Grant and Funding Programs Offered by TD FEF

Role of TD Friends of the Environment Foundation in the funding ecosystem

TD Friends of the Environment Foundation (TD FEF) is a national Canadian charity created by TD Bank Group in 1990 to support community-based environmental initiatives. The Foundation focuses on revitalizing, animating and stewarding public green spaces, and has funded more than 30,000 local environmental projects across Canada with over $121 million in grants. Because TD Bank covers all administrative costs and contributes over $1 million annually, 100% of every dollar donated to TD FEF goes directly to environmental projects at the community level.

Funding focus and typical projects

TD FEF supports a wide range of grassroots initiatives with a primary emphasis on environmental education and green space programs. Eligible project types include schoolyard greening and outdoor classrooms, community gardens, park and trail revitalization, tree planting and urban greening, habitat restoration and naturalization, citizen science, and other programs that connect people to nature. The Foundation’s portfolio intentionally combines local and national projects, from community gardens and nature-play schoolyards to accessibility upgrades on trails and biodiversity monitoring initiatives.

Eligibility and target applicants

Funding is available to registered Canadian charities, educational institutions at the primary, secondary and post-secondary levels, municipalities, and Indigenous groups and communities. Projects must take place in Canada and on lands with public access. TD FEF does not fund core operating or administrative expenses, infrastructure-heavy capital projects, land acquisition, research-only work, or activities outside Canada; instead, it prioritizes on-the-ground environmental action and education.

Grant making approach and timelines

TD FEF runs a structured grant program with two main intakes each year. Winter submissions are due January 15 with decisions issued in April, while summer submissions are due July 15 with decisions issued in October. All applications are submitted online, including a detailed budget. Funding requests are needs-based and there is no fixed minimum or maximum amount, though most grants fall in the $2,000–$8,000 range, allowing relatively modest contributions to catalyze meaningful change in communities.

Governance and decision-making

Applications are reviewed by six Regional Advisory Boards composed of TD employees and environmental leaders from the respective regions. These volunteer boards assess alignment with TD FEF’s priorities, such as community engagement, environmental education, relevance to local environmental issues and long-term stewardship of project sites. This regional model helps ensure funding decisions are informed by local context and community needs.

Publics served and overall impact

Through its grants and flagship volunteer initiative, TD Tree Days, the Foundation engages schools, Indigenous communities, municipalities, environmental non-profits and grassroots groups across the country. In 2025 alone, TD FEF supported 546 projects, distributing more than $4.4 million in grants across multiple regions and funding categories including environmental education, urban green spaces, community gardens, outdoor classrooms, citizen science and habitat restoration. Over more than 35 years, this consistent support has helped green communities, restore ecosystems and foster environmental stewardship from coast to coast to coast.