Make a Difference in your Community with the $1,000,000 Aviva Community Fund

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Aviva Community Fund for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

 For the past two years, I voted on many occasions for Ottawa area projects that were submitted in the Aviva Community competition. Have you heard about the Aviva Community Fund?  The Aviva Community Fund is sponsored by a worldwide industry leader in the Insurance market, Aviva.  Aviva and their broker partners offer coverage for your home, vehicle, boat, motorcycle, and snowmobile or for your business. In its 5th year , Aviva has already given away over $3.5 million to date and will donate another $1,000,000 for this competition! I like the fact that Aviva values positive change in our Canadian communities by funding our ideas that we are passionate about.

As of September 23rd, you can submit your idea to help make a difference in your community on the Aviva Community Fund site. It can be an entry that will benefit the education, the environment, and the youth or cultural programs.

The competition has 3 Steps:

·         Plan your idea

·         Submit your idea

·         Promote your idea and get everyone to vote daily

Plan your idea

Your idea should be:

·         Action oriented

·         Local to Canada

·         Beneficial to many

·         Priced under $150,000

·         Executed by December 2014

Submit an idea for a cause that you are passionate about and is dear to your heart. You would like to get involved, but can’t think of an idea, why not ask the schools or community association in your area?  There are plenty of resources that can direct you with projects they need funding for like a new playground, conservatory trail path, or park. The more people you gather to help the better as you will need them to rally and vote for the submission.

Submit your idea

When you submit you’ll need to:

•             Upload photos or videos

•             Explain your idea (in 5,000 characters)

•             Ballpark the cost of the project

Promote your idea

This is where the fun all begins! Finalists are chosen based on the number of votes, therefore ask anyone you know to show their support by voting daily for your project such as family members, friends, neighbours, co-workers, etc. Reach out on your social media pages ie. Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, or Pinterest. Email your local newspapers, radio and televisions stations, and parenting group to let them know about your community project. If you collect enough votes, you will move on to the judging round where an independent panel of judges will evaluate each of the finalist ideas.  Bonus: Getting an insurance broker to support your idea increases your chances of winning!

Qualifying Rounds

There are three qualifying rounds from Sept 30th to Nov 25^th.  Deadline to submit your idea is November 25^th, 2013. If you don’t make it the first time, your idea is automatically re-entered into the next qualifying round. If you don’t qualify, maybe consider rethinking your strategy.

Semi-Final

The semi-final round is from December 2^nd to 11^th, 2013.  At this point, you will be able to update your idea with recent photos, additional details, and a budget as you are now in competition with other Canadian Communities. Only the top 30 ideas (10 from each budget category) will advance to the final Judging phase.

Judging

The judging round, from December 18^th, 2013 to January 28^th, 2014, is so exciting since each finalist now gets at least $5,000 towards their idea!  The panel of judges now has the difficult task of choosing the Grand Winner of the $1,000,000 Aviva Community Fund.

For more information, please visit their website. You can also Like Aviva Community Fund and Follow @avivacf.

So what are you waiting for? Start planning an idea that will help your community and submit it on September 23rd!

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Category: Dads, Family, Kids, Living, Moms, Non-Profit