Funding Programs
- Paid internships offered to over 200 youths with a passion for radio
- 542 projects funded under 5 funding programs
- Over $14.5 million injected into the campus and community radio sector
- More than 300 partnerships created with community groups
- More than 40 000 hours of new local programming produced
- Over 1 000 jobs created
- Training and support offered to more than 1 700 dedicated volunteers
- More than 4 500 volunteers recruited
Available programs
Radiometres
Radiometres is the cornerstone of the funding currently distributed by the CRFC and has been running since 2012. A new round of programming is launched each year in January.
Applications for Radiometres 2020-2021 are now closed!
To read the program guidelines, click here: 2020 Guidelines
The CRFC also offers a series of webinars for applicants to help them with their funding application:
My CRFC Project – Success Factors 1 (goals and measurable results)
My CRFC Project – Success Factors 2 (timeline)
My CRFC Project – Success Factors 3 (budget)
Radiometres is characterized by an outcome-based approach. It is designed to offer the funding that the stations need by being flexible enough to find a wide range of activities, but also maintains a focus on measuring success and progress for each project funded.
The program targets three outcomes :
- High-quality, locally-reflective music and spoken word programming.
- Skilled and sustainable volunteer participation in local content creation and operations
- Diverse community participation in governance, programming and content.
These outcomes were chosen to reflect the aims of CRFC funding as well as the desired impact of funding awarded on the campus and community radio sector and the broader canadian broadcasting system.
By targeting these outcomes over the long-term, the CRFC hopes to foster the development and sustanability of campus and community radios, and volunteer participation. We are on the right track! To date, Radiometres has had a significant impact on the sector by allowing 124 stations to :
Program results:
- Produce over 34,790 hours of new local programming
- Create 785 paid positions
- Allow 2 079 volunteers to contribute, 3 871 new volunteers to be recruited, and training to be offered to 1 474 volunteers
- Create 338 new partnerships with local community organizations and participate in 308 local event
LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE
The Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) supports the creation of local journalism that covers the diverse needs of underserved communities across Canada. Funding is available to eligible Canadian media organizations to hire journalists produce local journalism for underserved communities. The content produced will be made available to media organizations through a Creative Commons license so that Canadians can be better informed.
The Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC) is one of the not-for-profit organizations administering the Initiative. This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.
Phase 2 :
Deadline to apply: June 23, 2020
To read the program guidelines, click here: LJI Phase 2 Guidelines
Phase 1:
January 21, 2020 – Recipients of LJI funding are announced
Expected outcomes of the program:
- Increase in journalistic capacity in underserved communities.
- Increased access to local news and civic journalism in underserved communities.
- Increase in consumption of local news in underserved communities.
Technical Support Micro-Grant
A special emergency fund of $356 000 has been allocated by the CRFC to support the creation and distribution of spoken word content by stations created outside of their broadcast studios during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond. With reduced access to broadcast studios in a period of crisis where communities need to be kept informed as much as possible, we feel this funding can help stations fulfill their duties as an essential service to their communities.
The CRFC is offering a micro-grant up to $2,000 to support stations who have had additional technical needs to be able to continue creating and distributing original programming during the COVID-19 crisis.
Eligible applicants are Canadian stations who hold a valid CRTC-issued campus or community radio broadcasting license (as set out in Public Notice CRTC 2010-499).
Download the application form.
Deadline – June 5, 2020.
Funding offered to Canadian campus and community radio associations
Since the year 2014-2015, the CRFC allocates a funding envelope to the three largest campus and community radio associations in Canada : the Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada (ARC du Canada), the Association des radiodiffuseurs communautaires du Québec (ARCQ), and the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA). Collectively, these three associations represent the majority of the 180 campus and community stations that possess a valid campus or community broadcasting licence issued by the CRTC.
The CRFC provides support to the three associations so that they may provide specific services to their members. The funds are to be used to reinforce the capabilities of the sectors by helping stations coordinate their activities, train volunteers et employees, and create new musical and spoken word content. This funding allocation has allowed a majority of stations to receive professional coaching and supervision.
Past Programs
Youth on Air!
Campus and community radio stations depend on the participation of community members. In order to highlight this crucial role and to underscore the importance of youth involvement in community broadcasting, the CRFC launched the pilor program Youth on Air! in 2015. This program is no longer offered.
Youth on Air! allowed stations to offer youths between 16 and 30 years of age a unique experience within the community radio sector through educational grants. This program was geared towards stations seeking to work with young Canadians in seach of mentorship, education, and/or training within a community-oriented radio station. The aim of the program was to develop radio talent, and, at the same time, reinforce station capacities and productivity.
The two components of the program were as follow :
- Mentoring, apprenticeship or training offered to young Canadians
- Musical or spoken word programming of local interest produced by the youth intern.
Under this program, the CRFC supported 44 programs across two rounds of funding. A total amount of $419,303 was invested with the aim to promote the presence of youths in the sector.
Program results :
- Production of over 3 000 hours of new programming
- Creation of 68 new remunerated positions and recruitment of 119 new volunteers
- Training and supervision offered to more than 300 employees and volunteers
Radio Talent Development Program / Youth Internship Program
The aim of the Radio Talent Development Program was to develop innovative local interest programming. The components of this program were: (a) producing local-interest content in the area of spoken word, and (b) providing training, mentoring, and/or education to those producing this content.
As for the Youth Internship Program, the goal wass to increase station capacity and outreach through recruitment, hiring, and training of young talented radio programmers while contributing new and innovative programming to stations. The components of this program were : (a) the mentorship, education, and/or training of a youth intern(s), and (b) music or spoken word programming produced by the intern(s).
From 2009 to 2014, the CRFC financially supported 127 projects under these programs, amounting to a total investments of $956,418. These two programs are closed and not longer offered by the CRFC.
Program results :
- Production of 5535 hours of new programming
- Creation of 281 jobs
- Involvement of 646 volunteers
- Recruitment of over 600 volunteers