Environment Restoration Fund - Safe Havens Grants

The Environment Restoration Fund - Safe Havens grant opportunity supports the creation of new or expanded safe havens for priority threatened mammals and other threatened species.
Closed
This grant is currently closed to applications

What do you get?

Grants from $500,000 up to $1.8 million covering up to 100% of eligible project expenditure.

Who is this for?

Organisations identified in the grant opportunity guidelines

Overview

This grant opportunity is part of an election commitment announced in May 2019 under the Environment Restoration Fund to support the creation of safe havens for threatened species.

Safe havens are areas where invasive predators such as feral cats and foxes, have been permanently removed from fenced areas and islands to provide long term protection for native wildlife.

The objective of this program is to reduce extinction risk to nationally listed threatened species through strategic expansion of the safe haven network.

The maximum grant is $1.8 million.

The grant amount will be up to 100% of eligible project expenditure.

You must complete your project by 31 May 2023.

Eligibility

To be eligible you must:

  • have an Australian business number (ABN)

and be one of the following entities:

  • an entity incorporated in Australia
  • a co-operative
  • a regional National Resource Management (NRM) organisation
  • an Indigenous not-for-profit corporation
  • an Australian local government agency or body
  • an Australian State/Territory Government agency or body
  • an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust

Joint applications are acceptable, provided you have a lead organisation who is the main driver of the project and is eligible to apply.

You are not eligible to apply if you are:

  • an individual
  • a partnership
  • any organisation not included in section 4.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines
  • a trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust)

Applying

How do you apply?

The Environment Restoration Fund - Safe Havens grant opportunity 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 displays character limits.

The Minister for the Environment will make the final decision.

To be competitive you must score highly against all of the assessment criteria.

Assessment Criterion 1 - The extent that your project will support the recovery of priority threatened mammals through establishing new safe havens, creating safe havens on offshore islands, or expanding existing safe havens (40 points).

You should demonstrate this by describing:

  1. the priority threatened mammals (listed in Appendix A and B of the grant opportunity guidelines) and other nationally and state listed threatened species that will benefit from this project. In assessing similar applications Appendix A species will be weighted above Appendix B species
  2. how your project activities will protect your priority threatened mammal and other species you identify in your application
  3. the extent to which your project will reduce the extinction risk and improve the representation of your target species
  4. where you are expanding an existing safe haven and activities are complementary to work that is underway, demonstrate alignment by:
    • filling a critical gap
    • expanding or supplementing an existing activity, or
    • extending the timeframe of an existing activity.

Assessment Criterion 2 - Capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (40 points).

You should demonstrate this by describing:

  1. your project team’s knowledge, skills and past experience in effectively managing similar environmental projects, and your access to personnel with relevant skills and experience
  2. your plan to manage the project, addressing scope, implementation plan, timeframes, budget and risk assessment, including how you will manage key risks to the success of the project
  3. your strategy to maintain the project outcomes beyond the term of the grant funding
  4. how you will measure the success of the project.

You must attach a project plan, budget and risk assessment with an adequate level of detail for this assessment criterion. Applications which adequately address relevant requirements outlined in Appendix C of the grant opportunity guidelines will be highly regarded under criterion 2.

Assessment Criterion 3 - Impact of grant funding (20 points)

You should demonstrate this by describing:

  1. the extent that your project does not duplicate existing activities (your project may be stand-alone or complement, extend or expand existing activities)
  2. how the funding amount requested with respect to the scale of the project and intended outcomes can be justified
  3. any additional investment that your project will leverage, such as cash or in-kind support that will enhance the achievement of intended outcomes

If your application is successful, you’ll receive a written offer. If you're 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’ll make the first payment when the grant agreement is executed. We’ll make subsequent payments after we have received and accepted the required report. We set aside 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.

Need help?

Let us answer your question over the phone, email or live chat.

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Key documents

Grant opportunity guidelines

pdf · 0.77 MB docx · 0.23 MB

Sample grant agreement

pdf · 0.77 MB docx · 0.14 MB

Sample application form

pdf · 0.59 MB docx · 0.19 MB

CEO or Board letter template

pdf · 0.21 MB docx · 0.10 MB

Mapping tool user guide

pdf · 1.19 MB docx · 14.99 MB

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