HR IntranetAt Queen's, we are committed to creating and promoting a healthy and sustainable community. The BeWell Grant is a one year pilot program from Human Resources which provides funding to support small-scale workplace well-being activities and projects as we work together to establish and nurture a vibrant, caring, and thoughtful university environment.
Eligibility
- Any department or portfolio across the Queen’s University Community is eligible to apply for funding from the BeWell Grant
- Anyone with an employment relationship with Queen’s University is eligible to apply for funding from the BeWell Grant
Applications Now Closed
The next round of applications will open in May 2025. Previous BeWell recipients are welcomed to apply again, however priority will be given to departments and units that have not received funding in previous years.
Successful Applicants for 2024-25
In it's pilot year, the BeWell Grant Program received an outstanding response from the Queen's Community with a total of 43 application submissions. The submissions were innovative, diverse, and creative, which made the selection process even more difficult. After a thorough review of all submissions, a total of 21 applications were successful and received funding to support their wellness initiatives. These funding projects feature a wide-range of wellness-focused activities aimed at enhancing the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of our employees. From mental health workshops to fitness programs and even community-building activities, each initiative reflects our collective commitment to fostering a healthy and vibrant Queen's environment.
On behalf of the selection committee and grant organizers, thank you to everyone who submitted excellent proposals, and congratulations on all successful applicants. Your dedication to improving wellness at Queen's is truly inspiring.
The Funding Opportunity
You play an important role in fostering a healthy Queen's community. This initiative provides an opportunity to be innovative as you test out a new healthy workplace idea.
The number of grant applications funded will be dependent on the number of applications received and the amount distributed for each successful grant. In the application review process, selected applications with similar goals or ideas may be matched to collaborate on their workplace wellness idea.
Guidelines
Programming and ideas must fit within one or more of the following four priority focus areas outlined in the Queen’s Campus Wellbeing Framework.
- Culture: Expand opportunities for reflective, positive leadership and recognize a shared responsibility among all members of the Queen’s community to advance a culture of care, equity, inclusion, respect, and empathy.
- Belonging and social connection: Recognize the important role that strong, active, and inclusive interpersonal connectedness plays in supporting well-being and in sustaining a vital community.
- Personal well-being: Promote the multiple dimensions of personal health and recognize the roles and responsibilities of both the university and of individuals in supporting personal health. The following eight dimensions of personal well-being are the responsibility of each of us to recognize, nurture, and support: Physical health, Social health, Mental / Emotional health, Intellectual health, Career / Workplace health, Environmental health, Spiritual health, and Financial health.
- Places: Create and maintain inclusive, accessible, sustainable, and inspiring indoor, outdoor, and online places that promote learning, enhance social connections, advance active living, and contribute to overall personal, environmental, and community well-being.
Expenses that do not fall within the scope of this program and will not be approved for a grant include and are not limited to:
- Operational expenses, i.e. expenses incurred during normal business operations
- Coordinators to support the program. Note that instructor/facilitator/speaker are eligible expenses.
- Purchase of fitness tracking devices such as Fitbits
- Current ARC programming that is already open to the university community
- Wellness activities that may already be in progress in your departments
- Individual employee health and fitness memberships and related expenses
- Building renovations, furniture, or large-scale fitness equipment
- Expenses related to physical changes to your workspace or safety equipment for your team. If adjustments to your workspace are required as a result of a medical disability, please contact employee.wellness@queensu.ca as you may be eligible for the Accommodation Fund.
If you have any questions about the eligibility of expenses, please contact Employee Wellness Services at employee.wellness@queensu.ca.
Grant applications will be assessed by a Selection Committee comprised of representatives from across the Queen’s University Community, Employee Wellness Services, and the Campus Wellness Project. Each Lead Applicant will be notified of the committee’s decision.
Applications will be reviewed by the committee using the general criteria below:
- Promotes one or more of the priority focus areas of the Queen’s Campus Wellbeing Framework
- Includes a clear description and objectives, including anticipated benefits
- Benefits several employees at the team or department level
- Includes a budget that is appropriate and justified, with an explanation of associated costs
- Outlines how project outcomes will be evaluated
While not required, the committee will also be looking for the following elements. We encourage proposed efforts that enable:
- Collaborations with other portfolio groups to submit a joint application
- Initiatives that are inclusive of a range of abilities and perspectives
- Meaningful engagement and participation for a range of employees
- Innovation where grant funds will be used in new and thoughtful ways to reach objectives that would not otherwise be achievable
- April 30, 2024 – Applications open
- June 26, 2024 – Application deadline
- July 2024 – Selection Committee reviews applications and selects applications to be funded
- Late July 2024 – Applicants are notified of the Selection Committee's decisions
- August 2024 – Funds are transferred to departments with successful applications
- January 15, 2025 – Mid-year progress check-in and survey
- July 31, 2025 – Funding spending deadline, final report due along with explanation of expenses
Note: deadlines for the next application period will be similar to the above timeline.
