Applicant guide: Funding for the Longitudinal Research Projects Stream – Work Integration Social Enterprises Phase II

Section A – Notice to applicants

If applying by email, please indicate the stream (“Longitudinal Research Stream”) in the subject line of your email.

Please read the entire guide before applying. It contains information about the Attestation, the information you provide in the application, and the access of information. Read these instructions carefully.

Section B – Applicant form

Part 1 – Organization

Organization identification

Question 1 – Legal name

Provide the legal name of your organization. This is usually:

• the name associated with your registration with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), or
• the name that would appear on funding cheques

Question 2 – Operating name (if different from legal name)

Provide the operating (or common) name of your organization if it is different from the legal name.

Question 3 – Year established

Indicate the year your organization or business was established.

Question 4 – Organization type

Select 1 of the following:

• not-for-profit organization
• private sector
• public sector

Note: For-profit organizations are eligible provided that the nature and intent of the activity is:

• non-commercial
• not intended to generate profit

To be eligible for funding, your organization must be 1 of the following types:

• post-secondary institutions:
  • colleges
  • universities
• other research organizations
• social purpose organizations (SPOs) with in-house research capacity as demonstrated by their experience in conducting research
• social purpose organizations that do not have in-house research capacity but can forge partnerships with external researchers, including:
  • commercial or not-for-profit research institutes
  • not for profit/social enterprises networks
  • work integration social enterprises (WISE) practitioners incorporated in and located in Canada

^*Research organizations are legal bodies involved in scientific research.

^**SPOs include: For-profit or not-for-profit research institutes, not-for-profit / social enterprises networks and WISE practitioners incorporated in and located in Canada.

Organizations that do not have in-house research capacity must include a proof of partnership with at least 1 external researcher. This proof of partnership can be:

• a letter of intent
• a letter of agreement
• an attestation, or
• a memorandum of understanding

You will need to confirm this partnership if your project is funded. The partner researcher should be a point of contact throughout the duration of the project.

Question 5 – Organization category

For the purpose of this call for proposal, your organization must be 1 of the following:

• not-for-profit sector:
  • local community, charitable, voluntary organizations
  • national non-governmental organizations
  • non-governmental organizations with a focus to encourage employment
  • provincial non-governmental organizations
• private sector:
  • businesses, bodies incorporated or unincorporated
  • private universities and colleges
• public sector:
  • public degree-granting colleges
  • public degree-granting universities
  • public community colleges and vocational schools
  • school board/other educational institution not classified elsewhere

Question 6 – Business or registration number

Indicate your 15-digit Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) business number or, for registered charities and not-for-profit organizations, your registration number (for example, 123456789 RR 0001).

You need to provide a proof of organization type and status. Use a formal document coming from Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) that includes your organization’s current address and business number.

Important: If you are unable to provide that document with your application, please provide a rationale as to why you cannot provide it. You should also provide us with a document that includes:

• registration number, or
• proof of provincial incorporation or registration

Please note that we still require a formal document coming from Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). It must include your organization’s current address and business number, but at a later date. We encourage you to get the process of obtaining that document started as early as possible.

For more information, please visit Canada Revenue Agency’s website.

You can visit Industry Canada/Corporations Canada’s website to consult the Federal Corporation database.

Question 7 – Organization primary address

Indicate the address of your organization, phone number and email address.

You must provide a complete address in a format recognized by Canada Post. Information is available on the Canada Post website.

Question 8 – Mailing address

Indicate if the mailing address is the same as your organization’s primary address.

If you select “no”, another section will appear for you to fill out your organizations mailing address.

Note: The application form will not work properly when opened in a web browser. You must download the form onto your computer. Then, use a PDF reading software (such as Adobe Reader DC or Foxit PDF Editor) to fill it in.

Question 9 – Organization's primary activities

Important: The application form gives a limit of 500 words for this question. You can attach a Word document to your grant application to provide more information. You must clearly specify the section and question number you are providing an answer for. Please provide concise answers.

• Describe how your organization has the expertise and capacity to carry out research projects, such as:
  • experience and results to carry out research projects in the fields of social economy, social enterprises, cooperatives, etc.
  • experience and expertise with organizations serving Black and other racialized Canadians
  • work with the work integration social enterprise (WISE)/social enterprise sector or in a similar field
• The organization should provide the number of years spent on each experience, and the total number of experiences in each of the above categories. For example:
  • number of years of experience working with organizations serving Black and other racialized groups
  • number of research projects in the field of study
  • number of years of experience working with social enterprise sector
• If applicable, include any experience with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and the results of the funding received
• Indicate the target group(s) that best aligns with your organization’s primary activities

Note: Organizations that do not have in-house research capacity will have to demonstrate the research capacity and experience of their partner organization instead of their own. The proof of partnership should include that information.

