Eco Grant
Trailhead Eco Grant
In 2006, motivated by the idea that ‘Nature is our home, and we must protect it’, the Trailhead Eco Grant was born. Kingston and Belleville have a strong community of individuals and groups working to make a positive impact on our shared natural spaces, and we want to help you achieve your project goals!
Every year, we invite groups or individuals to apply for Trailhead Eco Grant funding to support environmental and outdoor initiatives. Together, we have planted trees, built environmentally friendly school playgrounds, planted community gardens, built trails, and helped get kids outside.
How is the Trailhead Eco Grant Program funded?
20 years ago, we made the decision to stop the purchase of plastic shopping bags. The decision was not about cost savings, it was about the environment. At the time we were “fighting” with many of our suppliers to reduce the amount of packaging used for shipping. EVERY piece of clothing (with a few exceptions) comes individually sealed into its own plastic bag to protect the item during shipping. Which we suppose is fair, you appreciate purchasing clean, protected garments, right? It’s a battle we still aren’t winning. Instead, we send you home with these re-purposed bags and the money we’re not spending on shopping bags goes back to local environmental and outdoor initiatives. That savings was the foundation of the annual Trailhead Eco Grant program.
In the years to come we also began to invest a percentage of our in-store profits to supplement the program’s funding.
Recently, we have made the additional pledge that all proceeds from our annual hosting of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour and other community events will be invested back into the environment, via the Trailhead Eco Grant.
How do I apply?
Do you have a project on hold because finances are holding you back? Do you have a great idea, and need some financial support to get it started? Perhaps you know of an organization that could use our help.
We accept applications for our Eco-Grant on an ongoing basis. Send us an email, get outside, and make a difference! Contact Chris Ellis at Chris@trailheadkingston.ca (Trailhead owner) for more information.
PAST RECIPIENTS
2023
- A Greener Future Lake Ontario shoreline cleanup $1500
- Youth Imagine the Future Writing and arts festival for students in Kingston to think about how we can make our future more sustainable $1000
2022
- PopCycle - Organization that promotes re-using kids clothing $450
- Kingston's Women's Art Festival Provided a drinking water station $395.50
- Queens Commerce & Engineering Enviro Conference $500
2021
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RKY Camp to support the opening of their new facility with a donation of $5000
- Rideau Waterway Land Trust $250
- Customer idea Turtles nest protection boxes $90
- Little Forests Kingston Planted 3 publicly accessible spaces across Kingston and Wolfe Island $1500
- Delta Waterfront Project $2000
- Frontenac Arch Biosphere Trails Festival $500
- Turtles Kingston Improve communication with volunteers with a mass texting service $475
- Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre "Love Wildlife Program" an interactive education program raising the awareness of human impacts on species in the area $1625
2020
- Queen's Water Environment Conference connects students and the Kingston community to environmental issues in the water industry $750
- Cataraqui Boatyard Project for the construction of a traditional Algonquin Birch Bark Canoe $850
- Sandy Pines Wildlife Center to support the purchase of specialized equipment for turtle tanks $675
- Kingston Forest and Nature School donation for hammocks to be used in educational programming $960
- Loving Spoonful 2nd year of our 3 year commitment to educate children on nutrition $500
- Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area 2nd year of 5 year commitment of $1000 a year
2019
- Red Squirrel Conservation for the conservation of paved areas to grassland/garden or forest $1000
- Wind Athletes Canada To teach women how to Foil Kite $500
- Kingston Forest and Nature School Getting kids in nature $300
- Swim Drink Fish Canada Watch dogs for Lake Ontario $250
- Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area 5 year commitment to $1000 per year
- Queens Commerce and Engineering Environmental Conference $500
- Queens Ocean Sustainability Conference $450
- RKY Camp Revitalization Campaign $5000
- Canoe for Change Cross Canada Paddle Trip To raise money for Loving Spoonful $1000
- Loving Spoonful $500 per year for 3 year commitment teaching children how to garden and cook real food
2018
- Loving Spoonful Grow-A-Row program, helping families learn to grown, harvest and preserve their own food $500
- Friends of Frontenac Park To assist with a study on identifying wolf and coyote species in the park $1000
- Rideau Waterway Land Trust A continuing contribution to the conservation of natural space $100
- Zero Waste Countdown A contribution to help purchase equipment to keep the podcast alive and growing, $500
- Turtles Kingston Support to their awareness and sensitization campaign. $500
- Queen’s Water Environment Conference The theme of this year’s conference is Drinking water: Thirsty for Change and how it relates to our water environment $500
2017
- Lake Ontario Water Keepers ($500) This organization has been instrumental in calling out organizations that are polluting our Great lake. They are moving beyond lake Ontario and creating Swim- Drink -fish, a program to register as many recreational water users to register their favorite lake.
