Springboard for innovation

• The applicant must be a member school of the Fédération des établissements d’enseignement privés (FEEP).
• The project must support development and innovation in pedagogy and/or educational support services, improving the educational reality and/or the school/community climate.
• The project must be innovative and based on exemplary practices, demonstrating leadership in its field.
• The project must deliver lasting impact beyond the trial period and be transferable (i.e., applicable within FEEP schools’ teaching, learning, or student support practices).
• The project must engage school partners (e.g., parents, management, students, community, teachers, or other staff) and include a supervision and results-evaluation approach.

Who is not eligible

• Businesses and organizations that are not FEEP member schools (the fund is made available to schools that are members of the Federation).

Eligible expenses

• Costs to replace teachers participating in the project (teacher release time).
• Fees and daily allowances for external consultants.
• Partial reimbursement of travel costs within Québec for team members who must travel more than 50 km to meet the rest of the team.

Eligible geographic areas

• Quebec (travel expenses eligible only for trips of more than 50 km within Quebec).

• Compliance with the program’s eligibility requirements (projects are first screened by an initial selection committee for conformity).
• Merit-based assessment by a second committee (including a recommendation on the funding amount, within the total funds available and according to the funding rules).
• Priority consideration for projects aligned with the fund’s priority topics (e.g., school model transformation; student mental and physical health; support for students with special needs; student engagement/joy of learning; socio-emotional skills; French language quality; transitions between education levels; learning assessment; staff onboarding and continuing professional development).
• Project quality factors that may negatively affect selection: unclear objective; weak/absent evaluation method; missing information or poor description of planned activities; budget that is vague or inflated and shows limited cost-optimization; project depends entirely on the grant and cannot continue beyond the funded year; limited potential benefits for other schools (lack of transferability/exportability).
• Project quality factors that may positively affect selection: clear improvement to teaching/learning or student support practices; novelty (or meaningful new elements vs. a prior project) and demonstrated leadership; strong staff participation and engagement; well-described expected results; at least one method to evaluate outcomes/impact; activities grounded in research on best practices; alignment with the Federation’s work plan; detailed budget maximizing local resources; sustainability beyond the funding period; results/products usable by other schools.

• The fund was previously known as the Fonds d’aide au développement éducatif (FADÉ).
• An annual envelope of $60,000 is available, including $5,000 dedicated to regional initiatives.
• Selected projects are highlighted at the Innovation Awards Gala held at the National Assembly in Québec City (announced for May 6).