Deadline: 5-Jun-24
The Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) is accepting applications for Strengthening Rural Communities Small and Vital stream that give small remote, rural and regional communities across Australia the opportunity to access funds for rural and regional communities across Australia that directly and clearly benefit local communities.
Program Objectives
- Projects funded must align with one or more of the following charitable outcomes:
- Bringing people and community organisations together to foster stronger, more resilient communities;
- Fostering and celebrating a sense of identity, diversity and cultural connection within the community;
- Supporting diverse groups within remote, rural and regional communities including, but not limited to, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, culturally and linguistically diverse, those living with disability, and LGBTQIA+;
- Improving community health and social wellbeing;
- Enabling people to develop skills, knowledge and confidence to lead and contribute to the prosperity and renewal of their community;
- Building a sustainable volunteer base and/or supporting the wellbeing of volunteers;
- Celebrating and resourcing volunteer-led efforts;
- Increasing access and inclusion for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, including remote communities;
- Enhancing places where communities gather;
- Promoting connection to place and enabling initiatives that champion a community’s social, cultural or economic aspirations;
- Reducing the divide on access to digital technology and connectivity for remote, rural and regional communities;
- Enabling locally-led responses within rural, regional and remote communities endeavouring to reduce the impacts of the changing climate within their community.
Funding Information
- Grants up to $10,000 are available for a broad range of grassroots, community-led initiatives that directly and clearly benefit local communities that strengthen local people, places and climate solutions, with a preference for smaller communities (populations under 15,000).
What can be funded?
- A broad range of charitable projects are considered under this program, including:
- Delivering, or providing activities, events, programs and services;
- Purchasing or hiring equipment and materials;
- Community infrastructure projects;
- Organisational capacity building; and
- Community resource development.
- For the SRC Small & Vital stream, additional specific funding is available for:
- Projects that help people alleviate poverty and/or disadvantage;
- Indigenous Australians or health and wellbeing projects that support disadvantaged women and children nationally;
- Projects that improve physical health and local food security and sustainable local food systems nationally;
- Projects benefitting older people in VIC;
- Social welfare and conservation projects in the Tarlo community in NSW;
- Projects to support ageing in Gilgandra and Warren in NSW;
- Mitchell Shire projects in Victoria; and
- Projects in the Wiluna and Leonora shires in WA.
What can’t be funded?
- There are several areas that they can’t fund through this program.
- Projects that support core business and areas of responsibility of Federal, State or Local Governments;
- Ongoing core organisational operational costs (e.g. rent, utilities, regular wages, loan repayments);
- The encouragement or advancement of sport, recreation and social activities are not considered charitable activities under Australian law. Applications from sporting organisations need to clearly demonstrate charitable outcomes and benefit to the wider community that are above and beyond the sporting activities of the club;
- Overseas travel and overseas projects;
- Prizes, gifts, trophies or awards;
- Political lobbying;
- Projects that primarily benefit private business, a sole trader, or private interests; and
- Projects solely focused on animal welfare.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible Applicant
- Applicant organisations must be a not-for-profit organisation with either an Incorporation Certificate and/or an ABN. If you are unsure if your organisation is a registered not-for-profit (e.g., if you are a Co-operative, Other Unincorporated Entity, Public Company or Trust),
- There are two streams of funding available within the Strengthening Rural Communities (SRC) Program: Small and Vital and Prepare and Recover. Organisations may submit their application in one of these streams per SRC grant round, and any other applications in this round will be considered ineligible;
- Project must be for charitable purposes and offer clear public benefit;
- Not-for profit organisations with or without DGR endorsement are eligible;
- Organisations can submit one application per grant round; and
- Projects must benefit communities in remote, rural or regional Australia.
- Ineligible Applicant
- Application is submitted by individuals, sole traders, private or commercial businesses (as per the submitted ABN);
- Application is submitted by an organisation that is not a legal entity (i.e. a registered not-for-profit), without the written consent of the governing/partnering body who holds the ABN/Incorporation Certificate;
- Application is submitted without required financial information (see additional information on the second tab);
- Final reports from any FRRR grants awarded in the previous seven years have not been acquitted (delivery organisations should check with legal organisation to see if there are any outstanding final reports);
- Application is for a project or activity that has already occurred/is occurring prior to the announcement of funding;
- Application is incomplete. note: Due to the volume of applications received, applications are assessed based on the documentation received at the time of application.
For more information, visit FRRR.