Graduate Community Development Fund

The Graduate Community Development Fund (GCDF) was created by the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) in partnership with the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) at the University of Toronto in March 2017 to provide merit-based equity awards recognizing exceptional students on campus for their contributions to the graduate experience.

Application Status: OPEN
Application Period: December 9, 2025 to January 31, 2026
Grant Amount: $2000.00
Number of Grants: Ten (10)

Please note: You will required to login with a Rubric account. We have set up single sign-on with your mail.utoronto.ca accounts. If you have a society / student group login, please open the tab incognito.

Award Eligibility

In order to be eligible, an applicant must:

• Be a UTGSU member at the time of application.
• Anticipate having a net income and/or funding (excluding student loans) of less than $15,000 between September 1st and August 31st. Priority will be given to those who have not previously received UTGSU funding.
• Have not received this bursary before during their academic degree at the University of Toronto.
• Not be a current member of the Finance Committee, UTGSU Executive Committee, and Board of Directors.

Award Description

In order to be eligible, an applicant must:

• The Finance Committee will evaluate the applications and determine the recipients based on the set criteria.
• This is a bursary available once per academic year.
• A student will only be eligible to receive one award per academic degree.
• This is a general award open to any current graduate students. There are ten (10) awards in this category. The diversity of recipients’ lived experience may be considered in the final allocations. Such diversity includes but is not limited to: First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, racialized people, persons with disabilities, queer and trans people, international students, caregivers and women.
• Each award is set at $2,000.00.

Application Process

An applicant must fill out the online application and submit the following documents:

1. A one-page typed statement responding to the following question: “How have you, as an individual, contributed to improving the University of Toronto graduate student experience through your community work and activities?”
   
2. One reference from the University. The references are required to provide their full name, designation and contact info. Their recommendation must focus on extra-curricular activities and not on course work and/or research related to the applicant’s academic program. Any document not asked for will be discarded.

The statement and references must be submitted online into a single PDF file with the application form.

Disqualification

If an applicant has been found to have falsified their application, they will be disqualified and ineligible from future awards by the UTGSU.

Contact Information and Accessibility

If you require accessibility accommodations or have any questions related to the Graduate Community Development Fund, please email finance@utgsu.ca.