Funding for bushfire recovery and resilience projects in 2019–20 bushfire affected areas
Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants Program
What do you get?
Approximately $276 million available over three years from 2021–22 to 2023–24.
Who is this for?
Applicants affected by the 2019-20 bushfires, who are in an eligible Local Government Area, which are listed at Appendix A of the grant opportunity guidelines.
Overview
The program will support a range of projects in eligible Local Government Areas (LGAs) affected by the 2019-20 bushfires to address community recovery and resilience needs.
Projects must be completed by 31 March 2024.
Support for applicants
There are a range of options to support applicants, including:
- workshops - face-to-face information sessions providing information about the grants program, grants process and application process
- webinars - virtual sessions providing the same information as the face-to-face workshops
- e-Learning - resources about the grants program that will be available 24/7 online
- one-on-one information sessions.
Find more about available support from the National Recovery and Resilience Agency website.
Eligibility
Eligible entities
To be eligible you must have an Australian business number (ABN) and be one of the following entities:
- an entity incorporated in Australia
- a company limited by guarantee
- an incorporated association
- an incorporated not for profit organisation
- a non-distributive co-operative
- an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
- an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006
- an Australian local governing agency or body as defined in Section 15 (for example, a Council)
- Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board (ABN: 93 938 780 598), the Falls Creek Alpine Resort Management Board (ABN: 21 789 770 569), or the Mt Buller and Mt Stirling Resort Management Board (ABN: 44 867 982 534)
- an Australian Capital Territory government agency or body.
To be eligible your project must:
- be aimed at supporting community recovery or resilience from the 2019–20 bushfires
- be delivered in one or more eligible Local Government Areas (LGAs) listed in Appendix A of the grant opportunity guidelines
- include eligible activities consistent with project activities listed in the grant opportunity guidelines
- have at least $20,000 in eligible expenditure.
You are not eligible to apply if you are:
- an individual
- a partnership
- a trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust)
- a Commonwealth or State government agency or body (including government business enterprises) except entities referred to in Section 5.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines
- a Regional Development Australia Committee
- 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 organisation named by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency as not complying with Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012.
Applying
How do you apply?
The Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grant is closed to applications.
We assess your application against the eligibility criteria and then against the assessment criteria. Only eligible applications will proceed to the assessment stage.
The amount of detail and supporting evidence you provide in your application should be relative to the project size, complexity and grant amount requested. You should define, quantify and provide evidence to support your answers. The sample application form has character limits.
The Minister for Emergency Management decides which grants to approve, taking into account the recommendations of the Committee, the availability of grant funds and geographic spread of projects.
To be competitive you must score highly against all of the assessment criteria.
Assessment criterion 1: How your project will assist in community recovery from the 2019–20 bushfires (50 points)
Assessment criterion 2: Capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (50 points)
We will only consider funding applications that score at least 50% against each assessment criterion, as these represent best value for money.
When assessing if the application represents value with relevant money, we will regard the:
- overall objectives of the grant opportunity
- evidence provided to demonstrate how your project contributes to meeting those objectives
- relative value of the grant sought.
If your application is successful, you’ll receive a written offer. We will advise you of any specific conditions attached to the offer of grant funding.
If you are unsuccessful, we’ll notify you in writing and give you the opportunity to discuss the outcome with us.
You must submit reports in line with the grant agreement.
We will make payments according to an agreed schedule set out in the grant agreement. Payments are subject to satisfactory progress on the project.
For grants over $50,000, we set aside 10% of the total grant funding for the final payment. We will pay this when you submit a satisfactory end of project report showing you’ve completed outstanding obligations for the project.
Payments will be made by direct credit into a nominated bank account.
Contact
Need help?
Let us answer your question via phone, email or live chat. And if we can't help, we'll put you in touch with someone who can.
- Phone:
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Open Hours:
Monday – Friday, 8am – 8pm across Australia
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