Event date: February 12, 2026
The Solidaires are back!
Like every year, Solidaires is the perfect opportunity to announce the results of the annual campaign and highlight the incredible work accomplished by organizations in the community.
For the 2026 edition, we’re inviting organizations to submit their applications in order to highlight their inspiring initiatives: projects that bring about change, concrete actions in the community, or commitments that transform lives.
Let your impact be celebrated: submit your application and help make the heart of our community shine.
But first, what is Solidaires?
The Solidaires event pays tribute to the leadership and social commitment of the companies, organizations, labour movements and individuals who support Centraide’s annual campaign. It also recognizes the exceptional contribution of organizations and individuals involved in community action, who strive every day to act and rally for a Greater Montreal that is inclusive and free of poverty.
It’s also an event that enables the many networks that make up Centraide to meet and exchange ideas in a relaxed, festive setting.
- Please note: The network of agencies supported by Centraide is rich and diverse. The idea behind the Solidaires awards is not to have the “best” agencies win in the above-mentioned categories, but rather to appreciate their progress, what they’ve learned and the path they’ve travelled. This will be taken into account in the analysis of entries.
Award categories
This year, five (5) prizes will be awarded in categories aligned with Centraide of Greater Montreal’s social development appreciation principles. These principles are inspired by the principles of trust-based philanthropy and the criteria of autonomous community action, in order to provide an appreciative view of the relevance of the organizations in the Centraide network.
Depending on the category, the awards may be presented to organizations or collective initiatives (a group of organizations or players joining forces to take action on a specific social issue, at least 1 of which is part of the network of agencies supported by Centraide).
We would like to highlight organizations whose strategies have made it possible, over the past two years, to:
SOCIAL RELEVANCE IN ITS COMMUNITY CATEGORY
Award description
The Solidaire Agent of change is awarded to an organization or collective initiative supported by Centraide of Greater Montreal*. The award recognizes an organization’s marked efforts to work on current or emerging issues in its community in the fight against poverty and social exclusion.
The agency knows the priority social issues, needs and characteristics of the local population, and more specifically of historically marginalized groups. With this knowledge, it responds to the current and emerging needs of local populations by offering activities:
- In keeping with its mission and the challenges of fighting poverty in the region;
- By adapting its activities to meet current and emerging needs;
- By integrating the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion into its vision and strategic objectives.
This can take the form of actions aimed at:
- Readjust its range of activities following changes in its territory;
- Adapt its activities to the post-pandemic context;
- Propose innovative social projects;
- etc.
Note: The $10,000 bursary associated with this award will be remitted to the Solidaires recipient organization or collective initiative.
*In the case of a group of organizations, this may include organizations not funded by Centraide.
Application form and deadline
📝You can now submit your application form by clicking on the following link: Social relevance in its community
📅The deadline for applications is Friday, November 7, 2025.
Submissions can be made by:
- Written form, in English or French
OR
- Video, in English or French (e.g. MP4 or MOV format, maximum length five minutes)
To submit your application, please follow the steps below:
- Choose to submit your entry in writing OR by video.
- Fill in the form corresponding to the category for which you are applying. For video submissions, you must fill in the basic information in the award form to inform us of your submission.
- Video files must be uploaded to your organization’s personal file manager using your usual login and password.
- Please answer all questions accurately. For video submissions, please read the question aloud before answering it, so that the jury can follow your presentation.
- Attach a letter of support from a partner to your application by filing it in your organization’s personal file manager.
Note: by submitting your application for this edition of Solidaires 2026, your application will also be valid for next year.
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
INTERVENTION STRATEGY AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION CATEGORY
Descriptif du prix
The Solidaire Social transformation and power of ownership is awarded to an organization, collective initiative* or consultation body supported by Centraide of Greater Montreal. This award recognizes the significant efforts made by an organization to deploy intervention strategies, approaches and ways of doing things, and their willingness to work BY, FOR and WITH people and communities facing various issues, as well as the means used to strengthen their power to act.
This can take the form of actions aimed at:
- Implement actions to reach local populations, more specifically the most vulnerable and/or historically marginalized;
- Encourage and support personal development through the acquisition of individual and collective knowledge and skills;
- Develop strategies to empower the people we reach;
- Implement self-help strategies that contribute to the development of solidarity between individuals, groups and communities;
- Implement strategies that are culturally reassuring and/or adapted to the population reached.
Note: The $10,000 bursary associated with this award will be remitted to the Solidaires recipient organization or collective initiative.
*In the case of a group of organizations, this may include organizations not funded by Centraide.
Application form and deadline
📝You can now submit your application form by clicking on the following link: Intervention strategy and social transformation
📅The deadline for applications is Friday, November 7, 2025.
Submissions can be made by:
- Written form, in English or French
OR
- Video, in English or French (e.g. MP4 or MOV format, maximum length five minutes)
To submit your application, please follow the steps below:
- Choose to submit your entry in writing OR by video.
