National Careers Institute Partnership Grants Round 4 – grant recipients

We received over 100 applications requesting more than $17.1 million in funding for the proposed projects. The available funding is $2.5 million.

Eligible applications progressed to merit assessment where claims and evidence were considered against the three merit criteria, as per the Grant Opportunity Guidelines. To be considered for funding, applications had to meet a benchmark rating against all merit criteria and against other applications in this round, taking into consideration:

• the project size
• complexity
• grant amount requested
• the risks associated with the project
• Only applications that rated very highly were offered funding.

Assessment Criterion 1 – The extent that your partnership project will deliver an innovative based approach to help people develop careers that can adapt to the workforce of today and the future (45 points)

Applications that rated very highly:

• clearly outlined how the project will lead to improvements in the quality of, and/or access to quality career guidance for young people, for example, through a strong link between project outcomes and proposed improvements, and were supported by a strong rationale, evidence or convincing examples
• showed how productive partnerships and linkages with stakeholders will achieve project outcomes, with details and evidence of existing and anticipated collaborations
• explained how the project delivers career guidance programs, activities and services for young people, including the innovative nature of the projects and how this will directly enhance young people’s career opportunities
• demonstrated clearly how the project builds on existing programs, information and products including the current and proposed future states to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of career guidance programs, activities and services for young people; and
• described the communications strategy and media channels that would be employed when showcasing the project to the target audience and the broader community.

Assessment Criterion 2 – Capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (35 points)

Applications that rated very highly:

• clearly demonstrated their previous history with similar projects and how they would access or harness the expertise of people with the relevant skills, qualifications and experience
• gave a clear project plan that aligned to the project and activities in the application form, and set the timeframes, budget, risks, contingencies as well as outlined and considered project dependencies
• outlined a realistic strategy or demonstrated ongoing evidenced commitment or support to maintain the project outcomes beyond the term of the grant funding; and
• clearly described how the success of the project will be measured, and gave quantitative and qualitative metrics and targets.

Assessment Criterion 3 – Impact of grant funding on your project (20 points)

Applications that rated very highly:

• provided a strong argument with specific examples or evidence of how the grant funding would benefit young people, their locality, the broader community and the careers sector
• gave a detailed explanation of how their project complements without duplicating, the work of the National Careers Institute
• showed good reason for the proposed value of the project by discussing the intended outcomes for the funding amount and scale of the project;
• provided the approximate number of young people between 15 and 24 years of age anticipated to benefit from the project; and
• provided additional investment such as cash or in-kind support.

Decisions are final and will not be reviewed.