial analysis & models
• Identifying funding and financing
• Site control & due diligence
• Detailed design & schematics
• Building your development team

Pre-Construction

If you have completed a viable business plan that clearly shows the viability of your project and are moving forward with securing your municipal approvals, detailed construction planning and financing negotiations, you may be ready for a loan. Check out our Pre-Construction Loans page to learn more.

General Eligibility Requirements

We work with not-for-profit organizations, cooperatives and Indigenous organizations or First Nation governments, whether working independently or in partnership with for-profit or non-profit real estate developers or other stakeholders.

Alignment with Vancity Community Foundation’s values and areas of impact
Including climate, the cooperative economy and the economic and social inclusion of Indigenous communities and equity-deserving groups.

Potential viability
Does your initiative (even at any early stage) demonstrate some potential for financial and technical viability, including the capacity of the organization to raise the required capital and resources to move the project forward?

Organizational commitment and readiness
Does your organization have entrepreneurial capacity and spirit, readiness and commitment to move forward with a development or redevelopment project?

Climate resilient
Is your organization committed to providing sustainable housing? We seek to support projects that will prioritize being climate-ready and will ideally pursue step 3 of the BC Energy Code or greater.

We’re prioritizing initiatives created by and for:

• Indigenous, Black and other racialized groups
• Newcomers
• Womxn
• People living with disabilities
• 2SLGBTQIA+
• Other equity deserving groups

Geographic location
Priority is given to initiatives that are located in the following geographic areas: Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Southern-Vancouver Island (up to Nanaimo area), Squamish and Alert Bay.