Grant and Funding Programs Offered by Fonds de solidarité des groupes populaires (FSGP)

The Fonds de solidarité des groupes populaires (FSGP) is a community-based non-profit fund created in 1974 in Québec City. It was established by several neighborhood organizations seeking financial autonomy after cuts to their external funding. The FSGP pools the fundraising efforts of its member groups and redistributes the money to them, providing complementary and relatively flexible funding alongside government and philanthropic sources such as Centraide.

According to its mission statement, the fund exists to finance grassroots organizations involved in collective rights defence in the Québec and Capitale‑Nationale region. These organizations work on issues such as housing, poverty, urban planning, information and popular culture, environmental protection, and the fundamental rights of people involved with the justice system. Funding from the FSGP helps them carry out training, popular education and awareness activities, as well as broader social mobilizations.

The FSGP does not operate like a traditional competitive grant program; instead, it functions as a solidarity fund between member organizations. Annual fundraising campaigns generate revenues which are then allocated among member groups. Historically, distribution was based on assessed needs, but since the early 1990s the fund has opted for equal sharing between members, reinforcing fairness and collective decision‑making.

Member groups include tenants’ rights organizations, neighborhood citizen committees, social rights advocacy groups, community radio, environmental organizations and independent media. The fund is particularly oriented toward organizations working in collective defence of human rights and addressing inequality, discrimination, vulnerability and social exclusion.

The FSGP is managed on a self-governance model. Member organizations together constitute both the general assembly and the board of directors. They collectively decide on the orientations of the annual fundraising campaign, benefit activities and the overall management of the fund. A staff coordinator is hired to support day‑to‑day operations, while strategic decisions remain in the hands of the grassroots organizations.

Activity reports, published regularly on the website, present the results of each fundraising campaign, amounts collected, and how they have allowed the fund to support member groups. This practice contributes to transparency and illustrates the impact of the fund as a source of complementary revenue that can determine whether specific activities or projects can go ahead.

Through its funding, the FSGP indirectly supports residents of central neighborhoods and vulnerable populations in the broader Capitale‑Nationale region. By strengthening organizations active in housing rights, poverty reduction, environmental justice and civic participation, the fund contributes to improving living conditions and fighting the impoverishment and exclusion of citizens.

The FSGP is also itself an experiment in community self‑financing: it is created by and for popular groups, which democratically administer the funds they raise. This makes it a distinctive actor in Québec’s social economy, complementing state funding and private philanthropy with a locally governed solidarity mechanism.