Questions and Answers – 2021 call for concept notes – Development Impact Window – Canadian Small and Medium Organizations for Impact and Innovation

You are asked to provide 2 separate financial statements for the most recent fiscal years. For example, the most recent fiscal year may have ended in March 2021 or December 2020, depending on the fiscal year schedule of your organization. This would be considered 1 financial statement. Using the same example fiscal years, the second financial statement would be for the fiscal year ending in March 2020 or December 2019. Please remember that you are asked to provide 2 separate financial statements. Audited statements are preferred. If audited statements are not possible, statements must be signed by a member of the board of directors or delegate or by the owners.

As mentioned on the call page, past project examples should demonstrate “significant and relevant technical experience, success in delivering results and ability (expertise and experience) to carry out a project of the proposed size and nature.” It is at the applicant’s discretion to determine which past project example best demonstrates these elements. The points listed on the call page should be highlighted if they apply to the past project example, but they are not requirements.

There is no specific timeline required. However, past project examples that are more recent will help demonstrate organizational ability to carry out the proposed project.

Yes. The attestation must be printed, signed and uploaded to the portal with your application package.

A number will be automatically assigned to your application once you start to create a proposal in the Partners@International portal. This is the proposal number requested in the attestation form.

As indicated on the call page, your organization must provide 2 separate financial statements for the 2 most recently completed fiscal years (for example, 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021). Audited statements are preferred. Otherwise, statements must be signed by a member of the board of directors or their delegate, or by the owner(s).

As indicated on the call page, your organization must not have annual overseas expenditures exceeding $2 million in development assistance (i.e. projects administered with the promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries as their main objective). This includes humanitarian assistance and, potentially, institutional strengthening, depending on whether the main objective of this work was the promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries.

For more information on the definition of Canadian "official development assistance", please refer to the section, Information for Applicants, on the webpage, The Official Development Assistance Accountability Act, including the Guidance Note links in that section.

If a scholarship program was done as development assistance and the main objective of this work was the promotion of economic development and welfare of developing countries, it should count toward overseas expenditures.

For more information on the definition of Canadian "official development assistance", please refer to the section, Information for Applicants, on the webpage, The Official Development Assistance Accountability Act, including the Guidance Note links in that section.

No. You may only submit 1 concept note under this call as either the lead signatory or co-signatory. If your organization submits more than 1 application, either on its own or as a co-signatory, we will only consider the 1 with the earliest submission time stamp.

Yes.

No. This information is used for the merit assessment of your proposal, and not for eligibility screening. As indicated on the call page, concept notes that meet the organization eligibility requirements will proceed to assessment based on merit criteria listed under "How we assess your concept note", including the section "Organizational ability relevant to the initiative".

No, this is not an eligibility requirement; rather, it is guidance intended to give you more insight into how to design your project and how Global Affairs Canada applies criteria at the merit assessment stage. It is important that you are designing a project for which you have adequate experience to implement.

No. The project experience example must be provided by the signatory or a co-signatory.

No. Organizations must provide 2 separate financial statements for the 2 most recently completed fiscal years.

No.

No. If your organization is submitting a concept note in partnership with another organization, each of which would co-sign the funding agreement with Global Affairs Canada, then each organization (each co-signatory) must provide 2 separate financial statements for the 2 most recently completed fiscal years.

No. Donations in kind should not be considered when an organization is calculating its annual overseas expenditures in development assistance.

Yes. For-profit organizations are eligible as long as they meet the organization eligibility requirements. However, proposed projects are not permitted to generate a profit for the applicants or for any other implementing organization involved in the project.

The lead signatory and all co-signatories must be registered in the Partners@International portal. Co-signatories must submit all required organization documents under their portal profile (in other words, a letter of incorporation or proof of an organization’s legal status, and 2 separate financial statements, but not the attestation form). All proposal documents (in other words, the complete and validated concept note and all signed organization attestation forms from the lead signatory and all co-signatories) must be submitted by the lead signatory only.

In order to be eligible for this call, an SMO cannot have consolidated revenue of more than $10 million for the last completed (most recent) fiscal year. Organizations that exceed this threshold are not eligible to apply for this call.

For the purposes of deciding whether an organization meets the definition of an SMO, the calculation of consolidated revenues and overseas expenditures is based on the most recent completed fiscal year.

