Deadline: 16-Nov-20
The NSW Environmental Trust is seeking applications for its Environmental Education Grants Program 2020 which is a contestable grants program aiming to support educational projects that develop, broaden and transform the community’s knowledge, skills, and intrinsic motivation to undertake sustainable behavior and encourage participation in the protection of the environment.
The NSW Environmental Trust is an independent statutory body established by the NSW Government to fund a broad range of organizations to undertake projects that enhance the State’s environment. The Trust’s main responsibility is to make and supervise the expenditure of grants.
Objectives
The objectives of the program are to:
- Facilitate change in the practices and behavior of individuals and groups to improve specific or broad environmental problems;
- Develop and promote educational projects that improve the environment and address sustainability challenges.
Priority Areas
The immediate funding priorities applicants need to address as part of the 2020 Education program are:
- supporting threatened species recovery;
- addressing climate change impacts on the natural environment – both mitigation and adaptation.
Funding Information
- Total allocation for the 2020 round is $1,000,000.
- Tier 1 will fund grants of up to $60,000 for projects running for two to three years.
- Tier 2 will fund grants of between $60,001 and $250,000 for projects running from three to five years.
Eligibility Criteria
- Each proposal requires a lead applicant. If successful in securing a grant, the lead applicant will hold primary responsibility for the delivery of the project.
- The following organizations are eligible to apply as the lead applicant:
- Community organizations;
- Community groups;
- Incorporated associations;
- Incorporated non-profit organizations;
- Non-commercial cooperatives;
- State government agencies and/or statutory committees;
- Local councils;
- Local Land Services;
- Universities;
- Regional organizations of councils;
- Other local government-controlled organizations;
- NSW Local Aboriginal Land Councils;
- Registered NSW Aboriginal Corporations;
- Collaborators are key project partners and the Trust requires that collaborators are to be actively involved in the project delivery, as well as committing to ongoing use of the project outcomes.
- Collaborators can also help leverage time, expertise, material, resources, and reduce duplication. Collaborators must:
- be actively involved in designing the project;
- have, and can show, the requisite capabilities and responsibilities to help to deliver the project.
Program Evaluation
- The Trust has all its contestable grants programs independently evaluated to assess their effectiveness.
- The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) – Institute for Public Policy & Governance and Institute for Sustainable Futures recently evaluated the Trust’s Environmental Education program. The evaluation examined how the program was delivered, and the projects it funded, from 2010–16.
- UTS completed its work in April 2018 and then presented its final report (PDF 3.6MB). The Trust considered and accepted the report in October 2018.
- The evaluation concluded that the program was well run and filled a critical niche in the Environmental Education space; however, it also recommended changes to:
- program design, operating and policy context
- program governance and customer experience
- These recommendations are progressively being incorporated into the program by the Environmental Trust.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3jxvfAf