Urban Rivers and Catchments Program 2023

The Program will fund small-medium projects from $150,000 to $2 million and large-scale projects with grants from $2 million to $10 million to conserve native and threatened species and improve the ecological health of urban waterways.
Open
Closes in 75 days

Closing date: Tuesday 13 February 2024 5:00pm AEDT Tue 13 Feb 2024 5:00pm AEDT

What do you get?

For Stream 1 Small to Medium-Specific a grant amount of $150,000 to $2 million to cover up to 100% of eligible expenditure.

For Stream 2 Large-Specific a grant amount of $2 million to $10 million to cover up to 50% of eligible expenditure.

Who is this for?

Not-for-profit and government organisations located in Australia.

Overview

The Urban Rivers and Catchments Program grant opportunity is part of the government’s Nature Positive agenda and will fund projects via two funding streams:

Stream 1: Small to Medium-Specific

Grants for projects with a grant value from $150,000 up to $2 million across one or more defined project sites. This stream will focus primarily on small to medium sized community-based projects (for example local waterway habitat, habitat connectivity, and water quality improvement). Up to 100 per cent of eligible expenditure will be funded for successful applicants.

Stream 2: Large-Specific

Grants for projects with a grant value from $2 million up to $10 million and a total project value of at least $4 million across one or more project sites. This stream will focus primarily on large scale projects (for example re-naturalising concrete channels to create living streams, stormwater filtration through artificial wetlands to improve water quality). Up to 50% of eligible expenditure will be funded for successful applicants.

The objectives of both streams are to:

  • conserve native plants and animals including EPBC-listed threatened plants and animals in urban, outer urban/peri-urban and regional centres
  • improve the ecological health of Threatened Ecological Communities and wetlands of international significance – that is, Ramsar sites, in urban, outer urban/peri-urban and regional centres.

The intended outcomes of both streams are:

  • restored and/or improved riparian areas, stream banks or aquatic habitats, to benefit native species including threatened species, or aquatic areas of significance
  • improved water quality, water in the landscape, and waterway connectivity to benefit native aquatic species including threatened aquatic species, or aquatic areas of significance
  • improved urban green and blue space, including improved community access to nature, improved water quality to benefit public health, and increased shading to help reduce urban heat-related impacts due to climate change.

Information session

A pre-recorded information briefing about the grant opportunity is available on the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water website.

Check if you can apply

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 project
  • have an eligible project location
  • have eligible expenditure.

The rules are in the grant opportunity guidelines.

You can apply if you:

  • have an Australian business number (ABN)
  • are located in Australia
  • are a not-for-profit organisation

You can apply for Stream 1 and/or Stream 2 if you are one of the following entities:

  • a not-for-profit company incorporated in Australia
  • a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee
  • an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth)
  • an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
  • a Regional Delivery Partner organisation, except where they are an Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority or government owned corporation that derives revenue from waterway management levies, including developer, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies
  • an incorporated association
  • a co-operative
  • a registered charity or an incorporated not-for-profit organisation
  • a publicly funded organisation (PFRO) as defined in section 14 of the grant opportunity guidelines
  • an Australian local government agency or body as defined in section 14 of the grant opportunity guidelines
  • an Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority or government owned corporation that does not derive revenue from waterway management levies, including developer, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies.

You cannot apply for stream 1 if you are:

  • an Australian state/territory government, including any department
  • any Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority or government owned corporation that derives revenue from waterway management levies, including developer and, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies
  • any Regional Delivery Partner organisation that is an Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority or government owned corporation that derives revenue from waterway management levies, including developer, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies.

You can apply for stream 2 if you:

  • are any of the entities eligible under stream 1
  • an Australian state/territory government, including any department
  • an Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority, or government owned corporation that derives revenue from waterway management levies, including developer, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies.

You cannot apply for Stream 1 or Stream 2 if you are one of the following entities:

Joint (consortia) applications with other organisations

You can submit joint (consortia) applications with one or more other organisation/s provided you identify a lead organisation for the project who is eligible to apply.

The lead organisation must fill out the application form.

If we give your group the grant, the lead organisation:

  • signs the grant agreement
  • is responsible for making sure your group follows the rules in the grant agreement.