Yes. Non-signatories can be non-Canadian organizations.

If the faculty, department or institute applying has an autonomous budget within the university, then the financial statements of the autonomous faculty, department or institute should be used to determine eligibility. If the university’s budget is centralized, the small and medium organization (SMO) attestation must be done at that level, and the university’s financial statements must be used to determine eligibility. The person signing the SMO attestation must be responsible for the budget of either the faculty, department or institute that is submitting the application or the university as a whole.

Yes. However, any signatories to a funding agreement with Global Affairs Canada must meet all eligibility criteria. As a result, an organization would not be permitted to be a lead signatory or a co-signatory for the 2021 call if that organization was approved for funding under the 2017 or 2019 calls.

No. Proposed signatories must be registered in the Partners@International portal and must meet all of the organization eligibility requirements to be considered under this call, which includes being legally incorporated in Canada. Applications that do not meet all organization eligibility requirements and required project parameters will not proceed to merit assessment.

Completing the Local Partner(s) - Information Form is optional at the concept note stage. If the information is available, you are encouraged to submit it, as it can give a more complete picture of your proposed project. Organizations invited to submit a full proposal will be required to complete the local partner form at the full proposal stage. Local partner forms will be assessed at the full proposal stage.

Global Affairs Canada is using a 2-stage process for this call. The concept note stage is intended to gather general information on proposed projects and applicants. The full proposal stage is used to get more detailed and complete information about the proposed project and the applicant, including local partners and how the project design reflects input from local consultations. Please consult the guidance text in the concept note form when preparing your concept note. As well, the How we assess your concept note section of the call page was designed to indicate what elements are assessed at the concept note stage and what elements are assessed at both stages.

No. If you use other software, the application will be considered ineligible.

No. Signatories must remain consistent across the different application stages.

Yes. They can apply if they meet the eligibility requirements of this call.

Yes. Both calls are distinct, and you can submit a concept note to both calls. Please visit the website of the Fund for Innovation and Transformation for more information.

No. A project budget will only be asked for and evaluated at the second step of this process. In other words, you will only be required to submit a budget if you are invited to submit a full proposal. Organizations that are invited to submit a full proposal will be asked at that time to provide a budget table with cost details. While exact costing is not expected at the time of application (as budgets often require adjustments over time), it is expected that the first version of the detailed budget provided to Global Affairs Canada will provide solid financial information, and that if the project is approved, there will be only limited adjustments made to that budget.

No. Only the lead signatory and co-signatories need to meet the eligibility criteria.

The recommended minimum number of intermediate outcomes is two, and the maximum is three. For more information, please consult the Results-based management for international assistance programming: A how-to guide.

No. An organization does not need to re-register for this call. However, the organization should ensure that all of their information and contacts are accurate and up to date.

No. Global Affairs Canada will only consider information contained in the documents that are required for this call.

No. Only the documents requested on the call page in the “How to submit your application package” section will be accepted at this stage of the process.

Yes.

Yes. The eligibility criteria limits one application per organization as the lead signatory or a co-signatory.

Yes. Each co-signatory must meet all of the organization eligibility requirements for this call.

Please refer to the definitions of sub-agreement, sub-project and ultimate recipient at Contribution Agreement - General Terms and Conditions for more information. As indicated on the call page, an organization would not be permitted to be a lead signatory or a co-signatory for the 2021 call if that organization was approved for funding under the 2017 or 2019 calls.

If a newly amalgamated organization has a new Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) business number, then a new organization registration must be submitted to the Partners@International portal. Please complete the registration process as soon as possible if you intend to submit a concept note for this call.

If a newly amalgamated organization is continuing to use an existing CRA business number for an organization already registered in the portal, then the organization’s existing profile can continue to be used. Be sure to update the organization profile with current information, such as documents legally changing the organization name, governance documents and policies, as appropriate.

The total value of funding requested from Global Affairs Canada must be at least $500,000 and not more than $2 million for the full duration of the project. This is the cumulative amount for all signatories for each project.

No. Donations in kind should not be considered when an organization is calculating its consolidated revenue.

You may use tertiary level Development Assistance Committee sector labels to identify the sector(s) involved in your proposed project. Or you may be less specific at the concept note stage and indicate themes—for example, health, agriculture or education.

