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Funding for projects that provide social benefits for local communities
Stronger Communities Programme Round 9
The Stronger Communities Programme provides each of the 151 Federal electorates with $150,000 to fund small capital projects. Federal Members of Parliament (MPs) identify potential projects and invite applications from their electorate.
Opening date: Friday 14 February 2025 10:00am AEDT Fri 14 Feb 2025 10:00am AEDT
Closing date: Friday 28 March 2025 5:00pm AEDT Fri 28 Mar 2025 5:00pm AEDT
What do you get?
Up to $20,000 of funding to deliver small infrastructure projects.
Who is this for?
Applicants are invited to apply by their local MP.
About the program
The Stronger Communities Programme (the program) supports the Australian Government’s commitment to deliver social benefits in communities across Australia by funding projects in each of the 151 Federal electorates. The program provides grants for community projects to strengthen and benefit local communities and is part of the Government’s 2024-25 budget initiatives.
The program falls under the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts’ portfolio budget performance measure for Outcome 3, strengthening the sustainability, capacity and diversity of Australia’s cities and regions including northern Australia, including through facilitating local partnerships between all levels of government and local communities; through investment in infrastructure and measures that stimulate economic growth; and providing grants and financial assistance.
The objective of the program is to deliver infrastructure projects that provide social benefits for local communities, by supporting one or more of the following:
- support or encourage interstate or international tourism
- support or celebrate Indigenous Australians
- commemorate Australians killed or injured in war or who contributed to Australia’s war efforts
- support veterans and defence force members and their families and communities
- support the participation and settlement of newly arrived (i.e. within the last 5 years) immigrants who are not citizens
- support the acquisition or deployment of greenhouse gas emissions mitigation measures
- support the dignity of persons (including children) with disabilities by enhancing their access to public infrastructure
- support access for children to public infrastructure which enables interstate or overseas travel, accommodation, or education or health care infrastructure or services
- address gender inequality or discrimination in access to public infrastructure or sport
- provide medical services or facilities, or services or facilities incidental to the provision of medical services
- provide benefits to a specific cohort or cohorts of students
- enable or foster the use of electronic communications.
The intended outcomes of the program are to:
- encourage and support participation in local projects
- improve local community participation
- contribute to vibrant and viable communities.
Community consultation is a critical element of the program. In consultation with their community, each MP must identify potential applicants and projects in their electorate and invite them to apply for a grant. We will assess invited applications against the program’s eligibility and assessment criteria through a closed non-competitive process.
For this round, grant funding will be up to 100% of eligible project costs for all eligible applicants, except for local governing bodies. Grant funding for local governing bodies will be up to 50% of eligible project costs. This means local governing bodies must provide at least 50% of the eligible project costs in matched funding contributions.
Check if you can apply
You can apply if you meet the eligibility criteria. The eligibility criteria are a set of rules that describe who we can consider for this grant. You can apply if you:
- are invited to apply by your MP
- have an Australian business number (ABN)
- meet the eligibility requirements in section 4.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines.
The rules are in the grant opportunity guidelines.
You can apply if you are one of the following entities:
- an incorporated not for profit entity, such as:
- Police and Citizen Youth Clubs
- childcare centres
- surf clubs
- local aged care bodies
- Parents and Citizens, Parents and Friends groups and equivalent bodies
- a Commonwealth, state or territory government agency or entity that is a fire service, rural fire service, country fire authority, state emergency service or similar.
- non-distributing co-operatives
- companies limited by guarantee
- Australian Indigenous corporations
- religious organisations incorporated under legislation.
- an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust with responsibility for a community asset or property. You will be required to provide relevant trust documents
- a local governing body as defined by the Local Government (Financial Assistance) Act 1995.
For the purpose of this program, we also consider the following organisations to be local governing bodies:
- Anangu Pitjantjatjara, Maralinga, Gerard, Nepabunna and Yalata local governing bodies in SA
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands Shire Council
- Lord Howe Island Board
- Norfolk Island Regional Council
- The Outback Communities Authority
- The Shire of Christmas Island
- The Silverton and Tibooburra villages in NSW
- The Trust Account in the NT
- ACT Government.