You must complete your project by 28 February 2028.

Your project must:

  • be located in Australia
  • be aimed at addressing the grant opportunity program objectives and outcomes
  • have between $150,000 to $2 million in eligible expenditure for Stream 1  
  • have at least $4 million in eligible expenditure with a matching cash contribution to the project for Stream 2
  • be aimed at benefitting the ecological health of a waterway in an urban, peri-urban/outer urban or regional centre in Australia
  • be within the boundary of a Significant Urban Area as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, or up to 500 metres immediately adjacent to the boundary
  • be in an eligible location as outlined in the grant opportunity guidelines
  • be aimed at providing benefits and outcomes for native plants and animals endemic to the project site, or provide benefits and outcomes for an EPBC-listed threatened species, an EPBC-listed Threatened Ecological Community, or the ecological character of a wetland of international significance, namely a Ramsar site
  • direct at least 75% of the grant funding to eligible on-ground project activities for Stream 1
  • direct at least 85% of the grant funding to eligible on-ground activities for Stream 2.

You must identify where your project activities will occur. Your project can be in one or more sites.

Your project site must be:

  • within the boundary of a Significant Urban Area as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, or up to 500 metres immediately adjacent to the boundary
  • within and/or immediately adjacent to/associated with a waterway including an estuary, river, creek, ephemeral waterway, billabong, wetland, chain of ponds or drainage channel.

Significant Urban Areas include urban, outer-urban/peri-urban and regional centres.

Before starting an application you should check the proposed project location is in an eligible boundary area.

To check the boundry area, you can:

You can apply for a grant between $150,000 and $2 million for Stream 1 and between $2 million and $10 million for Stream 2.

You can use this grant funding for:

  • labour expenditure, on-costs and administrative overheads
  • purchase of material and supplies
  • staff training that directly supports the achievement of project outcomes
  • purchase, lease or hire of equipment
  • planning, environmental and regulatory approval costs
  • contractor costs including earthmoving and landscaping
  • project or tender planning, design and feasibility costs
  • domestic travel to and from the location.

Read the grant opportunity guidelines for more information.

To be eligible, expenditure must

  • be a direct cost to the project
  • be incurred by you for required project audit activities
  • be incurred by you between the project start and end date

Meet the eligible expenditure guidelines.

Further guidance

How do I complete the budget table?

Each grant application requires a detailed project budget and an Excel template has been provided for you to complete. Instructions on how to use the template are included in the first tab of the Excel Workbook. This project budget template will also assist you in completing the eligible project expenditure budget table in the application form.

What are the financial limits that can be applied to selected eligible expenditure?

  • Labour on-cost activities up to a maximum of 30 per cent of total eligible labour expenditure
  • Administrative support and overheads for project management or project coordination additional to the normal day-to-day running costs of the organisation up to a maximum of 10 per cent of non-onground expenditure
  • Contingency costs up to a maximum of 10 per cent of eligible expenditure
  • Independent audit up to a maximum of 1 per cent of total eligible expenditure.

What are in-kind contributions?

In-kind contribution refers to goods, services and labour provided to deliver your project that have a monetary value, but do not involve a payment. This could include the cost of employees, volunteers or service delivery after project completion. It could also include monetary funds sourced from other means than the grant (e.g. donations) that will be used to deliver additional project activities. This could also involve the use of assets (e.g. vessels, equipment).

Where you provide in-kind contributions including labour, goods or services, you must calculate the dollar value. In-kind labour/volunteer hours should be estimated at $39/hour and professional advice should be estimated at $70/hour.

Is GST payable on my grant?

If you are registered for the Goods and Services Tax (GST), where applicable we will add GST to your grant payment and provide you with a recipient created tax invoice. You are required to notify us if your GST registration status changes during the project period. GST does not apply to grant payments to government related entities.

What if my organisation received funding in Round 1?

You can apply for the 2023 Grant opportunity if you received funding under Round 1. The same project activities funded under Round 1 are not eligible for funding under the 2023 Grant Opportunity or proposed project activities funded by another government-funded program already underway.

Who reviews my grant application?

The Committee is established by the Minister for the Environment and Water to consider and assess eligible applications and make recommendations to the Minister for the Environment and Water for funding under the program.

