Canon Oceania offering $30k for 12th environmental grants programme

In commemoration of World Environment Day, Canon Oceania's 2018 Grants Programme is now open for nominations.

For the last 12 years, this programme has supported more than 70 schools and not-for-profit groups with more than $360,000 to further their causes and affect meaningful environmental, educational and societal change.

This year, Canon is offering over $30,000 worth of grants made up of both cash and Canon equipment across Australia and New Zealand - each winning grant recipient will receive $5,000 in total made up of $4,000 worth of product and $1,000 of cash.

For the first time, the wider community will be invited to vote on the finalists before the winners are announced for each sector.

This programme is part of Canon Oceania's commitment to Kyosei – a founding principle of the company that means to live and work for the common good.

Winners will be selected based on the positive impact their project will have on their environment or community, as well as the importance of technology for the project's success.

"Each year we are inspired by the hard work, dedication, and selflessness of the schools and not-for-profit groups who apply for the grants," says Canon Oceania managing director Dave Yoshida.

"It is our great pleasure to give these organisations a helping hand and we encourage anyone, who fits the criteria, to apply. The programme is one of the many ways we have been giving back to the community; something that is intrinsic to the way we operate across the globe.

Previous winners include The Last Straw, that won the 2017 Environmental Grant, receiving $5,000 worth of Canon multifunction printers and DSLR cameras. The devices helped them further their mission to end the use of plastic straws in venues around Australia, enabling them to create high-quality videos to raise awareness of the disastrous impact that single-use plastic - especially plastic straws - has on ocean ecosystems.

"The grant equipment has been incredibly helpful so far," says The Last Straw Founder Eva Mackinley.

"We are just in the final stages of editing three pieces of video content we were able to shoot with the Canon gear. Creating more compelling videos enables us to engage with our audience in a more powerful way, so they can truly see and understand how the straws they use are harming the environment. The Canon printing equipment has also been incredibly helpful in the day-to-day running of The Last Straw. It's little things like these that allow us to stay focused on our cause.

The 2018 grants will be awarded under the following categories:

Nominations are open from Tuesday 5th June until Tuesday 19th June, following which nominees will receive email prompts to hand in their detailed submissions between June 20 and July 20.

The wider community will be invited to vote on finalists in August and grant winners will be announced in September.