For more information on project and sector coding, please refer to Global Affairs Canada’s Coding tables.

It is important that you design a project you have adequate experience to implement. As indicated on the call page, if you are invited to submit a full proposal, you will be asked to demonstrate adequate (minimum 3 years) experience related to specific elements of the project.

No. You must submit the completed PDF form, 2021 Call for Concept Notes: Development Impact Window—Canadian Small and Medium Organizations for Impact and Innovation, with “validated” showing on the first page. If you submit any documents in any other file format, your application will be considered ineligible.

Yes. Please refer to section 10 of Global Affairs Canada’s Contribution Agreement - General Terms and Conditions.

Only proposed signatories are required to submit financial statements. Selected organizations are responsible for managing subcontractors in accordance with their financial agreements and section 10 of Global Affairs Canada’s Contribution Agreement - General Terms and Conditions.

As indicated on the call page, your proposed project must last at least 3 years but no more than 5 years.

No. The project experience example must be provided by the lead signatory or co-signatory.

The total value of funding requested from Global Affairs Canada must be at least $500,000 and not more than $2 million. This is the cumulative amount for all signatories for each proposal or agreement. Global Affairs Canada will sign only one financial agreement for each project selected for funding. Under a financial agreement for which there is more than one signatory, signatories are responsible for determining the amount that will be managed by each organization.

Partnering with other Canadian SMOs is encouraged. As indicated on the call page, preference may be given to SMOs that submit an application in partnership with other Canadian SMOs (for example, co-signatories) to facilitate greater cooperation in the SMO community and engage more SMOs through this call. This element will be applied to concept notes that pass the merit assessment, in the context of the comparative assessment and with all other elements being equal.

No. The primary purpose of proposed projects must be benefitting people in developing countries. Canadian public engagement activities should be a minor element of your project. They should complement main project activities (for example, engaging the public on the work that you are doing through your project) and be within your organization’s capacity to implement.

Yes. Please note that if you are planning to undertake construction, infrastructure or water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) activities, you will be asked to demonstrate adequate and recent experience in implementing the same type of activities. More information relating to this requirement will be available at the full proposal stage, but please keep this in mind as you design your project and ensure that you are proposing activities for which you can demonstrate experience. If you do not have experience in the above areas, please do not submit a project with these elements, as we will screen you out.

As indicated on the call page, each signatory must provide 2 separate financial statements for the 2 most recently completed fiscal years. This includes non-profit organizations.

There is no requirement with regard to a minimum revenue amount. Please refer to the definition of a small or medium organization (SMO) on the call page.

No. For this call, the $2-million limit applies only to all “annual overseas expenditures” incurred abroad in development assistance projects.

Please refer to the Policy on Cost-sharing for Grant and Non-repayable Contribution Agreements, which defines all eligible sources.

There is no minimum or maximum budget amount that should be dedicated to public engagement. Projects should still be primarily focused on achieving development results in developing countries, and Canadian public engagement should be secondary and complementary to those efforts (for example, approximately 5% of the project budget). It is important that you are designing a project for which you have adequate experience to implement.

Please see the Guidance on Eligible Costs for Development Initiatives for more information on eligible cost elements such as remuneration (salaries) and reimbursable costs. To be eligible for reimbursement, project costs must be reasonable and must be directly and clearly related to the project.

The $2 million includes the 12% overhead. Please refer to Section 5 (Policy Requirements) of the Overhead Compensation Policy for both inclusions and exclusions.

Yes. The $500,000-to-$2,000,000-limit refers to the funding that you are requesting from Global Affairs Canada.

Please refer to the Policy on Cost-Sharing for Grant and Non-Repayable Contribution Agreements.

Receiving funding from the 2021 SMO call may or may not affect the chances of being selected for other GAC projects; this will depend on the other projects' application requirements and project parameters.

Yes, Canadian SMOs can partner with other Canadian SMOs under this call as long as they meet the organization eligibility requirements.

Please refer to section 4.1 of the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act.

No. However, the Fund for Innovation and Transformation (FIT) will invest in the testing of new or improved innovative solutions to global development challenges aligned with Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy. Please visit the Fund for Innovation and Transformation website for more information.

Global Affairs Canada will not comment on the eligibility or merit of concept notes. We strongly encourage you to consult the “Available Resources” section of the call page for guidance.