As a not-for-profit organisation you must demonstrate your not-for-profit status through one of the following:
- state or territory incorporated association registration number or certificate of incorporation, e.g. clubs and other associations
- current Australian Charities and Not for profits Commission’s (ACNC) registration, e.g. for organisations registered as a charity
- constitutional documents that demonstrate the not-for-profit character of the organisation
- legislation that demonstrates the not-for-profit nature of the organisation, e.g. religious organisations incorporated under legislation.
You can’t apply if you are:
- a for profit organisation
- an individual
- a partnership
- a Regional Development Australia Committee
- a university, technical college or school
- a hospital
- a Commonwealth, state or territory government agency or body (including government business enterprises) unless listed in section 4.1
- an organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s website on the list of ‘Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme’
- an employer of 100 or more employees that has not complied with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (2012).
Partner with other organisations
You can partner with one or more other organisations but the lead applicant must be invited to apply and meet the eligibility and merit criteria.
The lead organisation must fill out the application form.
If we give your group the grant, the lead organisation:
- signs the grant agreement
- is responsible for making sure your group follows the rules in the grant agreement
You must complete your project by 31 December 2025.
To be eligible you must also:
- apply for the project and grant amount as agreed to and nominated by your MP
- if you are a local governing body, declare that you are able to meet your share of the matching funds contribution for the project (at least 50%) as outlined in section 3.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines
- provide the relevant mandatory attachments as outlined in section 7 of the grant opportunity guidelines.
You can apply for a grant between $2,500 and $20,000.
You can use this grant funding for:
- the cost of suppliers, consultants and contracted labour undertaking eligible project activities
- the cost of obtaining planning, environment or other regulatory approvals as part of an approved eligible capital works or capital expenditure project such as architecture, engineering, planning, design and consultants fees
- the purchase of:
- assets such as furniture, TVs and equipment, motor vehicles purchase or upgrade of ICT hardware including:
- computers, associated software and user licenses
- tablets, printers or photocopiers that remain the property of the applicant.
- significant upgrades of websites or applications/application software, e.g. booking systems, digital marketplace, accessibility improvements, cyber security
- significant updates of existing ICT systems including:
- CRM systems, databases etc.
- the cost of initial subscription-based software
- initial IT support memberships
- warranty of the initial purchase, lease or hire of equipment required to complete eligible project activities
- the purchase, lease or hire of equipment required to complete eligible project activities
- the purchase of assets, equipment and materials required to complete eligible project activities.
We may update the guidance on eligible and ineligible expenditure from time to time.
How to apply
Check if you’re ready to apply for a grant
Finding a suitable grant opportunity is just the start of the process to get funding. The application process can take time and effort. Understanding the entire process will help you be grant ready and may improve your chances of getting funding.
Use our checklist to find out what it takes to apply for a grant.
Apply using our online portal:
- Once invited by your MP, create or log into your portal account.
- Follow the instructions to complete your application.
- Submit your application before the close date.
When you are invited by your MP, you must submit your application through the online portal. You’ll need to set up an account when you first log into the portal. The portal allows you to apply for and manage a grant or service in a secure online environment.
First we check that you meet the eligibility criteria. Then we assess your application against the assessment criteria.
The assessment criteria are a set of rules that describe how we must assess each application.
We give each criterion a certain number of points.
We’ll decide whether to award you the grant based on the total number of points we give your application.
- Assessment criterion 1: the benefit of your project to the community, for example, describe how it will encourage and support participation in local projects, improve local community participation and/or contribute to vibrant and viable communities (50 points).
- Assessment criterion 2: how you plan to manage your project (50 points).
The amount of detail and supporting evidence you provide should be relative to the project size, complexity and grant amount requested. We will only consider funding applications that score at least 50 per cent against each assessment criterion.
The program delegate makes the final decision.
Sample applications
The best way to understand what information you need to provide is to start an application. We have also provided a version to download at the bottom of this page.
Technical help
See our customer portal's frequently asked questions to help with your queries. If you can't find your answer, contact us for assistance.
If you submit your application before the close date you can retrieve it any time to make changes. But you must submit it again before the close date.
We can’t consider the application you submit after the close date under any circumstances.
Past rounds
Contact
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