Apply for financial assistance

COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE GRANTS

Council provides financial assistance to individuals and organisations up to twice annually through its Community Assistance Policy.

Council first adopted its Financial Assistance Policy in 1998 to provide financial assistance to community groups and individuals wishing to exercise functions of Council in accordance with Section 356 of the Local Government Act 1993.

It has been revised a number of times since then and is now known as the Community Assistance Policy.

The policy provides for:

  • Ongoing / Regular Donations
  • Community Assistance Fund – one-off donations
  • External Grant Funding Assistance

Under the Community Assistance Grant,  Council will advertise up to two rounds of funding each financial year, in August and February, inviting applications for financial assistance from local organisations or individuals.  The first round will seek to distribute the maximum amount of the available funds that were included in the One-off Donations annual budget, with the second round in February only required if all funds are not distributed.

Given the difficulties experienced across the community with Declared Natural Disaster Flood Events in 2022, Community Assistance Grants will open early on 10 July and remain open to the end of October 2022, allowing community more time to prepare applications. Applications close at 4pm on 31 October 2022.

Applications received in this round will be assessed at the December 2022 Council meeting.

A downloadable copy of the Community Assistance Policy (adopted August 2017) is available by clicking here.

You can apply on-line by clicking here.

COMMUNITY RESILIENCE FUNDING

Community groups, businesses and individuals are invited to apply for funding of up to $25,000, or $50,000 with a 10 percent financial co-contribution, to deliver community led activities and initiatives that build resilience in our communities.

The funded projects will address community, economic, asset or environmental resilience and contribute to at least one of the following disaster recovery outcomes:

  1. The needs of vulnerable groups are addressed in disaster recovery
  2. The community is aware of the disaster recovery processes
  3. The community can express its changing disaster recovery needs
  4. Community members are aware of the risks of future disasters
  5. The community has improved capacity and capability to respond to future disasters
  6. Business and not-for-profits have in place adequate mitigation practices for risks and threats
  7. Government, private sector, civil society and organisations are engaged in plans for preparedness and management of the recovery.

Applicants should generally be able to:

  • take legal and financial responsibility for the administration of funds
  • demonstrate effective management skills and be financially accountable
  • demonstrate that suitably qualified and experienced people will be involved in the project
  • provide a Certificate of Currency for appropriate Public Liability Insurance
  • avoid applying for projects that duplicate or overlap with existing similar activities.

State and Federal Government agencies are ineligible to apply.  This does not include community organisations such as Parents and Citizens (P&C) Groups and similar groups that are not funded by State and Federal Agencies.

Priority may be given to applications that demonstrate a contribution to the project from other sources; either cash or in-kind.

Applications close Monday 31st October 2022.

Successful applicants will be notified in December 2022 and projects are to be completed by 30 April 2024.

A downloadable copy of the Resilience Grants Program Funding Guidelines is available by clicking here.

You can apply on-line by clicking here.