Organization contact

Primary contact

This should be your primary contact person for this application for funding.

Question 10 – Given name and surname

Provide the name of the person in your organization who will be the main contact for the proposed project.

Note: You must inform us if your main organizational contact changes.

Question 11 – Position title

Provide the title of the organization contact identified in Question 10.

For example:

• Business owner
• President
• Executive director

Question 12 – Preferred language of communication

Indicate the preferred language of the organization contact for both written and spoken communication (English or French).

Question 13 – Primary contact – address

Select whether the primary contact’s address is:

• same as organization primary address
• same as organization primary mailing address
• different (include below)

If you select "Different (include below)", a new set of boxes to complete an address will appear for you to populate.

Note: The application form will not work properly when opened in a web browser. You must download the form onto your computer. Then, use a PDF reading software (such as Adobe Reader DC or Foxit PDF Editor) to fill it in.

Secondary contact

This is your secondary contact person with respect to this application for funding in case we cannot reach the primary contact.

Questions 14 to 17 – Secondary contact

If we cannot reach the main contact, who else can we contact? Provide the person’s full name, telephone number where we can reach them during business hours and their email address.

Note: The application form will not work properly when opened in a web browser. You must download the form onto your computer. Then, use a PDF reading software (such as Adobe Reader DC or Foxit PDF Editor) to fill it in.

Questions 18 to 19 – Does your organization owe any amounts to the Government of Canada? Is a payment plan in place?

Select “yes” or “no”.

If “no” proceed to question 20.

If “yes”, complete the fields for each amount owing. If your answer is “yes”, we will not reject your application for this reason. However, you must provide details as to the type of debt owed and department or agency to which you are owing the amount.

Here is an example:

Table 1: Amount owing to the Government of Canada

Amount owing	Nature of amount owing (such as, taxes, penalties, overpayments)	Department or agency to which money is owed	If an amount is owing, is a payment plan in place?
$10,000	Overpayment	Employment and Social Development Canada	Answer “yes” or “no”

Part 2 – Project proposal

Project proposal identification

Question 20 – Project title

Provide a brief and descriptive project title.

Questions 21 and 22 – Planned project start and end dates

Indicate the planned start and end dates of your proposed project. Projects are expected to begin in March 2023 and must be completed by March 31, 2027.

You can only start your project activities after we have approved your project and signed a funding agreement by both, your organization and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). Expenses incurred outside of the agreement timeframe will not be covered.

Question 23 – Amount requested from Employment and Social Development Canada

For this question, provide the amount of funding you are requesting from ESDC. The maximum amount of funding you can request must not be more than $550,000.

Project proposal description

Question 24 – Project summary

Important: The application form gives a limit of 500 words for this question. You can attach a Word document to your grant application to provide more information. You must clearly specify the section and question number you are providing an answer for. Please provide concise answers.

In your application you must clearly describe the:

