ACTIONS
GO WILD GRANTS
Hundreds of thousands of students and educators are making a difference for wildlife and nature.
Apply for a $2,000 grant by October 23, 2023, to bring your project to life!
Go Wild with WWF-Canada
Are you interested in helping build and lead a project that will help restore nature at your school? Since 2017, more than 45 Go Wild Grant projects have connected students and their campus community to nature, fostering an appreciation that lasts a lifetime.
Are you a campus student of majority age? A member of a ratified student club or association? A member of campus faculty or staff? You are invited to apply for $2,000 in funding to make your project idea a reality on campus with WWF-Canada.
Submit your application online by October 23, 2023, for your chance to bring your idea to life with WWF-Canada. For more information, please consult the Campus Application Guidelines 2023-2024.
Proposal Guidelines
Go Wild Grants support post-secondary institutions across Canada to implement projects that aim to protect or restore natural habitat while engaging communities on and around campus.
Previous grantees have created native pollinator gardens and seed orchards, restored creeks and forests, monitored local wildlife, conducted biodiversity inventories, raised awareness about conservation issues, and more!
We prioritize ideas that help your campus community to:
- Learn and discover the local ecosystem, its history, biodiversity, how it works and what it needs
- Take action for nature by creating, restoring or protecting habitat with native plants and trees
- Connect with your communities to create a lasting impact
Consult the Campus Application Guidelines and apply for a Go Wild Grant by October 23, 2023!
KEY DATES

September 7, 2023
Application period opens – Apply now!

October 23, 2023
Application period closes

December 2023
Successful applicants notified

January 2024
Projects begin!
Why get involved?
You can make a positive impact for the environment and your community while building skill sets and experiences for your resume with Go Wild Grants.
Leadership and teamwork
Canadians are looking for opportunities to take action and to make an impact. Go Wild grantees can help provide opportunities for others to participate in their projects or events. While helping to educate others, you will also develop leadership and team management skills.
Build your resume
Gain experiences for your resume including project management, grant writing, creating proposals and budgets. You will become more skilled at strategic and critical thinking, time management, problem-solving, leadership and teamwork.
Local and national recognition
Go Wild School Grant recipients and their projects will be recognized on WWF-Canada’s national website which can be linked to your online resume and LinkedIn profile.
Contribute to environmental and social responsibility
Your project will help nature thrive and create a sense of community. Creating volunteer opportunities with your project could help fellow students develop professional skills or find relief from the stresses and pressures of school, contributing to improved mental health.
Living Planet Leader
Helping to lead a Go Wild project demonstrates leadership and teamwork. If your grant application was an exercise tied to one of your courses, or it is an idea tied to introducing a new concept to your academic program, don’t forget to track your activity in the Application of Sustainability in Academics.
Meet previous grantees
Langara College
The Sustainability Student Ambassadors of Langara College have identified a 100m2 grassy area at their Vancouver campus to rewild! The students and staff will work to convert this area into productive habitat with diverse native plants, welcoming pollinators and wildlife to this urban campus. Students will track the species the garden attracts, and with help from Facilities will continue to maintain and sustain this new habitat for future wildlife and students to come.
Dalhousie University
Working closely with the Office of Sustainability, student Samantha Ceci and her team will be restoring a monoculture woodland area on campus into a mixed forest to support a diversity of pollinator species. Downhill from mature red oak trees, Samantha’s team will conduct successional planting to mimic the natural progression of vegetation in a terrestrial ecosystem over time.
Centennial College
Urban campuses play a vital role in supporting healthy habitats, a role Centennial College takes seriously. Students and staff together will launch a campus bee sanctuary, supported by existing pollinator gardens that will continue to welcome native bees to campus.
University of Guelph
Using a tissue culture technique, student Dennis Zhu will propagate a native plant species in-vitro. Each native plant that is propagated will be housed in a self-sustaining glass habitat and distributed to local primary schools. Used as an educational tool for young students, this project along with the educational resources Dennis’ team will develop, will help advance awareness on the importance of native plants.
Seneca College
Seneca College continues to enhance their landscape revitalization plan by adding more and more green spaces to their list of areas to restore back to native habitat for pollinators. This new native plant garden will be located next to existing native bee apiaries, increasing the biodiversity of plants and wildlife on campus, including a growing bee population at Seneca College.
University of Guelph
Seneca College continues to enhance their landscape revitalization plan by adding more and more green spaces to their list of areas to restore back to native habitat for pollinators. This new native plant garden will be located next to existing native bee apiaries, increasing the biodiversity of plants and wildlife on campus, including a growing bee population at Seneca College.
University of Waterloo
The Faculty of Environment Ecology Lab is creating unique student and staff opportunities to roll-up their sleeves for nature while learning and working virtually. Transitioning from hands-on in-person workshops to a hands-on on-line experience, students and staff will be able to join a virtual “container garden for wildlife” build-along, creating a habitat for pollinators no matter where they are working or learning from this year.
Algonquin College
Working closely with campus staff, the student Sustainability Club is reimagining an unused space on their urban Ottawa campus and putting their ideas into action. Restoring the green space into habitat for wildlife, a native plant garden will be installed welcoming pollinators, and new habitat through nesting boxes will be created for wood ducks and local bats.
Concordia University
All semester long, students enrolled in the Ecology of Urban Environments class have been learning about the importance of urban native plant ecosystems. Using their new knowledge, each student designed and submitted a plan to faculty for a new native plant campus garden. One design was selected by professors, and together the whole class will put theory into action to increase the presence of native plants on campus using one of the student designs.
McGill University and John Abbott College
These two campuses housed on the largest green space on the island of Montreal are partnering to create ground nesting and cavity nesting habitat for native pollinators, helping to educate the campus community on how wildlife can find a home in urban areas. Classrooms of students with the support of a pollination biologist will conduct long-term monitoring and habitat maintenance to sustain this area restored for wildlife.
BRING YOUR PROJECT TO LIFE

On Campus
Your project can create new initiatives or expand existing ones in any corner of your campus anywhere on campus.

With Your Club or Student Association
Your executive team and members can create a lasting legacy with a Go Wild project. Lead and mobilize your student body with unique opportunities to participate in your initiative and be recognized on WWF-Canada’s website.

In Residence
Bring your floor or the entire residence together with Go Wild. Create habitat for wildlife and host an event for your floor mates to get involved.

In the Classroom
Projects related to course requirements for your classroom, program, department, the campus or the community can receive Go Wild funding. To enhance your restoration project ideal and educate others, consider including an element of research, case studies, events, speaker series, symposiums, conferences or case competitions – the sky is the limit.

In Your Community
Go Wild supports ideas that build habitat or connect with local elementary or secondary schools, libraries, parks and ecosystems, not-for-profits and community groups. Projects with activities for community members on campus are welcome.