Mercy Foundation Social Justice Small Grants Program (Australia)

Deadline: 11-Mar-2024

The Mercy Foundation’s Social Justice Small Grants Program provides seed funding to assist communities and organisations to build capacity that will help create structural change and bring about greater social justice in Australia.

Funding Information

• Funding under this program ranges between $1,000 to $10,000 per organisation.
• Organisations that are successful will be notified as soon as possible and 50% of the funding provided upon confirmation. The final 50% will be provided following a brief report on the outcomes of the project. If the organisation requires alternative funding arrangements, the payment of the funds should be discussed with Mercy Foundation staff and may be varied accordingly.
• A Progress Report is due 6 months after project commencement. The Mercy Foundation will provide templates for the Progress Report and Final Report.

Ineligible Funding

• Social Justice Small Grants are not available to fund:
  • Core (normal) operating costs of applicant organisations
  • Vehicles
  • For-profit organisations
  • Private individuals
  • Projects that require recurrent funding
  • General fundraising appeals
  • Research
  • Deficit funding
  • Duplication of existing services
  • Organisations that have, or have access to, significant government or other funding
  • Government entities
  • Projects that do not meet the identified goals and priorities of the Mercy Foundation.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applications are invited from not for profit organisations in Australia only.
• Applications are accepted for projects that are run wholly within Australia, by community-based groups or organisations based in Australia.

Assessment Criteria

• The following criteria will be used to assess Social Justice Small Grant applications:
  • Innovative projects that require seed funding to increase social equity and inclusion and challenge unjust structures and systems will be prioritised.
  • The Mercy Foundation prioritises projects that target disadvantaged women and/or women with children.
  • In this grant round, applications regarding First Nations people will be prioritised.
  • Organisations applying for funds must be a legal entity (or under an auspice organisation that is a legal entity), not-for-profit and therefore exempt from income tax, but are not required to have Deductible Gift Recipient status.
  • Small to medium organisations with a turnover of less than $3,000,000 with limited access to other funding sources are prioritised.

For more information, visit Mercy Foundation.