Future Drought Fund Long-term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Program Round 2 – upcoming grant opportunity
The Long-term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Program Round 2 will investigate innovative farming practices, technologies and/or approaches through evidence-based trials to inform farmers, drive adoption, and foster transformational change to build drought and climate resilience.
The Program has an expanded list of eligible agricultural industries including cereal, other broadacre crops, horticulture crops and livestock.
Projects must demonstrate through scientific and statistically validated trials the effectiveness of practices, technologies and/or approaches.
Drought and climate resilience will be increased by projects that enable farmers to:
be prepared for and respond to drought
experiment with the adoption of practices, technologies and/or approaches that build drought and climate resilience
establish and strengthen networks to improve knowledge sharing
$40.3 million is available through an open competitive grant process for projects between $3 million to $8 million. Activities must be undertaken over 6 years from 2024–25 until 2029–30.
Applications must include a consortium of partners, with a lead organisation nominated as the ‘applicant’. Co-design and farmer involvement is required.
This grant opportunity is expected to be open for up to 8 weeks. An information webinar will be held in early October for prospective applicants.
Program details may change with the published grant opportunity.
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Disability Employment Centre of Excellence Grant Opportunity
The Department of Social Services will conduct an open grant round shortly to find a provider or consortium of providers to establish the Disability Employment Centre of Excellence.
The Centre of Excellence will be an evidence-informed, best-practice hub that will provide resources, tools and training to help providers deliver quality employment services and supports to both participants with disability and employers.
The Centre of Excellence will collect, translate, and disseminate disability employment-related research and evidence of what works into best-practice resources. The Centre of Excellence will bring together and use existing resources available both nationally and internationally.
The Centre of Excellence is expected to commence in March 2025, to support the introduction of the new specialist disability employment program from 1 July 2025. A dedicated online hub will be available by September 2025.
The Grant Opportunity Guidelines can be found attached to the Disability Centre of Excellence Forecast Opportunity on GrantConnect. Other supporting documents will be published when the grant opportunity is open for applications. These guidelines have been produced for the information of stakeholders and potential respondents.
Please note no questions, correspondence or applications will be accepted between now and when the grant opportunity opens.
The grant opportunity will open on 4 September 2024.
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National Women’s Alliances
Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality (the Strategy) outlines how the Government will focus its efforts over the next decade to achieve gender equality.
The Government is providing up to $10.88 million from December 2024 to June 2029 to strengthen the National Women’s Alliances program to deliver expert and strategic advice on the solutions required to meet the Strategy’s vision.
Organisations and consortia are encouraged to apply to represent one or more of the following themes and/or diverse groups consistent with the priorities of the Strategy:
gender-based violence
women’s economic equality and leadership
migrant and refugee women
First Nations women
women living in rural, regional and remote areas
women with disability.
Up to 6 organisations may be selected through this open competitive process to provide collaborative, intersectional, evidence based gender expertise and strategic advice to Government to inform ongoing progress of the Strategy’s outcomes. Advice will focus on elevating the lived experiences of women in all their diversity and bringing together the expertise of the women’s sector and expert stakeholders. Cross alliance collaboration will be a central feature of the program. Advice will focus on elevating the lived experiences of women in all their diversity and bringing together the expertise of the women’s sector and expert stakeholders.
The round will open on 21 May 2024. An information briefing will be held on 29 May 11:00am-12:00pm. Refer to the Office for Women website for further information.
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Australia's Disability Strategy 2021-2031 - National Disability Conference Initiative 2024–25
The National Disability Conference Initiative 2024–25 (NDCI) grant opportunity is expected to open for applications in April 2024. This grant opportunity provides grants of up to $10,000 to disability conference organisers to assist people with disability participate in nationally-focused, disability-related, conferences held in Australia. Grants will support eligible conference organisers to provide accessibility measures that will maximise the inclusion and participation of people with disability at their disability focused conferences.
This grant opportunity will be administered by the Community Grants Hub on behalf of the Department of Social Services.
To receive the latest information on the upcoming NDCI Grant Opportunity, please subscribe to the Community Grants Hub.
