We believe everyone needs a safe place to call home and choosing to help with homelessness prevention brings focus and depth to CN’s longstanding commitment to the safety and wellbeing of our neighbouring communities. It complements our community investments in Safety, People, and Environment — providing a clear, highly impactful way for employees and partners to make a difference.

Homelessness is rising across North America. CN’s focus is on supporting nonprofit organizations whose mission is to reduce the number of people at risk of losing access to safe and permanent shelter in Canada and the U.S., through proven, community-based prevention strategies.

CN’s support focuses on breaking down stigma and changing perceptions, rebuilding connections, and the funding of solutions-based research.

This initiative is anchored in safety, CN’s core value. By investing in prevention and working closely with CN Police and local support agencies, we hope to reduce temporary encampments and trespassing on CN property, improve the safety and wellbeing of all residents in our communities, and maintain fluid network operations.

We’ll track its success using multiple metrics and factors including but not limited to: impact reports from our nonprofit partners, internal and external surveys, research project results, increased awareness and education about homelessness amongst our railroaders, increased employee engagement with key funding partners, funding requests in line with CN’s corporate giving programs and increased recognition of CN’s philanthropic leadership.

Please complete the application form. Only requests submitted online by a nonprofit organization will be considered for funding by CN.

Note: CN’s focus is to provide funding for supportive services that help people stay housed safely. We will respectfully decline any funding applications for bricks-and-mortar housing projects. Thank you for your understanding.

If your Indigenous community or organization is seeking sponsorships or donations, we invite you to submit your request with our Indigenous Relations team.

Apply

Due to the significant volume of requests that CN receives, we must prioritize funding for certain types of organizations. At the current time, these types of organizations or requests are not eligible to receive funding from CN:

• Politically affiliated programs, organizations or lobbyists
• Business or contract fundraisers
• Private clinics
• Private elementary and high schools
• Amateur sports teams
• Religious or sectarian organizations (except for non-denominational projects or activities organized for the benefit of society in general)
• Individuals or individual families
• Multimedia and art productions including films (documentary and feature), music and plays
• Individual researchers
• Initiatives benefitting people outside Canada and US
• Volunteer Action Centers
• Infrastructure projects