USThe 2021 TD Ready Challenge
The TD Ready Challenge is our annual North American initiative, which has $10 million CAD in grants available to organizations developing innovative, impactful and measurable solutions for a changing world. This signature program created by TD is a key component to delivering on the bank’s corporate citizenship platform, the TD Ready Commitment.
In its fourth year, eligible non-profits and community organizations could apply for grants ranging from $375,000 CAD to $1 million CAD for Canadian organizations or $325,000 USD to $1 million USD for US organizations.
Fifteen 2021 TD Ready Challenge grant recipients have been announced! Click on the "Recipients" tab to explore more.
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Challenge Overview
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Common Questions
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Recipients
Each year, the TD Ready Challenge invites eligible organizations to submit applications that offer solutions for a problem statement that is connected to one of the four drivers of change of the TD Ready Commitment: Financial Security, Vibrant Planet, Connected Communities and Better Health. The 2021 TD Ready Challenge Problem Statement is focused on addressing predicted learning loss in math and reading for disproportionately impacted students in grades K-12 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background
The goal of the TD Ready Commitment has always been to help people feel confident about their future and help create opportunities to succeed in an ever-changing world. When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged as a public health crisis it quickly impacted nearly every aspect of our lives, creating unprecedented challenges for communities and making people feel less secure than ever before.
The pandemic has not just been a health crisis. It has also had deep and dramatic social and economic impacts on communities. In response to the health and safety measures put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19, many schools in North America have been forced to temporarily close, or close and open on a sporadic basis, while simultaneously developing alternative ways of teaching. School systems were understandably overwhelmed and unequipped to respond when the pandemic emerged1. Research is predicting that students across North America will experience significant learning loss due to remote and virtual learning2. While there are numerous school subjects that are and will be challenged by this new learning environment, math and reading are of particular concern to teachers at this time3
Learning loss will not affect all students equally and a greater impact is being predicted for communities such as:
- Students from low-income households
- Students with limited access to internet
- Indigenous and Racialized students1
- Students with disabilities4
Research predicts that remote and virtual learning may increase learning loss among disproportionately impacted students, who include those who do not have consistent access in the home to:
- Technology and the internet;
- A private space to study;
- Tutors; and
- Teacher supervision.
While we are all hopeful that all students in North America will have an opportunity to return to in-person classes, learning has already been lost and innovative interventions will be needed to help students catch up and minimize future loss.
Problem Statement
Addressing Disproportionate Learning Loss:
The pandemic has disrupted elementary and high school education across North America. The transition to alternative ways of teaching has created challenges for both students and teachers due to uneven implementation and unequal access to technology. That's why this year, the focus of the 2021 TD Ready Challenge is on supporting innovative solutions to address the predicted learning loss in math and reading for disproportionately impacted students in grades K-12 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2021 Challenge
The 2021 TD Ready Challenge seeks to provide financial support to organizations that have designed innovative, scalable and/or replicable solutions to help address the predicted pandemic-caused learning loss in math and reading faced by disproportionately impacted students in grades K-12 in communities across North America.
The Grants
As done for the 2020 TD Ready Challenge in order to help fund more solutions in response to the learning loss needs created by COVID-19, the 2021 TD Ready Challenge will continue with offering a total commitment of $10 million CAD, which will be available through one-time grants ranging from $375,000 CAD to $1 million CAD each for Canadian organizations and $325,000 USD to $1 million USD each for US organizations. for initiatives that address this year's problem statement.
We will have a clear preference for programs:
- That support disproportionately impacted students experiencing learning loss due to COVID-19 due to factors such as race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and geographic location.
- Have wide demographic or geographical reach in areas where TD operates. This includes all of Canada and specific states in the US (map and listing of eligible US states found here).
- Which will use the grant to scale and / or replicate solutions to additional communities or populations (or pilot projects with material evidence of viable success and scalability).
- Have a clear evaluation and measurement process to track impact.
- Where the organization has not received any funds or grants from TD of $250,000 CAD or $250,000 USD or more from August 31, 2020 through to and including August 31, 2021.
Additional considerations include:
- We will not fund grant applications for initiatives that are not innovative in nature, meaning they do not enable new approaches. For example, initiatives that purchase educational materials or school equipment or whose purpose is to write research papers are not eligible.
- We will not fund grant applications for initiatives that are solely focused on technology supplies such as laptops, modems and other computer or computer-related devices, nor will we fund grant applications for internet access improvement plans including increasing internet speed and/or internet networks.
