iA Financial Group is marking the 10th anniversary of its Philanthropic Contest with its largest-ever prize pool -- $1 million split among charities supporting young Canadians, with four grand prize winners receiving $200,000 each and the remainder distributed among other finalists.
That's roughly double what the contest has typically awarded in recent years; iA's 2024 edition distributed $500,000 across a dozen charities, and its 2022 edition awarded $580,000, making this year's commitment the largest single-year investment in the contest's history by a wide margin.
"Over the past decade, the Philanthropic Contest has given us a unique window into the realities facing communities across Canada," said Denis Ricard, iA's president and CEO. "While the issues have evolved, a common thread has emerged: supporting young people is one of the most powerful ways to create a lasting impact."
According to iA's newly released 10 Years of Action report, the contest has received 1,843 project submissions since 2017, generated more than 11,000 public and employee votes, and invested $5.1 million in charitable initiatives across the country to date.
The contest launched in 2017 to mark iA's 125th anniversary, originally centred specifically on children's health and welfare.
Its focus has moved with the times since: 2021's edition centred on pandemic-era child welfare, while last year's edition focused specifically on food insecurity, drawing finalists like La Tablée des Chefs in Quebec and Harvest Manitoba.
This year's theme returns to a broader mandate centred on young Canadians across education, health, social services, community and environmental initiatives, reflecting what iA describes as a consistent pattern across a decade of applications: that investing in the next generation is where philanthropic dollars create the most durable community impact.
The contest itself is one visible piece of a broader philanthropic structure at iA, which aims to direct 1% of pre-tax profits to more than 600 organizations across Canada annually.
In 2025, that commitment totalled $11.4 million, meaning the contest's $1 million prize pool this year represents a meaningful but still modest fraction of iA's total annual community investment.
Framed against that larger number, doubling the contest's prize pool to mark its 10th anniversary reads as a deliberate, symbolic escalation of the program's public visibility rather than a shift in the company's overall giving capacity, which was already substantial before this year's increase.
Charities can register and submit proposals from September 9 to October 13.
A selection committee will narrow submissions to twelve finalists between October 14 and November 2, with public voting running November 3 to 25 before winners are announced the week of December 7.
