Funding to improve community capabilities that provide economic and social benefits to regional and remote areas

Your project must be in an eligible area. You will need to show this in your application by providing the latitude and longitude of your project location.

Our mapping tool will help you determine your project location and its eligibility.

You are not eligible to apply if you are:

• 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’ (www.nationalredress.gov.au)
• an employer of 100 or more employees that has not complied with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (2012)
• a for-profit organisation
• an individual, partnership or trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a not-for-profit trust organisation)
• a Commonwealth, state or territory government agency or body (including government business enterprises) with the exception of those organisations referred to in section 4.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines
• a university, technical college, school or hospital
• a Regional Development Australia Committee.

Infrastructure activities as defined in Appendix B of the grant opportunity guidelines are not eligible for the Community Investments Stream. If you project involves infrastructure activities you should apply under the Infrastructure Projects Stream.

If your organisation sits under the jurisdiction of a State Government education department to deliver educational outcomes then you are considered to be a school under the Building Better Regions Fund. Schools are ineligible for funding under the BBRF.

Leadership training must be conducted by an external entity to the organisation as funding for staff wages is considered an ineligible activity

You must provide a quote and course information dated within two months of lodging your application.

All applicants

• Economic and social benefits – you must clearly define and quantify the benefits which will flow directly into an eligible area. To do this you must include measurable outcomes, robust methodology, a well-articulated need/demand for the project, a defined target group in the eligible area, and clearly show how the benefits are linked to the project
• Evidence – you must include strong and comprehensive evidence to support the benefits you have claimed will flow to the eligible area from the project. Evidence must be current (within 18 months). One example could be letters of support from councils and organisations in eligible areas confirming the benefits that will flow to their region
• Benefits beyond the project – you must demonstrate that benefits will be sustained in the eligible area beyond the project period and that further economic and social growth will result from the project.

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- external site 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.

You can apply again in a future round.

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 displays character limits.

We provide recommendations to the Ministerial Panel on which projects to fund. The Ministerial Panel will make the final decision.

We will only consider funding applications that score at least 60 per cent against each assessment criterion, as these represent best value for money.

• Assessment criterion 1: Economic benefits of your project for the region (15 points)
• Assessment criterion 2: Social benefits of your project for the region (15 points)
• Assessment criterion 3: Capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (5 points)
• Assessment criterion 4: Impact of funding on your project (5 points).

If your application is successful, you’ll receive a written offer. If you are unsuccessful, we’ll notify you in writing and give you the chance to discuss the outcome with us.

Successful applicants must enter into a grant agreement with the Commonwealth. The grant agreement will specify the reporting requirements, payment schedule and milestones necessary to receive payments.

We may make an initial payment when the grant agreement is executed. However, we will request additional financial information from you to verify your organisation is unable to cover the costs associated with your project without that initial grant payment. We’ll make subsequent payments after we have received and accepted the required report. We set aside a minimum of 10% of the total grant funding for the final payment. We’ll pay this when you submit a satisfactory final report.

Payments will be made by direct credit into a nominated bank account.

When we’ll announce the outcome of applications

We expect to announce decisions in mid 2022.

We will notify applicants if their application is ineligible once all received applications have been assessed against the eligibility criteria.

• Round Six will provide at least $250 million for projects under the Infrastructure Projects and the Community Investments streams combined, with the allocation of funding across these streams dependent on the volume and quality of applications.
• When undertaking projects grantees are encouraged to adhere to the National Waste Policy Action Plan 2019, in particular the use of recycled and re-purposed materials, and best practice waste management methods and pursue opportunities for local procurement of goods, labour and services.
• There will be no specific funding provided for tourism-related infrastructure projects under the Infrastructure Projects Stream.
• Projects must be completed by 31 December 2024.

Being contacted by the Department during the application or assessment process

If the assessment process identifies unintentional errors in your application, we may contact you to correct or clarify the errors, but you cannot make any material alteration or addition.

Exemptions from the grant opportunity guidelines

There will be no exemptions granted as the department is bound to administer the program in accordance with the grant opportunity guidelines. The grant opportunity guidelines outline the criteria against which all applications will be assessed.

