Whether you’re a large publication or a small publication, finding funding to offer paid internships can be challenging. That’s why the National Media Awards Foundation has compiled a list of grants and subsidies for hiring students, recent graduates and others for work-integrated learning experiences.
To fully understand the benefits that hiring an intern can bring to your newsroom, check out this discussion with industry-leaders Stephanie Bai, Colin Leslie, Angela Pacienza, and Samia Madwar on the power of a strong internship program.
Know of a grant that we haven’t listed yet? Let us know via email at [email protected]!
Please select the title link for each grant to learn more about its eligibility requirements.
AMPA’s Indigenous Internship Program
Overview: The program subsidizes 75% of minimum wage ($15/hr) to a maximum 40-hour work week for a six-month period for an Indigenous intern, including First Nations, Métis or Inuit.
Deadline: Applications currently closed (2023 deadline TBA)
Region: Canada-wide
Canada Summer Jobs Program
Overview: The program provides wage subsidies to employers from not-for-profit organizations, the public sector, and private sector organizations with 50 or fewer full-time employees, to create quality summer work experiences for young people aged 15 to 30 years.
Deadline: January (2023 deadline TBA)
Region: Canada-wide
MagNet Student Work Placement Program
Overview: The program provides employers with wage subsidies to hire post-secondary students for paid work experiences. Students in turn benefit with quality work experience so they can secure employment in their chosen fields of study. Funding covers 50% of the wages (to a maximum of $5,000) for each net new placement, and 70% of the wages (to a maximum of $7,000) for each net new placement for under-represented groups including women in STEM, Indigenous students, newcomers, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, and first-year students.
Deadline: Applications accepted on a rolling basis. Please see the title link for more information.
Region: Canada-wide
Venture for Canada Student Internship Resources
Overview: The program provides a 50-70% wage subsidy (capped at $7,000), per student per term. Employers are required to pay Interns a minimum wage of $15.00/hour or higher via payroll. This funding subsidizes hourly wages. Half of the allowable subsidy is paid within six weeks of the intern’s start date, and the remainder is paid upon completion of the placement.
Deadline: Different deadlines for Fall, Winter and Spring semesters. Please see the title link for more information.
Region: Applications are open to any small or medium-sized business, start-up, social enterprise, nonprofit, or charity that is not exclusively based in Ontario (must have a physical office (pre-COVID) in one of the following Canadian provinces: the Northern Territories, BC, AB, SK, MB, QC, NB, NS, PE or NL).
Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s Talent Opportunity Program
Overview: The program is an initiative of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce designed to help employers located anywhere in Canada hire college and university students on work-integrated learning (WIL) placements. Employers hiring eligible students may receive a wage subsidy for up to 50% of the wages (to a maximum of $5,000) for each ‘net new’ placement or 70% of the wages (to a maximum of $7,000) for each ‘net new’ placement for the following under-represented groups: Indigenous people, person with disabilities, newcomer to Canada, first year student, visible minority, and/or women in STEM.
Deadline: Applications currently closed (2023 deadline TBA)
Region: Canada-wide
Pratiques HR Accueillez un stagiaire programme
Overview: The program offers 50% to 70% of the intern’s gross salary up to a maximum of $7000. Pratiques HR also offers a personalized coaching service completely free of charge to all francophone and anglophone Québec companies, regardless of size, sector of activity or administrative region.
Deadline: Deadlines vary by semester
Region: Canada-wide (grant); Québec (coaching)
Cultural Human Resources Centre Student Work Placement Program
Overview: The program supports partnerships between arts and culture employers and post-secondary education (PSE) institutions to create paid quality work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities for students so that they can develop the work-ready skills that are required to secure meaningful employment upon graduation. The program reimburses eligible employers 50% of the student’s wages (maximum wage subsidy: $5,000 per placement), and a maximum 70% wage subsidy (maximum $7,000) for students confirmed to be part of a priority group. The employer must be a Canadian cultural sector employer. The cultural sectors include Digital Media; Film and Television; Live Performing Arts; Music and Sound Recording; Visual Arts and Crafts; Writing and Publishing; and Heritage.
Deadline: Currently accepting applications.
Region: Canada-wide.
Young Canada Works at Building Careers in Heritage
Overview: The program offers several types of internships and supports organizations from the heritage, arts, and cultural sectors. Internships range from four to 12 months. An employer may be eligible if it is an incorporated, non-profit organization in Canada with a heritage mandate such as a museum, archive, a library, an organization managing built heritage (heritage sites), or an arts organization, or if it is an Indigenous organization with a mandate to preserve and support Indigenous heritage (First Nations, Inuit and Métis).
Deadline: January (2023 deadline TBA)
Region: Canada-wide
Young Canada Works in Both Official Languages
Overview: The program is open to employers who offer a job in which the employee’s first official language is used to foster the development of an official-language minority community (Francophone community outside of Quebec or Anglophone community within Quebec), or who offer a job presenting the opportunity to practice second-language skills. The employer must be a private, public or non-profit organization with opportunities to build advanced skills through internships, offer internships that meet the labour market needs in linguistic duality, and where workforce shortages are anticipated in official-language minority communities or to staff positions in official-language minority community media (radios and newspapers), and be incorporated.
Deadline: January (2023 deadline TBA)
Region: Canada-wide
Support for Publishers: Business Development (Canada Book Fund)
Overview: The Support for Publishers component of the Canada Book Fund (CBF) helps to ensure the sustainable production and marketing of Canadian-authored books by offsetting the high costs of publishing in Canada and building the capacity and competitiveness of the sector. The Business Development sub-component provides assistance to publishers for internship projects and business planning projects.
Deadline: January (2023 deadline TBA)
Region: Canada-wide
FESTQ I: Entreprises et organismes
Sommaire: Ce Fonds étudiant regroupe une variété de secteurs d’emploi afin de permettre à tous les types d’employeurs de déposer un projet pour embaucher des étudiants du secondaire, du collégial ou de l’université. Dans le FESTQ I (à l’exception du Volet entrepreneurial), le salaire remboursé correspond à 90% du salaire brut excluant les charges sociales imputées à l’employeur et ce, au taux horaire indiqué selon le niveau d’études. Semaines de travail de 40h et moins admissibles à la subvention.
Date limite: 31 mars 2022 (date limite 2023 annonce à venir)
Région: Québec
Magazine Association of BC Internship Subsidy Program
Overview: The program offers a maximum subsidy of $5500 or 80% of wages, whichever is less. Internships must consist of significant meaningful work, i.e. interns must have regular opportunities to apply their education and skills to gain valuable work experience. The internship must be 20 or more hours/week and 16 weeks, not including gap weeks (weeks in which the intern works less than half of their usual hours). Very small magazines can apply for a subsidy for a 10+ hours per week internship.
Deadline: Applications currently closed (2023 deadline TBA if program is offered again).
Region: British Columbia – eligible magazines must be voting members of the Magazine Association of BC and be in good standing.