• longitudinal elements of the study:
  • a longitudinal study follows the same participants over multiple years and measures before and after interventions
• methodology:
  • your project proposal must include the methodology on how your longitudinal research project will address the research objectives (see Question 25). Your proposal must include the following:
    • a research design
    • a sampling strategy and sample size
    • criteria for selecting social enterprises
    • timing of data collection
    • data collection tools
    • an analytical plan
    • a plan for preparing interim reports
    • a plan to produce a final report in both English and French, including accessible formats
  • project proposals must include a plan on how you will engage and track participants (both individuals and organizations). Engagement activities can include but are not limited to:
    • site visits by the research team
    • timelines for contacting individuals participating to the study
    • annual project level workshops to share information
    • activities to build team spirit and boost retention
  • project proposals can include a plan to recruit and track similar participants in non-social enterprise model work integration interventions. This comparison group should be made up of individuals as similar as possible to the treatment group. The comparison group’s progress should be measured in the same way as for the social enterprise group
• plan to recruit at least one employment social enterprise such as a work integration social enterprise (WISE) that will be participating in the study:
  • ensure that your response includes:
    • names of potential organizations and the type of organization (for example not-for-profit, publicly funded, etc.)
    • timelines for recruiting organizations
    • the depth and level of engagement expected of participating organizations
  Note: You do not need your employment social enterprise partner confirmed when you submit your application. However, you must describe how you will recruit participating organizations and demonstrate that social enterprises are present in the catchment area of your study.
• knowledge transfer activities to share with the social enterprise sector:
  • these activities will aim to share methods and tools with the social enterprise sector to build their capacity in:
    • measuring their outcomes and impacts
    • strengthening a culture of continuously measuring, learning and improving interventions
  • knowledge transfer activities can include (but are not limited to):
    • mentoring
    • coaching
    • developing templates
    • delivery of information sessions
    • training, etc.
  • the proposal should describe how it will share information about how to track the impacts of their training. This will help them to improve the effectiveness of social enterprises inside the project and those outside of the project in general
  • the proposal should:
    • discuss the co-development of tools (measurement) with the social enterprises
    • ask social enterprises what they would like to measure
    • ask social enterprises if they think the tools are practical, measurable and not too burdensome to sustain
    • validate the tools with the social enterprises after use. Discuss with social enterprises rejecting or replacing tools that did not turn out to be useful, and reporting on promising practices
    • discuss sharing these tools, techniques and promising practices beyond the social enterprises in the sample. The tools will continue to be in use by work integration social enterprises (WISE) after the end of the project
• dissemination plan that will produce and share your research findings in both English and French including in accessible formats:
  • for example, mechanisms for disseminating the findings could include:
    • publishing findings on government sites in the spirit of open government, (on going throughout the project implementation years)
    • producing annual progress reports (ongoing throughout the project implementation years)
    • producing a final report highlighting best practices and lessons learned (at the end of the project)
    • organizing an end-line workshop where all project stakeholders come together to learn and discuss major findings, evidence, best practices and lessons learned
    • organizing appropriate knowledge dissemination sessions which could take an in-person or virtual format (ongoing throughout the project implementation years)
    • encouraging researchers to publish their findings in peer reviewed journals and also to share these publications with the public
• expected results of your project:
  • they must be specific, concrete and measurable (qualitative or quantitative), and defined as outputs and outcomes:
    • outputs are tangible products, including goods and services, stemming from the activities of the organization within the control of the organization itself. Examples of outputs include (but are not limited to):
      • planned study design
      • baseline reports
      • interim research reports findings (as per the required schedule)
      • a final report on research findings in English and French, including in accessible formats, and/or
      • participate in annual webinars and an event organized by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) in year 5 of the research
    • outcomes are the short-term and intermediate changes expected to occur as the result of the project (more than 1 outcome could be directly related to an objective). They answer the questions:
      • how do we know the project is successful?
      • how do the activities lead to improvements for the beneficiaries?
      Examples of outcomes include (but are not limited to):
      • create an evidence base on the effectiveness of work integration social enterprises (WISE) for Black and racialized persons in Canada
      • estimate, quantitatively and qualitatively, the impacts of WISE interventions on immediate, medium and long term social and labour market outcomes for participants
      • build and strengthen partnerships between researchers and WISE practitioners
      • build participating WISEs’ capacity to measure and report on social outcomes
• plan to gather, measure and report on your project’s results using performance indicators
  • describe how you plan to gather, measure and report on results achieved by your project
  • you must provide performance indicators which will clearly demonstrate how they will measure each anticipated result and ensure the project is progressing as planned. Organizations must select indicators that will be useful to both social enterprises practitioners and funders (both governmental and non-governmental)
    • a performance indicator provides:
      • evidence that you have or have not achieved your expected results
      • the ability to assess the progress achieved towards the intended outputs, outcomes, goals and objectives of the project
    • examples of indicators, but not limited to:
      • number of participants recruited
      • number of social enterprise(s) recruited

Question 25 – Program objectives and priorities

Important: The application form gives a limit of 500 words for this question. You can attach a Word document to your grant application to provide more information. You must clearly specify the section and question number you are providing an answer for. Please provide concise answers.

You must clearly describe how your project will meet the following program objectives:

• to assess the extent to which social enterprises contribute to the social and labour market integration of Black and racialized Canadians
• address the following policy research questions:
  • what are the characteristics of social enterprises serving Black and racialized groups?
  • what are the characteristics of the clients of these social enterprises?
  • how and to what extent do these social enterprises help promote the social and labour market integration of Black and racialized persons in Canada?
    • For example: improvement in employment mental health, wellbeing and other socio-economic outcomes

Question 26 – Project activities

List the main activities of the research project and its timelines.

• List the activities in the chart in the form, and organize them in chronological order
• Include activity timelines that are feasible
• Link the activities to the project costs outlined in the budget

Eligible activities can include, but are not limited to the following:

• preparing data collection tools
• recruiting a sample of participants
• collecting data
• analyzing data
• preparing reports
• knowledge transfer activities such as (but not limited to) mentoring, coaching, developing templates, delivering information sessions, training, etc.
• disseminating findings to the public

Note: Project activities must be additional and go beyond the organization’s normal activities, as the WISE Research program does not provide core funding.

