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Grants to support on-ground activities that will assist efforts to improve the trajectories of priority species.
Environment Restoration Fund – Threatened Species Strategy Action Plan – Priority Species Grants
What do you get?
$50,000 to $250,000 covering up to 100% of eligible project expenditure.
Who is this for?
Organisations with on-ground activities that assist efforts to improve the trajectories of priority species.
About the program
The program reflects the Government’s efforts to protect and restore Australia’s threatened species through the Threatened Species Strategy‘s first Action Plan 2021 – 2026.
The objective of this program is to assist efforts to improve the trajectories of priority species which are identified in the grant opportunity guidelines.
You must complete your project by 31 March 2023.
Eligibility
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 an eligible entity
- have an eligible activity
- have eligible expenditure.
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 incorporated not for profit organisation, including incorporated Indigenous not-for-profit organisations
- an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust.
You are not eligible to apply if you are:
- an organisation not included in section 4.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines
- an individual
- a partnership
- an unincorporated association
- a trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust)
- a non-corporate Commonwealth entity
- an Australian State/Territory Government Agency or body (unless a Regional Land Partnerships service provider)
- an Australian local government agency or body
- universities and other publicly funded research organisations
- an organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s 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).
Joint applications
Joint applications are acceptable, provided you have a lead organisation who is the main driver of the project and is eligible to apply.
An Australian local government agency or body, universities and other publicly funded research organisations can be part of a joint application but cannot apply as a lead organisation.
To be eligible your project must:
- be aimed at addressing the program objectives as outlined in section 2 of the grant opportunity guidelines
- include activities that address one or more of the priority species identified in the Action Plan, listed in Appendix A of the grant opportunity guidelines
- include activities that are supported by a recovery plan, conservation advice and/or a threat abatement plan. When appropriate recovery activities are not included in the recovery plan, conservation advice or threat abatement plan, applicants must ensure that the activity is supported by strong evidence (e.g. a scientific paper).
- include on-ground project activities that are undertaken in areas where the identified priority species is known or likely to occur (with the exception of ex-situ conservation activities). You may wish to review priority species location via the protected matters search tool.
- have at least $50,000 in eligible expenditure.
You can only spend grant funds on eligible expenditure, which can include:
- purchase (or hire) of equipment, materials and supplies
- salaries and on-costs for personnel directly employed in delivering the project activities
- staff training that directly supports the achievement of project outcomes
- contract expenditure being the cost of any agreed project activities that you contract to others directly relating to the program objectives
- costs associated with managing collaborations and partnerships with Traditional Owners and the local community
- removal of legislated weed species
- contingency costs up to a maximum of 10 per cent of the eligible project costs
- domestic travel to and from the on-ground location
- administrative support and overheads additional to the normal day to day running costs of the organisation (maximum 10 per cent of the grant)
- costs incurred in obtaining planning, environmental or other regulatory approvals during the project period. However, associated fees paid to the Commonwealth, State, Territory and local governments are not eligible
- reporting on project outcomes
- the cost of an independent audit of project expenditure (where we request one) up to a maximum of 1 per cent of total eligible project expenditure.
Not all expenditure on your project may be eligible for grant funding. The Program Delegate makes the final decision on what is eligible expenditure and may give additional guidance on eligible expenditure if required.
To be eligible, expenditure must:
- be a direct cost of the project
- be incurred by you for required project audit activities.
Refer to the guidelines for further detail.
Applying
How do you apply?
The Environment Restoration Fund – Threatened Species Strategy Action Plan – Priority Species Grants are 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.
To be competitive, you must score highly against all the assessment critieria:
- Assessment criterion 1: Project alignment with program objectives (50 points)
- Assessment criterion 2: Your capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (50 points)
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.
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’ll make payments according to an agreed schedule set out in the grant agreement. Payments are subject to satisfactory progress on the project.
Payments will be made by direct credit into a nominated bank account.
We know many businesses have concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on grant applications and grant management. When preparing your application, you need to take into consideration the timeframes and any constraints that may impact the delivery and participation in workshops and other activities resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Projects need to be designed to ensure participants’ safety and health.
You can find further COVID-19 government financial assistance and support for Australian businesses on our coronavirus information and support for business page.
Need help?
Let us answer your question over the phone, email or live chat.
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