Grant and Funding Programs Offered by Entraide Committee – Public and Parapublic Sectors

The Entraide Committee – Public and Parapublic Sectors is a Québec government body mandated by Order-in-Council 676-2021 to promote and coordinate the annual Entraide fundraising campaign. Since the first campaign in 1968, Entraide has mobilized active and retired employees of the Québec public and parapublic sectors, as well as health professionals paid by the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec, to support people in vulnerable situations across all regions of Québec.

The Committee’s role is to organize a large-scale payroll-giving and donation drive, channel the funds collected, and ensure that donations are distributed in line with the choices expressed by donors. The campaign benefits three major partner organizations: the Centraide organizations in Québec, PartenaireSanté-Québec and its member health charities, and the Canadian Red Cross – Québec division. Through these partners, the funds support community organizations, health charities and emergency relief efforts.

Through Centraide, donations help fight poverty and social exclusion by supporting more than a thousand community organizations and projects focused on meeting basic needs, youth success, social inclusion and vibrant communities. Via PartenaireSanté-Québec, funds go to 20 national health charities that provide information, support services, equipment and respite to people affected by chronic and acute illnesses and to their caregivers. Through the Canadian Red Cross – Québec, donations contribute to emergency response, disaster relief and assistance to people facing crises.

The Committee itself does not run project calls in the usual grant-program sense, but it plays a central allocative role by consolidating the contributions of thousands of public servants and retirees and directing them, on a designated basis, to the partner organizations chosen by each donor.

The Entraide Committee is a parity body composed of up to 15 members representing government ministries and agencies, unions, professional associations and retirees, supported by a permanent secretariat. Its mission and mandate emphasize engagement, partnership, integrity, respect and transparency. Financial statements are published for each campaign year, and the Committee reports on amounts raised and distributed, reinforcing accountability toward both donors and beneficiary organizations.

Since the late 1960s, the Entraide campaign has evolved from an internal government solicitation to a broad solidarity movement across Québec’s public and parapublic sectors. Milestones highlighted on the site show the introduction of payroll deduction, the creation of a permanent secretariat in 1980, and a cumulative total of hundreds of millions of dollars raised and distributed over several decades. This long-term, structured fundraising mechanism makes the Entraide Committee a key institutional channel for philanthropic funding that strengthens the social safety net and supports health and community services throughout Québec.