LGBTIQ+ Organisational Development Grants (Australia)

Deadline: 29-Apr-2024

The LGBTIQA+ Organisational Development Grants strengthen Victoria’s LGBTIQA+ communities by supporting LGBTIQA+ organisations and groups to grow their crucial work.

Since 2016, the LGBTIQA+ Organisational Development Grants program has supported more than 100 Victorian LGBTIQA+ organisations. LGBTIQA+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, queer, and asexual. The grants have helped these organisations to:

• strengthen internal operations
• continue delivering services to LGBTIQA+ communities

Program Objectives

• This year, the LGBTIQA+ Organisational Development program focuses on:
  • supporting the internal operations of LGBTIQA+ organisations and groups to develop, build and strengthen.
• Organisations and groups funded through this program must show the positive impact their organisation’s activities have on Victoria’s LGBTIQA+ communities. The proposed activities must deliver against at least one of the following 5 program objectives.
  • Capacity building             
    • Provide LGBTIQA+ Victorians with:
      • Services
      • Support
    • To build organisations and equip their people with:
      • knowledge
      • skills
      • processes
      • resources
  • Sustainability
    • Support strategic planning by LGBTIQA+ organisations and groups. This includes support to form partnerships with similar and aligned organisations, to:
      • achieve mutual goals
      • promote long-term viability
      • reduce reliance on external funding
      • increase ongoing capacity
  • Accessibility and inclusion
    • Support LGBTIQA+ organisations to improve inclusive practices that engage diverse and intersectional LGBTIQA+ people. Funding priority is for LGBTIQA+ organisations that focus on working with:
      • seniors and older people
      • people with disability
      • people form low socio-economic backgrounds
      • Aboriginal and First Nations people
      • culturally and linguistically diverse people
      • communities in the following areas:
        • outer suburban
        • peri-urban
        • regional
        • rural
  • Expansion
    • Enable the growth of core operations into new locations with a focus on regional and rural communities.
    • Improve processes to support meaningful engagement with diverse and intersectional LGBTIQA+ communities.
  • Governance
    • Strengthen organisational governance to make sure organisations are stable and secure to respond to the needs of LGBTIQA+ communities. This includes formalising the structure of a board or management committee.

Funding Information

• The total available funding is $400,000.
• Stream 1: New or limited experience – Grants of up to $20,000 for new organisations
• Stream 2: Established and demonstrated experience – Grants of up to $40,000 for established organisations.

Funding Conditions

• The following conditions apply to all successful grant applicants. The grant recipient must:
  • Enter into a Victorian Common Funding Agreement (VCFA) with the department. The VCFA will outline the terms and conditions of the funding
  • start funded activities after 30 June 2024
  • Finish funded activities by 30 June 2025.
  • spent funds on the project as described in the VCFA
  • return any unspent funds to the department
  • submit any variation to the approved project to the department for approval before implementation
  • Have an appropriate level of public liability coverage.
  • Where relevant, organisations must arrange working with Children checks on staff and people aged 18 or older who come into regular, direct and unsupervised contact with young people.
  • Where funding supports the care, education, services or activities for children (under 18 years), the applicant must be:
    • a separate legal entity that can be sued in its own right in child abuse proceedings
    • Appropriately insured against child abuse.
  • This requirement improves the ability of child abuse survivors to bring a legal claim for compensation and ensure that successful claims can be paid.

Who can apply?

• To be eligible to apply for this funding program, your organisation or group must be either a:
  • community, not-for-profit or peak community body based in Victoria that is an incorporated legal entity under:
    • the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) or
    • the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2001 (Vic) (or equivalent legislation in a neighbouring state) or
    • a similar type of organisation
  • Social enterprise with a clearly stated purpose or mission related specifically to supporting LGBTIQA+ communities.
• You must also:
  • be operating for and across the LGBTIQA+ sector or communities
  • be an organisation with limited experience (for stream 1) or established experience (for stream 2) in supporting LGBTIQA+ people and communities
  • have a current Australian Business Number (ABN) or an auspice with a current ABN
  • have an appropriate level of public liability insurance to cover all aspects of the program or an auspice arrangement with this insurance cover
  • Have no overdue reporting from other grants provided by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH).

Who can not apply?

• The following cannot apply for these grants:
  • state and federal government departments and agencies
  • trusts
  • local government authorities (LGAs) including:
    • LGA-managed, operated, administered and regulated trusts
  • registered primary and secondary schools
  • preschools
  • TAFE institutes
  • universities
  • Applicants with overdue or outstanding reports from previous or current Victorian government grants.

For more information, visit State Government of Victoria.