(Photo: Twitter)
February 8, 2019
The South Burnett Community Orchestra will receive $19,000 and the Red Earth Community Foundation $19,800 in grants from the Foundation For Regional and Rural Renewal (FRRR).
The money is part of the first round of FRRR’s “Tackling Tough Times Together” grant program which is allocating $1.2 million to 43 drought-affected communities across Australia.
The grants are funded through the collaboration of more than 15 donors, including the Federal Government which committed $15 million to be distributed over three years.
Other contributors include the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation, ANZ, Paul Ramsay Foundation, Sidney Myer Fund, Pratt Foundation, Australia Post, Westpac Group, The Snow Foundation, Stockland CARE Foundation, Santos, Aussie Farmers Foundation, Ronald Geoffrey Arnott Foundation, NRMA, Rex Airlines and private donors.
Successful community organisations receive grants for projects that local leaders identified as being important to help people come together and survive the drought.
FRRR CEO Natalie Egleton said the program received more than 200 inquiries, which confirmed the need for support across the whole country, but especially in smaller communities.
“This is the first call for applications and we received inquiries from four States, confirming the reach of this drought,” Ms Egleton said.
“Not surprisingly, most were from NSW and Queensland.
“Nearly two-thirds of the applications came from communities of fewer than 5000 people, with 33 of them from places of fewer than 500 people, so it’s great to be able to support community groups in small towns where the opportunity for fundraising locally is limited.”
Ms Egleton said this was the first time FRRR had offered three tiers of grants: Small, medium-sized, and larger grants that can be delivered over multiple years.
“We received strong requests across all three tiers, but most were for the smaller grants, which reinforces our experience of small grants making a big difference to rural communities,” she said.
“Most requests were to support projects that reduce social isolation, build resilience and enhance community health and well-being.
“The second most popular purpose was to enhance volunteer and organisational capacity.”
The program is also supporting a number of projects that develop skills to generate alternate income streams; increase tourism by beautification of local amenities; or support small business growth, which helps to retain the local population or create pathways to employment.
Groups in drought-affected areas are encouraged to consider applying for funding for their community to help people come together to tackle the drought.
The cut-off date for applications is February 20, but groups can apply at any time.
- More information on the grant program and the full list of projects funded in the first round is available on FRRR’s website