Information to include when answering questions on project management, risk management and maintaining project benefits.

You must make the best possible case to demonstrate that you have done all planning required to provide confidence that the project will be delivered on time, on budget and to an appropriate standard to deliver the benefits described in your application.

Project Management - You must address the implementation of the project from commencement to completion. You should define how, when and by whom project activities will be completed to demonstrate that the project will be delivered on time, on budget and to the required standards.

You should include the following information:

• Confirmation of required approvals, are they in place or being sought?
• How will goods and services be procured?
• How will you ensure the project is delivered on time and on budget and to the required standards, e.g. who will manage the project and what governance arrangements are in place?

Project Risk – you must provide details on the key risks to your project and the mitigation or management strategies in place across the life of the project. You must provide at least three risks.

Decisions on future rounds are a matter for the Australian Government.

Available funding past 12 months

The Community Investments Stream will not fund an event for more than one year. Local events will only be eligible for funding under the program once.

Funding under the Community Investments Stream is intended as seed-funding to support an inaugural event or funding for a one-off expansion of an existing activity. You will need to clearly outline in your application your strategy to fund future and expanded events without Australian Government funding.

Events must take place after you execute the grant agreement with the Commonwealth.

Eligible applications and funding

Not all eligible applications will be funded. The program is a competitive grants program and we expect the funding round to be oversubscribed. While it is necessary for your application to be eligible, your application will also need to be competitive to give your project the best chance of being funded. This means having strong claims, supported by evidence, against all four of the assessment criteria.

Funding amounts for each stream and region

Round Six will provide at least $250 million for projects under the Infrastructure Projects and the Community Investments streams combined, with the allocation of funding across these streams dependent on the volume and quality of applications.

Future funding amounts

Decisions on future funding amounts will be made by the Australian Government.

Approved funding amount different to requested funding amount

The grant amount offered to successful applicants is a decision for the Ministerial Panel. The guidelines allow for the Ministerial Panel to take into account a number of factors in their decision making including:

• the spread of funding and projects across regions
• whether similar projects exist to ensure that projects build on and support other projects and services, while not duplicating them
• previous funding under other programs, which may result in offering an amount different to the grant amount requested.

Local Government Financial Assistance Grants being used as cash contributions under the BBRF

Financial Assistance Grants are untied, allowing local government bodies to spend the grants according to local priorities. Financial Assistance Grant funding is considered a contribution from the applicant, and not the Commonwealth.

Providing evidence of cash contributions committed by candidates in the lead up to a State Government general election

Proponents should prepare applications working with funding partners as per normal. In line with section 7.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines, all cash contributions, including those that are committed during an election campaign, must be evidenced.

All applicants must attach letters evidencing the cash contribution from each contributing organisation or individual. This evidence must be submitted with the application prior to the closing date.

The letter must:

• be on the organisation’s letterhead
• be signed and dated by an authorised person
• set out the value and timing of contributions and any conditions attached.

Therefore, if a candidate in a State Government general election makes a commitment to a project, the Applicant must provide with their application a letter on the party letterhead, signed and dated by an authorised person, setting out the value and timing of contributions and any conditions attached.

As part of the assessment of applications the Department may seek confirmation of cash commitments from the incoming State Government. No action is required from applicants in this regard.

Only election commitments made and confirmed by the party(ies) that forms Government will be accepted as evidence of co-funding for the purposes of BBRF.

Provision of land as part of a mandatory cash contribution

A contribution of land will be considered an in-kind support to the project. In kind support is not co-funding. All contributions must be cash and towards eligible expenditure

Applying for stage one funding as part of a bigger project

The application form requires that you provide a brief overview description of the project for which funding is being sought and a description of the project outcome and outputs. If the project is part of a larger program of works you will need to describe this in the application form. The proposed BBRF project will be assessed as a standalone project and be able to deliver the benefits described without completion of the larger program of work.

Ensure that its clear in your application - You must address how you will manage project stage dependencies in Assessment Criterion 3.

Timing of community event

If your project relates to an event, this event must take place after you execute the grant agreement with the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth will not reimburse any costs relating to events held prior to an executed funded agreement being in place.