Communities are driving solutions to Canada’s digital divide.
Think about the last time you booked a medical appointment, helped with homework, or caught up with family—chances are, you used the internet. Now imagine not having that option because your connection is slow, unreliable, or even compromised. Or you are without any connection at all.
Hundreds of thousands of people across Canada experience these digital divides every single day.
But it’s not only about whether someone can get online. It’s about whether their connection is reliable and affordable, and whether they have the skills and support necessary to use the internet safely and confidently. It’s even about having a voice in the decisions that shape how the internet works for them.
Across the country, community organizations are leading the way in responding to these challenges. They are the ones hearing, day after day, how connectivity gaps and online harms affect the people they serve—and they are developing practical, community-based solutions.
How Net Good closes divides
The CIRA Net Good Grants program exists to support those solutions. Net Good Grants fund community-led internet projects across three areas—infrastructure, online safety and policy engagement—with grants of up to $100,000 per project and more than $1,000,000 in funding available each year.
Since its inception, Net Good Grants have contributed over $14 million to more than 240 projects, helping communities address a diversity of digital challenges.
Funding is available to nonprofits, registered charities, Indigenous communities, and academics at Canadian colleges and universities for projects that serve people in Canada.
Examples of how communities are benefitting from Net Good Grants
While each project is unique, many funded initiatives share common goals: improving access, strengthening online safety and ensuring community perspectives shape how the internet evolves. Examples of funded work include:
- Planning and improving local connectivity. Projects that research connectivity gaps, map local infrastructure and test new models for community networks or last-mile solutions, so that more households and community spaces have reliable, affordable internet service.
- Building online safety skills. Initiatives that provide training and resources to help youth, families, seniors and frontline workers recognize online risks, respond to cyberbullying and protect privacy and personal data.
- Encouraging a diversity of voices in internet policy. Research, events and advocacy projects that help communities participate in the conversations, debates and decisions that help shape a trusted internet for Canadians.
CIRA knows that closing Canada’s digital divides is a long-term, community-based effort that requires hundreds of infrastructure, education and advocacy projects working in tandem—and that’s why we open a funding call each year.
What Net Good looks for in applications
For organizations thinking about applying for a Net Good Grant, it can be helpful to consider these four questions:
- What specific digital divides are you tackling?
A strong application clearly defines the problem, explains who is affected and shows how it connects to infrastructure, online safety, or policy engagement. - What about your organization makes you well placed to lead this work?
Proposals that highlight community relationships, lived experience and local knowledge can demonstrate why your team is the right one to deliver the project. Partnerships with other organizations can also strengthen your case. - What will you actually do, and how will you measure success?
Applications should lay out realistically costed concrete activities, outputs, timelines, and roles, and describe how you plan to track outcomes. This might include both quantitative measures (such as participants trained or households reached) and qualitative outcomes (such as changes in confidence, skills, or participation). - How will the impact continue beyond the grant?
Net Good Grants can support pilots, expansions, or new projects, but reviewers will want to see how the work can be sustained, adapted, or used as a model for others after the funding ends.
Why this matters for nonprofits today
For many nonprofits, getting online safely and securely is the foundation for everything from program delivery to fundraising and advocacy. At the same time, it can be hard to find funding that is specifically designed to address the digital divides that local communities may face in accessing services reliably and safely.
Net Good Grants are one way to fill that gap, by supporting community-led projects that improve internet access, strengthen online safety and bring local perspectives into internet policy.
Apply for the 2026 Net Good Grants cycle
If your organization is working to close the digital divide—or wants to start—this may be the moment to explore what a Net Good project could look like in your community and submit an application during the 2026 cycle by visiting CIRA’s website for more details.
The 2026 Net Good Grants cycle will be open for applications from February 2 to March 18, 2026. If your organization has a community-led project that addresses digital divides through infrastructure, online safety, or policy engagement, now is the time to start shaping your proposal.
Amanda Stickle is part of CIRA’s Net Good Team as Grants Specialist, where she supports community-led projects that make Canada’s internet better.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s alone and do not necessarily represent those of CharityVillage.com or any other individual or entity with whom the authors or website may be affiliated. CharityVillage.com is not liable for any content that may be considered offensive, inappropriate, defamatory, or inaccurate or in breach of third-party rights of privacy, copyright, or trademark.