- Fill in the form corresponding to the category for which you are applying. For video submissions, you must fill in the basic information in the award form to inform us of your submission.
- Video files must be uploaded to your organization’s personal file manager using your usual login and password.
- Please answer all questions accurately. For video submissions, please read the question aloud before answering it, so that the jury can follow your presentation.
- Attach a letter of support from a partner to your application by filing it in your organization’s personal file manager.
Note: by submitting your application for this edition of Solidaires 2026, your application will also be valid for next year.
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
ABILITY TO MEASURE EFFECTS AND LEARNING CATEGORY
Award description
The Solidaire Evaluation and Learning is awarded to an organization, a collective initiative* or a consultation body supported by Centraide of Greater Montreal.
The evaluation and learning culture refers to the effects that organizations observe in relation to their intervention objectives, actions and vision. This award recognizes the significant efforts made by an organization to demonstrate the relevance and impact of its actions on the people it helps.
This award recognizes the demonstration of effects or spin-offs that organizations observe in relation to their intervention or service objectives, the lessons learned and their vision of social transformation. This can take the form of actions aimed at :
- Put in place facilitating conditions to carry out the evaluation (e.g. evaluation framework, intentions, resources, dedicated budget, skills)?
- Involve both teams and communities in the development of intervention strategies and activities;
- Invest learning in the evolution of practices and interventions;
- Use diversified and accessible means to promote its benefits and learning.
Note: The $10,000 bursary associated with this award will be remitted to the Solidaires recipient organization or collective initiative.
*In the case of a group of organizations, this may include organizations not funded by Centraide.
Application form and deadline
📝You can now submit your application form by clicking on the following link: Ability to measure effects and learning
📅The deadline for applications is Friday, November 7, 2025.
Submissions can be made by:
- Written form, in English or French
OR
- Video, in English or French (e.g. MP4 or MOV format, maximum length five minutes)
To submit your application, please follow the steps below:
- Choose to submit your entry in writing OR by video.
- Fill in the form corresponding to the category for which you are applying. For video submissions, you must fill in the basic information in the award form to inform us of your submission.
- Video files must be uploaded to your organization’s personal file manager using your usual login and password.
- Please answer all questions accurately. For video submissions, please read the question aloud before answering it, so that the jury can follow your presentation.
- Attach a letter of support from a partner to your application by filing it in your organization’s personal file manager.
Note: by submitting your application for this edition of Solidaires 2026, your application will also be valid for next year.
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
CONSULTATION AND PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY PLAYERS CATEGORY
Award description
The Solidaire Commitment and collaboration is awarded to an agency, collaborative body or group of organizations* supported by Centraide of Greater Montreal. Commitment to consultation refers to collaboration with local social players, more specifically through participation in and contribution to local social development tables. In a perspective of equity, diversity and inclusion, concertation and mobilization must include the voices and perspectives of the populations residing in its community, more specifically the most vulnerable and historically marginalized groups.
This award recognizes a project/good practice/model that enables fruitful and sustainable collaboration in the community. This can take the form of actions aimed at :
- Demonstrate the effects of its contribution to community consultation (exchange of information, pooling of resources or expertise, mutual referral, championing of a neighborhood priority, participation in a collective neighborhood project) and the effects that have emerged;
- Include in consultation and mobilization the voices and perspectives of the community’s resident populations, more specifically people in vulnerable situations and historically marginalized populations;
- Collaborate with a variety of partners (working on complementary issues), sectoral and/or cross-sectoral collaborations or other strategies for pooling resources, expertise, etc. around common objectives or projects;
- Rally and mobilize local stakeholders around common issues.
Note: The $10,000 bursary associated with this award will be remitted to the Solidaires recipient organization or collective initiative.
*In the case of a group of organizations, this may include organizations not funded by Centraide.
Application form and deadline
📝You can now submit your application form by clicking on the following link: Consultation and partnership with community players
📅The deadline for applications is Friday, November 7, 2025.
Submissions can be made by:
- Written form, in English or French
OR
- Video, in English or French (e.g. MP4 or MOV format, maximum length five minutes)
To submit your application, please follow the steps below:
- Choose to submit your entry in writing OR by video.
- Fill in the form corresponding to the category for which you are applying. For video submissions, you must fill in the basic information in the award form to inform us of your submission.
- Video files must be uploaded to your organization’s personal file manager using your usual login and password.
- Please answer all questions accurately. For video submissions, please read the question aloud before answering it, so that the jury can follow your presentation.
- Attach a letter of support from a partner to your application by filing it in your organization’s personal file manager.
Note: by submitting your application for this edition of Solidaires 2026, your application will also be valid for next year.