- Regiopolis Notre Dame School “Green Team” ($500) The team is installing 2 tower gardens inside the school to grow food and help promote just where our food comes from. Food will be used by both food and health classes
- Friends of the Kingston Inner Harbour , ($750) The Turtle protection and education group wants to further educate the public with turtle ID booklets and offer paddling tours (with yours truly!) to identify the different species. They have been instrumental in protecting nest during the breeding season.
- Rideau Public School ($300) For the creation of an in school composting program
- Loving Spoonful ($500) To help with the grow a row program.
- Sydenham Lake and Trail Festival ($500) This is the community’s first such event and we wanted to help make it happen to encourage everyone to come out and enjoy the outdoors.
2016
- Whatif Outreach…..Queens University conference to empower young professionals to tackle our future water-related challenges globally! $500.00
- Kingston Film Festival…to Sponsor an environmental film “All the Time in the World” $750.00
2015
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Holy Cross Secondary School for the construction of a bike rack to encourage students to bike to school.
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Gananoque Wildlife Preserve for the continued reconstruction and maintenance of the trails.
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Loving Spooonful for their grow a row program which successfully produced over 30,ooo lbs of food this year.
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Mountain Bike Kingston for their creation of trails for all to access, this year we are supporting their purchase of a grooming machine to create ski trails.
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The Annual Perth Road Olympics and their one day event to promote winter sports and activities to kids and adults.
2014
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Harwood Outdoor Education Conference; presenting research on outdoor education: $500
- Kingston Community Foundation: $1000
- Harrowsmith Public School to enhance their natural play ground: $1500
- Gananoque Wildlife Area Preserve to re-establish the trails at Deer Ridge road and Hwy 401 east of Kingston: $1480
- Donated to the Thousand Islands Paddling Trail for installation of docks and directional signage: $1000
- Funds towards the composters at MacLean Park and MacLean Trail Community Gardens. Pittsburg community garden association: $50
2013
- Sustainable Kingston was able to purchase a digital projector: $600
- Sponsoring of bus costs to get a bunch of kids out to the Gould Lake Outdoor Centre who would not have a chance otherwise: $500
- The Ryan Centre on Wolf Island, Dedicated to educating kids on the environment around us: $1000
- The Loving Spoonful: $500
- Kingston’s own Greg Adams: who climbed continuously to the altitude of Everest at the Boiler Room to raise money for charity: $260
2012
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Community Harvest Kingston:
$1000 This organization is dedicated to promoting healthy eating, eating local . The money was put towards the purchase of a rototiller, garden tools and seeds. -
Loving Spoonful:
$1000 while not an environmental cause, we felt that due to the lack of submissions we would donate to this very worthy organization.
2011
- Off The Matt Kingston: $1500 initiative to Plant trees in Market Square.
- Transition Kingston: $750 a group very involved in making Kingston a greener city.
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Heather McNie:$1500 start up money to produce lids ( aka The KITEE) for your curbside recycle boxes to keep stuff from blowing away.
( update April 2013…Heather has worked with the City of Kingston and placed 50 in a pilot project for the month of April. ) -
Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute (KCVI):
$1000 to help build and place snake houses for the black rat snake to help revitalize a declining population
2010
- Kingston Sustainability Centre: $2000 towards teaching and mentoring
- Market Square Tree Project: $1000 towards adding some life to market square.
- Transition Kingston:$750 towards initatives that help Kingston with the challenges of climate change and oil dependence.
2009
- Rideau Public School;$1000 towards their Grow Project
- Mulberry School; $2000 also for a garden project on the school grounds