I started an application. Can I access my application?

Yes. Your existing application will be in the status of draft through the online portal and you may continue with this application. Alternatively, you may also leave it as it is as draft and commence and submit a new application.

Do I have to provide supporting documents?

Yes. Section 7.1 of the Grant Opportunity Guidelines lists the mandatory attachments to be uploaded with the application.

The total of all attachments cannot exceed 20 MB.

Individual files must be smaller than 2.0mb, and be one of the following types: doc, docx, rtf, pdf, xls, xlsx, csv, jpg, jpeg, png, gif.

How to apply

Check if you’re ready to apply for a grant

Finding a suitable grant opportunity is just the start of the process to get funding. The application process can take time and effort. Understanding the entire process will help you be grant ready and may improve your chances of getting funding.

Use our checklist to find out what it takes to apply for a grant.

When you're ready to apply

Apply using our online portal:

  1. Create or log into your portal account.
  2. Follow the instructions to complete your application.
  3. Submit your application before the close date.

Make sure you include enough detail and supporting evidence in your application to help us decide whether to award you the grant.

Don’t submit the application until it’s complete. You can’t correct a mistake.

First we check that you meet the eligibility criteria. Then we assess your application against the assessment criteria.

The assessment criteria are a set of rules that describe how we must assess each application.

We give each criterion a certain number of points.

We’ll decide whether to award you the grant based on the total number of points we give your application.

  • Assessment criterion 1: Your project’s contribution to meeting program objectives (40 points)
  • Assessment criterion 2: The quality of your proposal, the project’s impact and the impact of the project grant funding (35 points)
  • Assessment criterion 3: Your organisation’s capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (25 points)

The amount of detail and supporting evidence you provide should be relative to the project size, complexity and grant amount requested.

The Minister makes the final decision.

Apply now

Apply for the Urban Rivers and Catchments Program 2023 now

Before you apply, make sure you:

  • read and understand the grant opportunity guidelines
  • check your site is in an eligible location by going to eligible locations map . A mapping user guide is included in key documents below.
Apply now

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 to help with your queries. If you can't find your answer, contact us for assistance.

If you find an error in your application after submitting it, contact us immediately on 13 28 46.

If we find an error or any missing information in your application, including evidence that supports your eligibility/merit, we will contact you for clarification.

Whether we accept any additional information you provide after you submit your application is at the discretion of the decision maker.

Additional information you provide should not materially change your submitted application. If the information provided is deemed purely supplementary, we may refuse it.

We can’t consider the application you submit after the close date under any circumstances.

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:
  • Open Hours:
    Monday – Friday, 8am – 8pm across Australia
  • Website:

Key documents

Grant opportunity guidelines

pdf · 0.63 MB docx · 0.47 MB

Sample grant agreement

pdf · 0.61 MB docx · 0.16 MB

Sample application – Stream 1

pdf · 0.42 MB docx · 0.15 MB

Sample application – Stream 2

pdf · 0.43 MB docx · 0.15 MB

How to check your site is an urban area

pdf · 0.75 MB docx · 1.95 MB

Further information on activities

pdf · 0.24 MB docx · 0.08 MB

Project plan template sample

pdf · 0.44 MB docx · 0.13 MB

Site condition report template sample

pdf · 0.15 MB docx · 0.05 MB

Land interest holder letter templates

pdf · 0.18 MB docx · 0.03 MB

Project budget template

xlsx · 0.16 MB

Eligible locations map – Australia

pdf · 1.39 MB

Eligible locations map – Australian Capital Territory

pdf · 1.18 MB

Eligible locations map – New South Wales North

pdf · 2.15 MB

Eligible locations map – New South Wales South

pdf · 1.12 MB

Eligible locations map – Northern Territory

pdf · 2.55 MB

Eligible locations map – Queensland North

pdf · 0.97 MB

Eligible locations map – Queensland South

pdf · 1.78 MB

Eligible locations map – South Australia

pdf · 1.01 MB

Eligible locations map – Tasmania

pdf · 2.31 MB

Eligible locations map – Victoria East - Central

pdf · 1.67 MB

Eligible locations map – Victoria West

pdf · 0.93 MB

Eligible locations map – Western Australia

pdf · 1.65 MB