How to check if you are eligible for a government grant

Most wasted grant applications fail on eligibility, not quality. The rules are written by program staff for a specific policy goal, and they are strict about who and what qualifies. The good news is that you can test eligibility in about an hour if you work through it in the right order. Our database covers 500 federal and Ontario programs, and in every one the eligibility section answers the same handful of questions.

Step 1: Know your applicant type

Programs are written for a specific kind of applicant: an incorporated business, a sole proprietor, a non-profit, a municipality, an Indigenous community or business, a researcher, a farmer or an individual. Start by finding programs aimed at your type. We group programs by audience so you can see them in one list: small businesses, non-profits, farmers, Indigenous businesses and communities and individuals and families. Be careful with size definitions. "Small business" is defined differently from program to program, often by employee count or revenue.

Step 2: Check location, size and structure

Provincial programs usually require a permanent establishment or operations in Ontario. Federal programs may be limited to a region, for example a regional development agency that only serves one part of the province. Many ask for a minimum or maximum number of employees or annual revenue, a minimum time in business, or a particular legal structure. Read these lines literally. Here is how three real programs open their eligibility sections, taken directly from our data:

• Ontario Job Grant (formerly Canada-Ontario Job Grant): "Private and non-profit employers with a physical Ontario location operating at least one year."
• BDC Pivot to Grow (tariff support loans): "Canadian-based, annual revenue $1M or more, at least 3 years in business with historically positive cash flow, at least 15% of sales exported to the U.S."
• Land Transfer Tax Refund for First-Time Homebuyers: "Purchaser must be at least 18, must not have owned a home or interest in a home anywhere in the world (nor a spouse while a spouse), must occupy the home as principal residence within nine months of transfer, and must be a Canadian citizen or permanent..."

Step 3: Match your project to eligible activities and costs

Eligibility has two halves: who you are and what you want to spend money on. Most grants fund a defined list of activities (training, equipment, market expansion, research) and a defined list of costs (wages, contractors, equipment, travel). Costs outside the list, or costs paid before approval, are commonly excluded. Write down your project in two or three sentences and compare it to the program's stated purpose. If you have to stretch to make it fit, it probably does not.

Step 4: Check status and timing

A program can be open, ongoing, intake-based (accepting applications in windows), paused or closed. Our status labels come from each program's official page, and we show the date we last checked. Open means applications are being accepted. Ongoing usually means there is no deadline, such as a tax credit you claim each year. Intake-based means you need to watch for the next window. A closed program is still worth noting, since many reopen, but you cannot apply now. Of the programs in our database, 235 are open or ongoing today.

Step 5: Look for exclusions and stacking rules

Programs commonly exclude applicants who are already funded for the same costs, who owe money to the government, or who are in certain sectors. Stacking rules cap the total government support you can receive for one project, counting federal, provincial and sometimes municipal funding. If you plan to combine programs, check each one's rules and disclose the others on every application.

Step 6: Confirm with the program itself

Our summaries are a starting point, not a decision. Open the official page linked from the program's page on this site, read the current guide, and contact the program officer if anything is unclear. Ask short, specific questions such as "Are costs incurred after submission but before approval eligible?" and keep the reply. Programs update their rules, and the official page always wins over any summary, including ours.

A quick eligibility checklist

• Does the program serve my applicant type, location and size?
• Does my project match its stated purpose and eligible activities?
• Are the costs I plan to claim on the eligible list, and incurred after the allowed date?
• Is the program open now, and when is the deadline or next intake?
• Do I have the matching funds or cash flow the program expects?
• Have I checked exclusions and stacking rules?

Not sure where to start? Try the one-minute matcher or read the documents checklist before you apply.