Deadline: 12-May-2023
The Mental Wellbeing of Business Communities Grants Program Round 2 is now open to support business communities to develop and deliver dedicated programs to improve the mental health and wellbeing of their members.
For this program, a business community is defined as a not-for-profit member-based organisation with the purpose of representing, servicing and advocating for its business members. A business community can be a chamber of commerce, trader group, industry association, business council, networking group or other registered business collective.
Objectives
- The objectives of the Mental Wellbeing of Business Communities Grant Program include:
- improve mental wellbeing, resilience, and recovery in Business Communities
- enable collaboration, connections, and networks within Business Communities
- educate, inform, and empower Business Communities in mental wellbeing
- increase the uptake of other Victorian business-oriented mental health support programs.
Funding Information
- Up to 45 grants of $15,000 (excl. GST) are available.
Eligible projects
- Grant funds must be used by recipients to support their Business Community by undertaking activities that align with the program objectives.
- Examples of eligible activities include:
- supporting and encouraging local business collaboration activities or programs
- engaging small businesses to co-design programs to improve mental wellbeing, including promotional activities
- undertaking activities that will start, build on and/or extend work in the Business Community to promote mental wellbeing of small businesses
- setting up mental wellbeing focus working groups
- helping to improve small business workplace mental wellbeing, resilience, and recovery in a COVID environment.
- Recipients may use grant funding to deliver projects other than the examples shown, including for outsourced services.
Ineligible activities
- The following activities will not be considered for grant funding:
- service provision of psychosocial treatments and business mentoring such as those offered by the Victorian Government, including the Partners in Wellbeing Helpline (including wellbeing coaches, financial counselling, and business advice) and the Business Recovery and Resilience Mentoring Service
- retrospective support for projects that have already commenced delivery or have been completed prior to receiving funding approval, including equipment purchased, contracts entered, or construction started
- large-scale digital infrastructure projects
- projects requiring ongoing funding from the Victorian Government
- ongoing operating costs or salary subsidies, except where a salary subsidy provides direct project delivery, management, or administration
- costs to meet regulatory requirements
- purchase of vehicles, land, or buildings
Eligibility Criteria
- To be eligible for this program, the applicant must:
- be a local government authority or an organisation that represents a specific group of Victorian businesses or businesses in a defined geographic area
- be based in Victoria or be the Victorian chapter of a national organisation
- be a not-for-profit organisation
- hold a current Australian Business Number (ABN)
- be registered with the responsible federal or state regulator.
- Unincorporated organisations, and organisations with an ABN registered after 1 January 2022 may be required to have a local council enter into the grant agreement on their behalf. Please confirm with your local council before you apply.
- Business communities that received funding under Round 1 of the Mental Wellbeing of Business Communities Grants Program in 2022 can apply, providing they:
- are compliant with all obligations under the prior grant agreement, including acquittal of funds and submission of any final report
- nominate new representatives to complete the mental wellbeing training course.
- Grant recipients under any of the rounds of the Business Chambers and Trader Groups Program are eligible to apply.
For more information, visit Business Victoria.