ACE Community Collaboration Grant

• This grant may be used to fund community partner honorariums/contracts to co-create or sustain Applied Academic Civic Engagement (ACE) courses and ACE-designated student research projects with faculty.
• Faculty may apply for $2,000 to $4,000 a term. Funding can be used:
  • to bring community knowledge holders, elders, partners, etc. to campus;
  • to pay for community knowledge holders’ time collaborating on the design and execution of a project/ course content. We recommend paying community partners/co-educators $100/hour;
  • to pay for partners’ transportation to and from campus;
  • to pay a faculty member for time over breaks to plan for and reflect on an ACE course, new or ongoing (up to half of the full grant request amount).
• Please note: international visitors are taxed according to foreign tax laws; the amount you request should include this tax. Speak to your international partners about this during the planning process.

• Is this part of their job? If it is part of a partner’s job to present certain content or educate the public about an issue, and that’s what they’re doing with your students, then it is appropriate not to pay the partner.
• Are they there to teach your students? When a partner’s primary purpose is to educate your students, it is appropriate to compensate them. For example, if they’re presenting on how social determinants of health play out in their sector, because that’s the subject of your course, it’s appropriate to compensate the partner. 
• Is this a “fair trade”? If your students are providing a transactional “service” to the partner and little is asked of the partner in terms of educating your students, it is likely appropriate not to pay the partner. When your partner is meeting with your students about a project the students are completing for that partner organization, this can be a gray area. If you’ve asked the partner to give educational feedback to your students on the work they’ve done, it could be appropriate to offer compensation. 
• Note that if you plan to pay your community partner, you should discuss this with them before submitting the grant proposal.

• Community Collaboration grants support work that goes beyond the scope of a class presentation or something that can be covered by a single honorarium. Note: All ACE-designated courses may request up to $1,000 to cover honorariums for community knowledge-holders. Those funds are independent of this grant process.
• Community collaboration involves activities such as co-designing a course or a significant aspect of a course or an independent research project to align with both community partner priorities and student academic learning goals. Community Collaboration grants may support a partner’s participation in multiple brainstorming and planning meetings with a faculty member, several sessions with a class, meetings with faculty and students related to an ongoing project, etc. Funds can also contribute to an existing ACE course partner for their time spent preparing for and participating in the class content delivery.

Apply for a curricular innovation grant through the Provost’s office, due mid-winter each year.

Stipends for speakers and residencies will be paid to recipients in coordination with the CCCE Academic Civic Engagement and Scholarship Coordinator.

• The Community and Civic Engagement Committee (CCEC) will meet to award all grants.
• Proposals will be selected based on the proposed project’s:
  • Fit within the goals and objectives of the community collaboration grant program
  • Intellectual or pedagogical significance
  • Potential for meaningful impact as defined by the community partner
  • Realistic timetable and goals
  • Clarity of purpose
  • The community partner has been consulted in writing this proposal
• After the first year, preference may be given to those who have not previously applied for funding from the initiative.

Yes, you are welcome to apply. Please note that a strong proposal will demonstrate how your project is connected to a continuing faculty member or department so that the project may live on beyond your time at Carleton.

Yes, but if we have not received your final grant report or proper receipt documentation, you will not be considered.

Proposals can be submitted up to a year in advance of the proposed ACE course.

CCCE Community Collaboration Grants Committee Timeline, 2026

We are currently only considering proposals during the regular funding cycle.

Contact Emily Seru.