- As part of the application process, TD requires an understanding of the financial status of your organization. If your organization's audited statement(s) reflect(s) a recent deficit, please explain the reason for this deficit in your application. Please note that a deficit will not impact your eligibility for a TD Ready Challenge grant.
Eligibility Criteria
Programs presented in applications must deal directly with people and provide benefits to people and communities. Applicants can be Canadian, or US organizations as described below:
- Canadian registered or incorporated charities and not-for-profits
- U.S. charitable, non-profit organizations as defined by section 501(c)(3) of the IRS tax code
- Elementary and secondary schools
- CEGEPs (Quebec)
- Religious organizations (i.e., organizations whose primary purpose is religious practice or worship). However, faith-based organizations that provide programs and services for broader community benefit, may be considered.
- Pageants
- Sports teams and sporting events
- Individuals or individual pursuits/fundraising initiatives
- Recreational groups (lodges, fraternal clubs, self-improvement organizations, etc.)
- Conferences, trade shows, fairs
- Production of videos, DVD’s and television shows
- TD Employees
- Recipients of 2019 or 2020 TD Ready Challenge grant
Challenge Structure and Calendar
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Important Dates
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Event
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September-October
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An internal TD North American Judging Panel will review applications and select applications to move into final round of reviews.
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November
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TD Ready Challenge finalists to be notified and next steps will be shared.
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December
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A TD North American Executive Judging panel and subject matter experts will assess applications that move into final round of review and determine the selected recipients.
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Mid-December
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2021 TD Ready Challenge successful recipients will be selected and notified.
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Final Round Judging Panel
A North American Executive judging panel will consist of TD executives and external subject-matter experts who will evaluate final applications and select successful recipients for the 2021 TD Ready Challenge.
1 Dorn, E. et al. (2020), COVID-19 and student learning in the United States: The hurt could last a lifetime, McKinsey & Company, New York https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Industries/Public%20Sector/Our%20Insights/COVID-19%20and%20student%20learning%20in%20the%20United%20States%20The%20hurt%20could%20last%20a%20lifetime/COVID-19-and-student-learning-in-the-United-States-FINAL.pdf
2 Dorn, E. et al. (2020), COVID-19 and learning loss—disparities grow and students need help, McKinsey & Company, New York https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/covid-19-and-learning-loss-disparities-grow-and-students-need-help
3 Bennett, P (2021) How will the education system help students overcome COVID learning loss?, Institute for Research on Public Policy, Canada https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/february-2021/how-will-the-education-system-help-students-overcome-covid-learning-loss/
4 Nelson, A (2020) How COVID-19 Has Affected Special Education Students, Tufts Now, Massachusetts https://now.tufts.edu/articles/how-covid-19-has-affected-special-education-students
General inquiries
Yes. All applications must be submitted electronically via the application portal.
Individual meetings with applicants are not possible. The online submission ensures that all applications are submitted and reviewed in a consistent way.
Given the time required to connect with all potential applicants, application reviews are not possible. The online submission is the best way to manage everybody's time and to ensure that all applications are submitted and reviewed in a consistent way.
Grant applications must be received by 4:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday, August 26, 2021. In fairness to all applicants, late and/or incomplete applications will not be considered. Applicants are responsible for allowing enough time when submitting their application to ensure its timely submission.
No. The initiative proposed needs to be delivered in Canada, US or both.
Submitting the application
No. You may submit only one application to the 2021 TD Ready Challenge. Additional applications will not be reviewed.
We require your organization's most recent audited financial statements for the 2021 TD Ready Challenge. Please note that accountant's reviews of non-audited compilations are not acceptable.
No. The documentation requested is required in order to submit a complete application. In fairness to all applicants, incomplete applications will not be considered.
All required documents must be in PDF format. The minimum font size for the detailed project application must be 10 point. Excel files will not be accepted. Please provide your organization's most recent audited financial statements for the 2021 TD Ready Challenge, which must be scanned and condensed into a single document. You must not upload separate files as they will not be considered part of the application.
Shortly after submitting your application, you will receive an e-mail notification confirming your submission.
Yes. A copy of your application will be embedded in your e-mail notification confirming your submission. We recommend that you keep a copy of the application for your own records. However, we ask that you do not send it to us as this may lead to duplicate records.
If you receive this error message, please contact a member of your organization's technology staff. You may need to adjust your computer's settings in order to access the application.
Yes. You can copy information from an existing Word document and paste it into the appropriate text box in the application.
