“Working with Grant Solutions Canada transformed what was a highly complex Capital Fund application involving numerous partners, interest holders, and competing interests into a well-managed and achievable process. Their team brought exceptional project management expertise, and their pre-submission assessment was invaluable in ensuring our project was fully aligned with program objectives before we submitted. The experience was so positive and effective that Arts Ottawa has since engaged Grant Solutions Canada as our primary grant-writing partner for upcoming funding cycles.”

— Nicole Milne, Co-Leadership, Arts Ottawa

Empowering Arts Ottawa’s Vision for Civic Infrastructure

Arts Ottawa is a leading arts service organization formed in 2025 through the merger of two long-standing entities. As a "civic intermediary" and backbone organization, Arts Ottawa mobilizes collective action to embed arts and culture within Ottawa’s civic foundations. Their ambitious mandate focuses on three pillars: physical infrastructure, economic conditions, and knowledge systems.

The Challenge

Following a complex merger, Arts Ottawa faced the dual challenge of establishing new operational systems while simultaneously launching high-impact initiatives like the Shared Ground Action Lab and exploring significant capital projects, such as the revitalization of the former Place de Ville cinema complex (300 Sparks). They needed to transition from fragmented funding efforts to a professional, proactive grant strategy that could sustain their long-term vision without overextending their small, dedicated team.

Approach

Grant Solutions Canada (GSC) partnered with Arts Ottawa to act as their strategic grant department. We provided a comprehensive end-to-end grant management solution, including:

• Strategic Pipeline Development: Identified and qualified a $1M+ grant pipeline, ensuring alignment with Arts Ottawa’s specific civic infrastructure priorities.

• Grant Readiness & GAP Assessment: Conducted in-depth assessments to improve core grant materials, ensuring the organization was "fund-ready" for complex municipal and provincial applications.

• Capacity Building: Developed a 12-month rolling grant calendar and formalized documentation systems to reduce the administrative burden on the Arts Ottawa leadership team.

• Active Pursuit: Managed the end-to-end drafting, revision, and submission of high-stakes applications, including the Cultural Facilities Fund (CFF) submission for the 300 Sparks pre-feasibility study.

  
  

The Results

Through this partnership, Arts Ottawa has gained the clarity and structural support needed to scale its impact.

Key outcomes include:

• Operational Efficiency: A fully established, structured approach to grant searching and application tracking, allowing the team to focus on community programming rather than administrative bottlenecks.

• Strategic Alignment: Every grant pursued is now mapped directly to Arts Ottawa’s Strategic Plan, ensuring that funding supports the organization’s long-term goal of becoming a stable, civic-infrastructure anchor.

• Professionalized Submissions: High-quality, competitive application narratives that effectively articulate complex concepts—like "knowledge infrastructure"—to funders, resulting in stronger proposals for municipal and provincial support.