Example:

Table 2: Project activities

Activities	Timelines
Recruitment of social enterprises	Months 1 to 3
Preparation of catchment area report	Months 3 to 8
Baseline data collection	Months 8 to 20
Baseline data analysis	Months 12 to 24
Repeated measures data collection	Months 24 to 45
Data analysis	Months 9 to 48
Preparation of final report	Months 48 to 50
Dissemination of findings	Ongoing
Submit final report in English and French, including accessible formats	Month 50

Question 27 – Project activity location

Are any of the proposed project activities at your organization’s primary address?

Select “yes” or “no”.

Are any of the proposed activities in a different location from your organization’s primary address?

Select “yes” or “no”.

If you select “yes”, another section will appear for you to fill out the other location where the activities will occur.

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) may give priority to a project to increase the geographical representation of the program across multiple provinces and territories.

Note: The application form will not work properly when opened in a web browser. You must download the form onto your computer. Then, use a PDF reading software (such as Adobe Reader DC or Foxit PDF Editor) to fill it in.

Question 28 – Official language minority community

Will the project or any of its activities involve or benefit people in English or French linguistic minority communities in Canada, in some way?

Select “yes” or “no” or “Not Applicable”.

We commit to enhance the vitality of the English and French linguistic minorities in Canada. We support and assist their development and foster the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society. Official language minority communities are English-speaking communities established within the province of Québec and French-speaking communities established outside the province of Québec.

Answering “no” to this question will not invalidate your application.

If your proposed project involves official language minority communities, you should answer “yes” to this question. Complete the question following the instructions in the Application Form.

Find more information about official language minority communities.

Question 29 – Targeted vulnerable groups

Is your project targeting vulnerable and underrepresented groups?

Select “yes” or “no”. Since this is a mandatory criteria of the program, only projects that select “yes” will be eligible for funding.

Select the specific target group(s) that applies to your proposal.

To be eligible, your research must be targeting Black and/or other racialized groups (visible minorities).

• Your answer must be “Visible Minorities”
• You have to specify the targeted group(s) in the field “Other (specify)”

Part 3 – Budget

Question 30 – Project costs

List each activity or service and its associated cost. Use the cost categories listed below in the Eligible costs.

Costs must be reasonable and support the project activities.

Clear linkages between the project activities and the project costs outlined in the budget.

Eligible costs

Eligible costs are those considered necessary to carry out the purpose and activities of the project, which could include the following:

• wages and employment-related costs for research project staff
• memberships fees (for example licences, permits)
• professional service fees
• materials and office supplies
• travel
• equipment lease or purchase (the value is less than the amount identified in the funding agreement under the disposition of capital assets clause or without lease to own)
• translation fees
• costs for evaluations and assessments
• costs related to research subjects
• organizational administration costs (if you demonstrate that they relate directly to the project) such as:
  • rent
  • utilities
  • taxes
  • office maintenance and other buildings

Ineligible cost

The following costs are ineligible for funding:

• capital costs^*, such as computers, furniture, and computer software
• costs related to work integration social enterprises (WISE) interventions
• participant costs and wages, such as cost of transportation, basic living expenses and accommodation
• regular ongoing operational activities of an organization including administration (overhead) costs

^* Capital costs are costs for any single item or composite of assets with a purchase value of more than $5,000. These item(s) are not physically incorporated into another product or are not fully consumed by the end of the project.

Question 31 – Funding sources

We do not require contributions from other sources other than the Government of Canada for this call for proposals.

The amount you have provided in Question 23 will appear in the row titled “amount requested from Employment and Social Development Canada”.

However, if you receive cash or in-kind contributions from sources other than the Government of Canada, please include the following information:

• the names of all the organizations contributing
• if the contributions are cash or donations (in-kind)
• the funding amount, and
• if the amount is confirmed or not

Question 32 – Budget details

Use this field to provide any other budgetary details that you may consider necessary to describe your project. Provide a breakdown of total costs per fiscal year. Fiscal years start April 1 and end March 31. For example, a 3-year proposal with eligible costs of $90,000:

• fiscal year 2023 to 2024: $40,000
• fiscal year 2024 to 2025: $30,000
• fiscal year 2025 to 2026: $20,000

Part 4 – Attestation

(This section is mandatory)

To be eligible, an official representative must attest that they:

• have the capacity and the authority to submit an Application for Funding on behalf of the organization
• certify that the information provided in the Application for Funding and any supporting documentation is true, accurate, and complete; and
• have read the applicant guide and understood the program’s requirements

To do this, the official representative must provide their name, title and the date. Official representatives do not need to sign this form as this is an attestation.