Evaluation
There are two steps in the evaluation process:
1. All applications submitted by August 26, 2021 will be reviewed by a TD North American Judging Panel consisting of members of the Global Corporate Citizenship team from both Canada and the United States. Based on a percentage scoring system, this North American team will review all applications and select the applicants who will move to the final round of reviews. All applicants, whether successful or not, will be notified by email.
2. Selected applicants will move into a second round of review completed by an internal TD North American Judging Panel, selected by TD in its sole discretion and consisting of members of the TD Global Corporate Citizenship team, internal business partners from both Canada and the United States and external subject matter experts. This Judging Panel will review applications and assess them against the same criteria used for the First Round of Assessment. This Panel will select applications to move into the final round of reviews and all applicants, whether successful or not, will be notified by email.
3. Final Round of Assessment - For grant requests of $375,000 to $750,000 CAD (or $325,000 to $625,000 USD):
Selected applicants with grant requests of $375,000 to $750,000 CAD (or $325,000 to $625,000 USD) who move into the final round of review will have their applications assessed by our TD North American Executive Judging Panel, consisting of TD executives and external subject matter experts from both Canada and the United States. This Judging Panel will review applications and assess them against the same criteria used for the First Round of Assessment.
Selected applicants may be asked to prepare supplementary materials for review by the judging panel as part of the review process. Successful recipients will be contacted by email by the end of December 2021.
Final Round of Assessment - For grant requests of $1,000,000 CAD (or $1,000,000 USD):
TD Employee Voting Component for applicants requesting $1,000,000 CAD (or $1,000,000 USD)
Selected applicants with grant requests of $1,000,000 CAD (or $1,000,000 USD ) who move into the final round of review will have their applications assessed by our TD North American Executive Judging Panel, consisting of TD executives and external subject matter experts from both Canada and the United States. This Judging Panel will review these applications and assess them against the same criteria used for the First Round Assessment plus one additional component involving a TD Employee Voting exercise. For this TD Employee Voting exercise, applications will be anonymized, summarized and displayed internally so that TD Employees across North America can vote for the application of their choice. The TD Employee Voting exercise will have a 10% weighting, however this weighting will only be applied provided a minimum of 100 votes are received and the votes demonstrate a thoughtful review of the application in question. If the TD Employee Voting component is activated, the results of this voting will be provided to the Judging Panel and the weighting of the remaining criteria to be used by the Judging Panel will be adjusted. If the TD Employee Voting component is not activated, then the Judging Panel will review applications and assess them against the same criteria used for the First Round of Assessment.
Selected applicants may be asked to prepare supplementary materials for review by the judging panel as part of the review process. Successful recipients will be contacted by email by the end of December 2021.
Final funding decisions will be made by the TD North American Executive Judging Panel. Successful recipients will be announced in January 2022.
Selected members of the TD Global Corporate Citizenship team in Canada and the United States will review all applications and provide an assessment score for each application based on the criteria and weighting set out below:
Strategic alignment: 30%
The need or opportunity described by the applicant aligns with the 2021 TD Ready Challenge Problem Statement.
Feasibility of the proposal: 30%
The intended outcomes or results of the 2021 application proposal are feasible considering the activities, resources, and 12-month funding window. The applicant will be in a reasonable position to expand the impact of the 2021 application proposal within 12-36 months.
Well-positioned team: 20%
The mission of the applicant aligns with the 2021 TD Ready Challenge Problem Statement. The applicant is well-positioned to deliver on intended results and objectives.
Value for money: 20%
The budget is reasonable considering the activities, outputs, and scale of the application process.
Applicants will not be advised of their final assessment scores. In addition, a financial analysis of the organization will also be conducted to measure the financial health of the organization.
For 2021, total funding commitment by the Toronto-Dominion Bank ("TD") for the TD Ready Challenge remains at $10 million CAD. Grants will range from $375,000 CAD to $1 million CAD for Canadian organizations or $325,000 USD to $1 million USD for US organizations. Organizations will be able to request their Grant amount in CAD or USD based on where the organization's head office is geographically located in either Canada or the United States. Organizations must request Grant amounts at one of the 4 tiers set out by TD ($375,000 CAD, $500,000 CAD, $750,000 CAD, $1,000,000 CAD or $325,000 USD, $425,000 USD, $625,000 USD, $1,000,000 USD for US organizations.) TD does reserve the right to top up grants and go beyond the $10 million CAD budget if deemed necessary.
