This document provides guidance on completing an application for the Rural Economic Development (RED) program. It outlines the requirements for a full and complete application, including financial documents demonstrating capacity, constituting documents for non-municipal applicants, letters of support, project budget quotes, and any other supporting documentation. The document also provides tips for each section of the application, such as describing project benefits, outcomes, collaboration, and economic impacts in Ontario's rural communities. Applicants are advised to review the program guidelines and check with a regional advisor if they have any questions about eligibility or application requirements.

1. Completing Your RED
Application
Tips and Considerations

2. Before you Submit
Only applications with full and complete information will be
assessed. A full and complete submission includes the following:
 A completed RED program application
 All applicants, except for a Municipality (a Municipality is a
geographic area whose inhabitants are incorporated as
defined/described in the Municipal Act, 2001), are required to
provide financial information that demonstrates capacity to
implement the project. Information which may be acceptable to
demonstrate capacity includes:
 Three years of financial records that indicate each
applicant has the financial ability to cash flow the project
without difficulty or have a secure source of funding; or
 A letter from the applicant's financial institution confirming
financial capacity to cash flow the project in its entirety.
 All applicants, except for a Municipality, are required to provide
constituting documents (e.g., articles of incorporation) or other
similar evidence of legal status.
 Letters from stakeholders indicating their support for the
project, including any contributions to the project if applicable,
dated no earlier than six months prior to the close of intake
 Quotes obtained to support the project budget, such as an
estimate provided by a vendor for the cost of services
 Any other documentation that supports the project (e.g., plans,
feasibility studies)

3. • To determine if you are eligible to apply, please refer
to the “Who can Apply” in RED program Guidelines.
• The lead applicant will be responsible for working
with OMAFRA and will receive all payments
(including eligible costs incurred on behalf of any co-
applicants).
• To view the RED program – Definition of Rural and
Urban Areas map, please refer to the “Before You
Start – Important Information” in the RED program
Guidelines.

4. • The project must take place in rural Ontario
OR demonstrate benefits to rural Ontario.
• The start date for eligible project costs (3.1 of
the program application) cannot be prior to
the date the project has been approved by
the Minister.
– As stated in the program guidelines,
applicants will be notified as funding decisions
are reached, usually within four months from
the posted intake closure date; however,
timing may vary.

5. • The project description may be easier to write
after all other areas of the application are
complete.
• If the project includes co-applicants or other
sources of funding, which may build strength of a
project, outline their participation and the benefits
of that collaboration to the project in this section.
• Use this area to provide a concise overview of the entire
project, and how the project aligns with as many as
possible RED program assessment criteria. Expand on
that summary in the following sections of the application
• Provide a breakdown of the major activities proposed as
part the project, which should align with the Project Budget
in Section 3.1

6. • Use this area to summarize information from supporting documents or
other sources that demonstrate project need
• Make sure to submit supporting documents (e.g. plans, strategies,
letters of support) that substantiate and demonstrate this need
• Use this area to summarize information from supporting documents
that demonstrate how benefits accrue to rural Ontario
• For the purposes of the RED program, rural Ontario means all
Statistics Canada's census subdivisions (including lower-tier and
single-tier municipalities) that meet at least one of the following
criteria:
• have a population of less than 100,000 people
• have a population density of 100 people/km2 or less
• View the Rural and Urban Areas map on the RED program website at:
http://www.ontario.ca/redprogram
• Use this area to demonstrate relevant experience and skills to successfully
complete the project (e.g., two or more projects of at least a similar scope
or scale completed within your organization , or how the skills can be
obtained through hiring a Project Manager)
• Implementation projects only - applicant(s) should have a detailed plan for
the implementation of their project (e.g., consultant quotes including
activities, timelines and costs) – documents submitted to support this will
improve the quality of the application.

7. • Plans and Strategies or Applied Research and Analysis to
Support Planning and Priority Setting are Planning Projects.
• Sector Development; Marketing, Promotional and Branding
Activities; and Workforce Attraction, Retention and
Development projects are Implementation Projects.
• If you’re unsure of the eligibility of your project, budget items,
or which project type best suits your project contact your
Regional Advisor.

