Canada Periodical Fund

The Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) provides financial assistance to the Canadian magazine and non-daily newspaper industries so they can continue to produce and distribute Canadian content in the face of systemic disadvantages in the marketplace.

The CPF has three components: Aid to Publishers, Business Innovation, and Collective Initiatives.

Aid to Publishers provides funding to eligible Canadian print magazines and non-daily newspapers calculated using a formula based on eligible copies sold or distributed by verified request over a 12-month period. At least 5000 copies must have been sold or distributed by request during this period. Publishers are able to use funding to support the creation of content, production, distribution, online activities, or business development.

Business Innovation offers support for projects to eligible small and mid-sized printed and online magazines. This component encourages new developments in the industry and contributes to the diversity of content sought by Canadian readers.

Collective Initiatives funds projects for associations designed to increase the overall sustainability of the Canadian magazine and non-daily newspaper industries. Eligible initiatives include broad-based marketing plans, research into new technologies and projects that tackle systemic issues affecting the industry.

This summary is necessarily very general. See the detailed eligibility rules in the separate application guides for each component to see if you qualify for funding.

Important changes from existing programs

2010-2011 is the first year of the CPF, which is replacing the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) and the Canada Magazine Fund (CMF). Here are some of the main differences between the CPF and the programs it is replacing:

• The main features of the Support for Editorial Content component of the CMF have been combined with the main features of the PAP. As a result, publishers only need to apply once and they have the flexibility to spend program funds on a wide range of activities, including editorial creation, design, production, printing, marketing, single-copy distribution, postage, and online activities.
  
  
• Publishers familiar with the PAP should note these changes: payments from the Aid to Publishers component will be made directly to publishers, not through accounts at Canada Post and publishers will no longer be required to use Canada Post's Publication Mail. Subsidized mailing costs through the PAP will end on March 31, 2010.
  
  
• The CPF will give priority to arts and literary publications in the management of the Business Innovation component over the next few years; there is no longer a separate component dedicated to arts and literary magazines. More information on this change is available.

How the program is being launched

The Aid to Publishers component is being launched first, along with a special application process in the first year designed to speed up approvals and payments.

Business Innovation and Collective Initiatives will follow later in 2010.

Please continue visiting these pages regularly for more details on the program as they become available.