Grant and Funding Programs Offered by Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation of Canada (SRCF)

The Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation of Canada is a national private foundation, incorporated in 1964 and registered with the Canada Revenue Agency. Funded through donations and bequests from members and friends of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of Canada, it uses the income from its endowment to make grants for charitable purposes within Canada. Its central focus is to support biomedical research into cognitive impairment and other "Puzzles of the Mind", as well as to operate Learning Centres that provide free, specialized tutoring for children with dyslexia.

The Foundation concentrates its financial assistance on research into the causes and eventual cure of cognitive impairments, especially conditions affecting children and older adults. Priority areas include dyslexia, autism, Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. Through its Grants and Awards Programme, the Foundation’s Awards Committee approves more than $900,000 annually in major research grants. These competitive Major Research Grants typically provide up to $60,000 per year for a period of up to three years to support early-career investigators based at eligible Canadian universities, research institutes and health care institutions.

Programs are clearly structured around regular application deadlines, standardized application forms and a detailed application guide. The Research Grants page describes eligibility for principal investigators, requirements for institutional endorsement, the expectation that research be conducted in Canada, and the focus on understanding causes and cures rather than palliative treatment. The Foundation also publishes competition results and maintains listings of funded projects by year, as well as an archive of previously awarded grants and studentships.

Beyond laboratory research, the Foundation has created the Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation Learning Centres for Children program. Based on successful US models, these centres deliver one-on-one, after-school tutoring to children with dyslexia using the Orton-Gillingham Approach. All tutoring is provided free of charge to families, and tutors are trained without cost. The centres are sustained through local and national fundraising, along with income from the Foundation’s investments, and now operate in multiple Canadian cities including London, Hamilton, Halifax, Calgary and others.

The Foundation is governed by officers and a board of directors drawn from across Canada. It publishes detailed Annual Reports dating back to 2002, which include financial statements, descriptions of funded research and updates on the Learning Centres. Additional transparency is provided through newsletters, the Clarion Magazine, and Valley Liaison information bulletins highlighting specific projects and investigators supported by the Foundation.

Through its research grants, the Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation of Canada primarily serves early-career biomedical researchers and their host institutions who are working to unravel the mechanisms of cognitive impairment. Through the Learning Centres, it directly benefits children with dyslexia and their families by providing access to high-quality remedial education at no cost. Over the decades, millions of dollars in grants and program funding have been distributed across Canada, contributing both to scientific advances and to improved educational outcomes for children with learning disabilities.