8. • Only check the boxes that align with the proposed
project.
• For each outcome that is checked in Section 2.5
provide tangible evidence (e.g. supporting
documentation) that demonstrates project
alignment with RED program outcome It is
important to submit sufficient evidence with the
application.

9. • Letters of support can be in the form of:
– Support of the applicant;
– Support of the project;
– In-kind support; or
– Financial support .
• Any financial support identified within this section
should be included in the Applicant(s) Contribution
and Additional Funding Sources (section 3.3) of the
application).
• Use this area to describe how the project will assist with
undertaking evidence-based planning to identify priorities
and measure economic performance
• The description should highlight applicable information
from supporting documents or other sources
• Use this area to describe how entities that span more
than one municipality or sector (value chain) OR multiple
community or sector-based entities are committed to
support the project financially or in-kind
• Include documents that demonstrate collaboration in
your submission

10. • When checking the creation and/or retention of
jobs outcome, ensure that you describe
specifically how jobs will be created or retained in
other parts of the application (e.g. project
description).

11. • Use this area to describe benefits expected for the regional economy or
sector from the project, by pursuing one or more of the following
strategies:
• Addressing barriers within the sector (value chain) or regional
economy
• Providing a competitive advantage to the sector or regional economy
• Anchoring additional activities within the region
• Supporting economic priorities for the region
• Use this area to clearly describe the considerations that have been made
to encourage long-term contributions to economic development from
resulting from the project.
• For projects that align with OMAFRA's Economic
Development programs (e.g. downtown revitalization), use
this area to describe how proposed project aligns with
OMAFRA processes (e.g. four stages)
• For implementation projects (required) or planning projects
(optional), use this area to describe how the project is new to
the province or sector (value chain); and whether or not it is
generally available or widely adopted.

12. • Provide a short description of each project activity
(e.g. hire a coordinator, social media advertising,
Stage 1: Preparation – Project Vision).
• Note that activities that start prior to the project
approval by the ministry will not be eligible for
funding.
• See “Project Activity Costs” in the RED program
guidelines for information on eligible, ineligible
and in-kind costs.
• If you’re unsure of the eligibility of your project or
budget items, contact your Regional Advisor.

13. • Applicant(s) who are seeking a higher cost share or
amount of funding must clearly demonstrate significant
economic development benefits of the project (e.g.,
exceptional circumstances).
• For more information, see Cost-Share Funding in the
RED program guidelines.
• Financial need is not included as a criteria for exceptional circumstances consideration
• Use this area to clearly describe the economic development benefit of the project that qualifies
it for consideration of exceptional circumstances. Exceptional circumstances consideration is
based on all of the following:
• strong alignment to program outcomes (i.e., alignment with more than three program
outcomes)
• long-term sustainability of the project (i.e., outcomes will continue beyond the life of
project)
• collaboration
• multi-year timelines
• reach of projects (i.e., regional in nature, span more than one community)
• demonstrated linkages to other provincial priorities
• project demonstrates innovation (i.e., not widely adopted or new to the province)

14. • Forecast eligible costs over the duration of the
project by fiscal quarter.
• Ensure forecasts align with project start and end
dates.

15. • List all sources of funding for the project.
• The non-provincial share of eligible costs must be
secured by applicant(s). This can include funding
through co-applicants.

16. • Disclose all sources of project funding
• Funding from federal government programs can be used
toward project costs, assuming it is permitted under
applicable federal programs. Combined federal and
provincial funding cannot exceed 90 per cent of the
project's eligible cost.
• Projects receiving other provincial funding are not eligible
to apply for or receive funding under the RED program.
Provincial funding includes but is not limited to funds
administered by:
• Provincial ministries
• Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation
• The Greenbelt Fund
• Ontario Trillium Foundation
• Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation

17. If you are unsure
about the
requirements,
check with your
Regional Advisor
before submitting.