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
HEALTHY, EFFICIENT AND INCLUSIVE MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE CATEGORY
Award description
The Solidaire Management and governance is awarded to an organization, collective initiative* or consultation body supported by Centraide of Greater Montreal. Inclusive management and governance refers to an organization’s organizational culture and capacity to put in place decision-making bodies, practices, rules, tools and procedures that take into account equity, diversity and inclusion.
This award honors an organization that:
- Manages its financial resources responsibly and transparently, and employs strategies to ensure its sustainability;
- Provides a framework for the working conditions of its human resources through the establishment of clear, fair and regularly reviewed policies;
- Plans its activities effectively and responsibly to meet the needs of its community, and reports annually to its members.
- Develops sound, effective and inclusive governance practices.
This can take the form of actions aimed at :
- Develop an action plan outlining annual objectives, activities to be carried out, resources required and expected results;
- Put in place means to ensure the well-being of its human resources (employees, volunteers and members), notably by promoting inclusive and non-oppressive practices;
- Develop strategies that promote the mobilization, recruitment, support and inclusion of people representing the diversity of its community;
- Foster the development of inclusive practices that encourage and support volunteerism within the organization;
- Implement good governance practices (e.g.: policy for welcoming and training new directors, training on the roles and responsibilities of a Board of Directors, self-evaluation of Board actions);
- Animate its associative life to enable the active participation of citizens and participants in decision-making.
Note: The $10,000 bursary associated with this award will be remitted to the Solidaires recipient organization or collective initiative.
*In the case of a group of organizations, this may include organizations not funded by Centraide.
Application form and deadline
📝You can now submit your application form by clicking on the following link: Healthy, efficient and inclusive management and governance
📅The deadline for applications is Friday, November 7, 2025.
Submissions can be made by:
- Written form, in English or French
OR
- Video, in English or French (e.g. MP4 or MOV format, maximum length five minutes)
To submit your application, please follow the steps below:
- Choose to submit your entry in writing OR by video.
- Fill in the form corresponding to the category for which you are applying. For video submissions, you must fill in the basic information in the award form to inform us of your submission.
- Video files must be uploaded to your organization’s personal file manager using your usual login and password.
- Please answer all questions accurately. For video submissions, please read the question aloud before answering it, so that the jury can follow your presentation.
- Attach a letter of support from a partner to your application by filing it in your organization’s personal file manager.
Note: by submitting your application for this edition of Solidaires 2026, your application will also be valid for next year.
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
A special prize will also be awarded to recognize and highlight the contribution of a volunteer or group of people involved in their community:
EXCEPTIONAL CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT CATEGORY
Award description
The Solidaire Citizen engagement is awarded to a person who has distinguished himself or herself through volunteer work and leadership within an agency or a collaborative body supported by Centraide of Greater Montreal. It can also be awarded to a group of people involved in an organization or consultation body.
This award recognizes a citizen’s commitment whose actions have contributed to the advancement of an issue in a community, or to the mobilization of other citizens in the realization of a concrete and lasting action. This can take the form of actions aimed at:
- sustained commitment to a specific project or organization;
- a significant contribution of the citizen’s voice through consultations on a project;
- a commitment that has mobilized stakeholders in a project or initiative, including other citizens.
Note: The $10,000 bursary associated with this award will be remitted to the Solidaires recipient organization or collective initiative.
Application form and deadline
📝You can now submit your application form by clicking on the following link: Exceptional citizen engagement
📅The deadline for applications is Friday, November 7, 2025.
Submissions can be made by:
- Written form, in English or French
OR
- Video, in English or French (e.g. MP4 or MOV format, maximum length five minutes)
To submit your application, please follow the steps below:
- Choose to submit your entry in writing OR by video.
- Fill in the form corresponding to the category for which you are applying. For video submissions, you must fill in the basic information in the award form to inform us of your submission.
- Video files must be uploaded to your organization’s personal file manager using your usual login and password.
- Please answer all questions accurately. For video submissions, please read the question aloud before answering it, so that the jury can follow your presentation.
- Attach a letter of support from a partner to your application by filing it in your organization’s personal file manager.
Note: by submitting your application for this edition of Solidaires 2026, your application will also be valid for next year.
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
- Note: If you would like to apply for more than one category, please complete a separate form for each category. Please note that any application submitted for the Solidaires 2026 edition will automatically be considered for the following edition.
- If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected]
WOULD YOU LIKE TO TAKE PART IN CHOOSING THE SOLIDAIRES WINNERS?
The jury that will determine the Solidaires winners will be made up of volunteer members of Centraide of Greater Montreal’s investment committee and partner members of our network. Three (3) seats will be reserved for community partners.
The jury’s role is to analyze the applications according to award categories, using a grid of specific criteria. This exercise will take place at the end of November, and a meeting to share the analyses and determine the winners will be held at the end of the process.
Please note that an organization that has submitted an application is not eligible to take part in the jury.
If you are interested in participating in this jury, please contact us at [email protected]. We’ll let you know by e-mail if your application has been successful.
Thank you and good luck!
