# The Foundation · CFIR > Who CFIR is, how it's run, and where the money goes — the board, the financials, the registration, and the plain answers, in one place. Source: https://research.ca/about/ Language: en-CA CFIR · The Foundation The Foundation Canada deserves more entrepreneurs. We believe it starts with the knowledge of how to build a business. That is the mission — and this page is the record: every fact about the Foundation, in one place. Registration Corporate registration. Legal name Canadian Foundation for Innovation and Research (CFIR) Legal form Federal not-for-profit corporation, Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act Corporation no. 1674045-6 Verify in the federal registry lnk ext Business no. 718160229RC0001 Incorporated 11 February 2025 Registered office 909 Alness St, Toronto, ON M3J 2J1, Canada Name and record Who we are › lnk blk What we fund Scholarships, seed grants, and research. Scholarships Full tuition for the three programmes at YEDI The scholarships › Seed grants Capital for ventures out of the Incubator, applied for after the programme and decided by YEDI’s venture fund The grants › Research Applied research, published open-access The studies › How it works The Foundation and its designated institution. CFIR is the funding side: it raises capital from corporate partners and funds full scholarships, seed grants, and open research. The education happens at the York Entrepreneurship Development Institute (YEDI) in Toronto — the Foundation’s designated institution. YEDI reviews the applications, admits the people, educates them through the three programmes, and runs the Venture Fair where each cohort presents. Seed grants are applied for after the programme and decided by YEDI’s venture fund. Funding sits with the Foundation; admissions sit with YEDI. The companies that fund the education play no part in selecting who receives it. The designated institution › The board Directors and management. Director Anna Svirski Benjamin Peleg Aleksandr Vinokurov Corporate Partnerships Manager Nikita Tiurin Directors’ compensation Voluntary — the board serves without remuneration The partners Corporate partners. Companies that agree with the mission and provide the capital Our partners › Become a partner Every partnership began with a short conversation Partner with us › Financials Financial statements. Latest annual report Annual Report 2025 · PDF › lnk Operations Statement of Operations 2025 · PDF › Financial position Statement of Financial Position 2025 · PDF › Contact Contact information. Partnerships partnerships@cfir.org Press & general info@cfir.org Apply to a programme yedi.ca Working languages English and French 909 Alness St, Toronto, ON M3J 2J1 Questions Frequently asked questions. Is CFIR part of YEDI? CFIR and YEDI are two separate corporations. CFIR funds the work; YEDI admits the people and educates them. Does CFIR fund other organizations or projects? CFIR’s funding goes to the work at its designated institution — the scholarships, the seed grants its venture fund awards, and the research it publishes. Can our company direct its sponsorship to something specific? What a partnership funds is settled in conversation and recorded in the framework agreement. Start at partnerships@cfir.org. Can I apply to CFIR for a scholarship or a seed grant? Applications go to YEDI: it admits the people, and its venture fund decides the seed grants that graduates apply for. Start at yedi.ca. Where does the operating budget come from? A small slice of sponsorship income covers operations; the Statement of Operations shows it to the dollar. Everything else goes to the programmes. I received an email saying CFIR awarded me money. Is it real? CFIR writes only from @research.ca and @cfir.org, and never asks for fees. Scholarships and seed grants are administered by YEDI — when in doubt, forward the message to info@cfir.org. Privacy Terms Accessibility On this page