Funding Buckets and Decision: Please update levels of funding to the following:
- Team/Unit/Department initiative – up to $1,000
- Portfolio Initiative – up to $2,000
- Cross-Portfolio Initiative – up to $5,000
For this grant application
- A Team/Unit/Department is defined as a group at the Department Head, AVP, Director level
- A Portfolio is defined as a group at the Dean, Associate Dean, Vice-Principal, or Associate Vice-Principal level
- Cross – Portfolio is defined as between groups that are under different Portfolios
The approval and amount of funding will be contingent upon:
- The availability of funds and the total amount of requests received.
- The alignment of the project, initiative, or event with the selection criteria.
As part of the BeWell Grant, Wellness Grant Champions have been identified across the university.
The Champions are well positioned in their collective efforts to promote ample interest in the BeWell Grant.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Preparation
- Start early, create a timeline and plan ahead: Putting together a grant application always takes longer than you think it will. Plan time for internal review of your grant application by colleagues!
- Ask for advice: Peers, mentors, and sometimes the funding agency can all provide you with tips on developing a successful application.
- Review successful proposals: Ask colleagues if they can share successful proposals with you. Deconstruct the grant – what is effective about its structure, phrasing, and format? How might these strategies be applied in your own proposal?
- Carve out time to write: Secure blocks of time in your calendar for writing the application.
The Application
- Follow the rules: Read and follow instructions carefully and exactly.
- Address all evaluation criteria: Be sure that you’ve addressed each criteria clearly and explicitly.
- Aim for a balanced proposal: Your project must be both feasible and suitably ambitious. Reviewers will not recommend a project for funding if they don’t believe it’s feasible (i.e., overly ambitious) or if they think it’s only incremental (i.e., not ambitious enough).
- Remember, it’s a competition: Be persuasive and not just descriptive. You need to make an argument/build a case for funding – clearly describe what makes your project unique and important (e.g. innovative approach, unique resources).
- Anticipate questions: Anticipate questions that may arise and address these explicitly in your narrative. Address any limitations and provide alternative approaches.
- Seek a pre‐submission review: Ask for reviews from a variety of readers to get many perspectives: someone in your field, colleagues in a different field, etc. Then, revise, revise, revise to ensure you’ve addressed all concerns raised.
- Submit on time: The deadline to apply is June 26, 2024.
Event Services is a great resource for many of your on campus event planning needs.
Do you want catering at your event? If so, please consider the following details:
- Timing of event and food delivery
- Room number
- Number of participants
- Budget
- Food preference from website above
Do you want your event to be virtual or in person?
- Room booking: Central Room Reservations | Queen's Event Services (queensu.ca)
- Lecture Halls and Classrooms through event services:
Event Promotion: Ensure that you build in a communications plan to ensure that you can engage your audience, we are always happy to assist with promotion for events so please contact us if you need assistance at employee.wellness@queensu.ca
Funds are expended solely for your funded project. Please contact employee.wellness@queensu.ca for approval if there are any changes to the project before they occur.
All activities/projects should be completed by July 31, 2025, when final reports will also be due.
Yes! This is a great way to break silos between departments and portfolios and encourage collaboration across the university.
Examples include:
- Track attendance numbers
- Send around a pre-and post-survey
- Hand out an evaluation form
- Host a focus group or interviews
- Collect testimonials from colleagues
Of course. The Grant is open to all Queen's employees, but we recognize that student interns may also work in your department. They are more than welcome to participate in the project.
Inquiries? Contact Employee Wellness Services
Thank you to the following organizations for consultation and use of their documents to guide the development of the BeWell Grant.
- Queen's University, Office of the Vice-Principal (Finance and Administration)'s BeWell@VPFA Grant Pilot Program
- University of British Columbia, Healthy Workplace Initiatives Fund Program
- University of Guelph, Wellness@Work Grant Program
- Dalhousie University, Workplace Wellness Grant