Any Grant amounts requested in USD will be converted to CAD using the exchange rate available on close of business day on the Submission Deadline Date (the "Applicable Exchange Rate"). Organizations residing in the United States will receive their Grant amount in USD, the exact amount to be calculated by TD on the date the Grant award is announced by applying the Applicable Exchange Rate to the CAD equivalent.
Organizations will be able to request their Grant amount in CAD or USD based on where the organization's head office is geographically located in either Canada or the United States. Organizations must request Grant amounts at one of the 4 tiers set out by TD ($375,000 CAD, $500,000 CAD, $750,000 CAD, $1,000,000 CAD or $325,000 USD, $425,000 USD, $625,000 USD, $1,000,000 USD for US organizations). TD does reserve the right to top up grants and go beyond the $10 million CAD budget if deemed necessary.
Any Grant amounts requested in USD will be converted to CAD using the exchange rate available on close of business day on the Submission Deadline Date (the "Applicable Exchange Rate"). Organizations residing in the United States will receive their Grant amount in USD, the exact amount to be calculated by TD on the date the Grant award is announced by applying the Applicable Exchange Rate to the CAD equivalent.
Should your organization be selected as a successful Grant recipient, the amount of the Grant awarded may not equal the amount requested in your application. The TD North American Executive Judging Panel will decide the final amount of the Grant awarded, which could be more or less than the amount requested by your organization. In determining the final amount of the Grant to be awarded, the TD North American Executive Judging Panel will consider and be sensitive to the amount originally requested by the organization. TD is under no obligation to award any or all Grants in any calendar year and any Grants not awarded remain the property of TD.
Should your organization be selected as a successful grant recipient, the amount of the grant awarded may not equal the amount requested in your application. The TD North American Executive Judging Panel will decide the final amount of the grant awarded, which could be more or less than the amount requested by your organization. The final amount will not be required to use a $5,000 CAD or $5,000 USD increment, but will not exceed the $1 million CAD (or $1 million USD) maximum available per grant. In determining the final amount of the grant to be awarded, the TD North American Executive Judging Panel will consider and be sensitive to the amount originally requested by the organization.
After the grant is awarded
2021 TD Ready Challenge successful grant recipients will receive their specific grant amount in a maximum of three annual installments, the amount of each installment to be based on the length of the project and the size of the grant awarded. The exact amount of each installment to be mutually agreed in writing between the Bank and each recipient. An executed grant agreement between the Bank and each successful recipient will be required, which will include the mutually agreed upon installment payment schedule.
Yes. If your organization is successfully selected to receive a grant award, you will be required to submit progress and financial reports. The number of progress reports and financial reports will be mutually agreed to in writing between the Bank and each recipient and the total numbers of reports will be based on the length of the project and the size of grant awarded. An executed grant agreement between the Bank and each successful recipient will be required which will include the number of mutually agreed upon progress reports and financial reports required.
No. Unless an extraordinary circumstance is identified and discussed with the Bank in advance, grants may not be used for any other purpose than the purpose set out in the organization's original 2021 TD Ready Challenge application.
If your organization is selected to receive a 2021 TD Ready Challenge grant, the grant funds must be put to use no later than three years from the award date of the grant.
Please contact us by email at tdreadycommitment@td.com. Include "The 2021 TD Ready Challenge" in the subject line of your email. A member of our team will respond by email within 5 business days.
Specific questions for US organizations
In the United States, the TD Ready Challenge is handled by the TD Charitable Foundation, which can only make grants to eligible 501(c)(3) organizations. If you have recently received your determination letter from the IRS, you may not yet be in the IRS database against which we match potential applicants. Please e-mail a scanned copy of your newly issued 501(c)(3) determination letter to us at US-CharitableGiving@TD.com. A member of the TD Charitable Foundation team will give you further instructions on how to proceed with the grant competition application.
No. US organizations will be paid in USD. For more information see the FAQ: " What grant amounts are available for 2021?"
The 2021 TD Ready Challenge Recipients
In our fourth year, the 2021 TD Ready Challenge received over 300 applications from eligible non-profit and charitable organizations across our North American footprint. Each application was extensively reviewed by a TD judging panel based on alignment to the problem statement, level of innovation and potential for sustainable impact.
Fifteen finalists rose to the top with strong submissions that clearly demonstrated innovative, measurable, and scalable solutions that focus on addressing the predicted learning loss for students K-12 as a result of the pandemic.
Meet the 2021 TD Ready Challenge grant recipients. Click on the recipients to learn about their programs in their own words.