Our daily blog offers selected news of interest to SmartSAVER’s stakeholders and shines a light on the creative ways that communities are promoting the Canada Learning Bond. Stay up to date, read what others are doing and share your own story.

TALK TO US

We hope our blog will create conversation and support the exchange of ideas.

We’d love to hear from you! Tell us about your CLB promotion or share tips to engage eligible families. Do you have a question for the community? Submit your stories, ideas and questions to info@SmartSAVER.org and we’ll share it on our blog.


Frequently Asked Question: Helping parents

Question: How can our organization start helping parents to learn about RESPs and the Canada Learning Bond (CLB)?


SmartSAVER: There are many ways you can start helping the families that you serve to get their CLB. Use these two quick reference tools to identify who’s eligible for grants and how to help them to access them:

  • The Quick Reference chart overviews grant entitlements (Canada Learning Bond and Canada Education Savings Grant) based on a family’s income.
  • The Action Map walks you through the steps and decision points in setting up a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) account and applying for the grants.

If you’re just starting to talk to families about the Canada Learning Bond, check out our top questions parents ask about SmartSAVER, RESPs, and the Canada Learning Bond. You’ll find other tools and information resources on our parent-friendly website, available in English, French, as well as many supports in Arabic, Cantonese, Farsi, Korean, Mandarin, Oji-Cree, Portuguese, Punjabi, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Urdu, and Vietnamese. For a quick introduction to SmartSAVER’s online CLB application, watch our 1-minute SmartSAVER Made Easy video.

Have questions? Talk to one of our partnership managers about training or to get help in developing your CLB promotion!

Email Luke Connell or Joe March or call 416-966-1418 to chat.

Tax Clinic Tools Now Available to Encourage CLB Applications

Tax time is a great chance to inform parents about possible eligibility for the Canada Learning Bond (CLB) and two new tools are now available to help.

Tax clinic volunteers are in a unique position to bring this untapped benefit to their clients’ attention. With the information available on a completed tax return, volunteers can quickly identify eligible parents and point them in the right direction to access their child’s CLB.

The toolkit includes:

  • ‘Important Notice’ Post-it notes: These provide basic CLB information and a quick exercise to help identify CLB eligibility. Stick a post-it note to a completed return or other material you’re sending home with clients. Or, help them complete the exercise on the spot!
  • ‘Ask Me About Free Money’ StickersThese can be worn by volunteers to encourage clients to ask them about the FREE MONEY Canada Learning Bond they could be eligible for.

Remember, it takes only seconds to determine if a family is eligible for up to $2,000 for each child! Watch this brief video presentation to see how simple it is. Don’t let families miss out on this benefit.

If you run an income tax clinic, contact Joe March:  416-966-1418 Ext. 3 for your toolkit!

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