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Have your say on the future of Financial Wellbeing and Capability (FWC) Activity programs
The Review of Financial Wellbeing and Capability (FWC) programs – Consultation Paper is now available on the DSS Engage website for feedback.
This public Consultation Paper is the final stage of a review the department is conducting of the FWC Activity this year.
The review provides an opportunity to:
consider existing challenges (such as cost of living and natural disasters)
build on what is working well
identify options and improvements for programs to achieve better outcomes for people accessing FWC services.
Your feedback will ensure future design options for programs and grants, consider client, provider, sector and government views.
The Consultation Paper:
includes existing evidence and data
includes insights gathered through extensive targeted stakeholder engagement to date
considers key policy issues and opportunities for program and grant improvements.
Help shape the design of future FWC Activity programs. Submissions close on 29 January 2024.
Families and Communities Program – Strong and Resilient Communities (SARC) Activity – Round 3
Strong and Resilient Communities - Inclusive Communities grants will support the social and economic participation of vulnerable and disadvantaged people in their communities by providing funding that supports:
the development of young people aged 12 to 18 years who are, or are at risk of, being disengaged, marginalised and having limited engagement with education/training
people with disabilities and/or mental health issues to participate in their community, and work towards becoming and/or remaining independent and engaged
women who experience, or are at risk of, isolation or discrimination, to participate in their community and increase their sense of self agency and empowerment
people who are unemployed to address individual barriers to social and economic participation and employment by increasing their capacity for engagement with existing employment, community supports, and training services, as they work towards gaining meaningful employment.
Funding will be available to eligible organisations to deliver one-off, time-limited, new projects in their communities. Projects may include a trial, seed or start-up project to establish new activities, short-term interventions, or the significant reframing of existing activities.
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Apply to be the Grants Administrator of SEDI
Calling all changemakers!
The Department of Social Services is thrilled to announce that we are now accepting applications for the position of Grants Administrator – Social Enterprise Development Initiative (SEDI).
If you are passionate about making a positive impact on our community and you want to help the social enterprise sector in Australia grow, this opportunity is for you! SEDI will grow the social impact market, by building the capability of eligible for-purpose organisations to be more sustainable and have improved social impact.
To find out more about the opportunity (including eligibility criteria) and to apply, visit the Community Grants Hub.
Together, we can create a brighter future, supporting social enterprises to help Australians facing disadvantage.
Applications close 6 December 2023.
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Help shape the future of the Not-for-Profit sector
The Not-for-Profit (NFP) Sector Development Blueprint (the NFP Blueprint) issues paper is now available on the DSS Engage website for feedback.
The NFP Blueprint issues paper will start a conversation to inform the development of a sector led Blueprint, a roadmap, advising the government what is needed for a sustainable NFP and charities sector. This is the sector’s opportunity to tell the government what they need to create a better future for:
the Australian NFP and charities sector
those who benefit and rely on it.
Development of a NFP Blueprint was announced by the Australian Government in the 2022-23 October Budget. The Blueprint Expert Reference Group (BERG), a group of sector representatives, was established to deliver the sector-led Blueprint.
Your input, ideas and views will help create a more vibrant and thriving NFP and charities sector. The BERG wants your suggestions for sector-led workable and effective reform options. This opportunity will allow you to identify:
changes that are needed immediately
changes that can be implemented over a longer period.
To share your views and help support long-term change for the NFP and charities sector, and to register your interest in attending an online forum about the Blueprint, visit the DSS Engage website.
Submissions close on 20 December 2023.
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Disability Employment Expos Grant Opportunity
The Disability Employment expos will provide people with disability with high support needs, and their families and carers, with information on a range of employment pathways and available supports. The program was announced as part of the Government’s 2023–24 Budget.
$1.44 million is available from 2023–24 to 2024–25 for the expos.
The grant opportunity is open to a single provider or consortium who can deliver up to 8 expos nationally, including one virtual expo.
The overarching outcomes intended for this grant are for people with high support needs because of their disability, and their families, to have:
a better understanding of the various pathways to employment, and the role that employment related supports and services can play
an opportunity to connect with local employers, including mainstream employers, who may be open to hiring people with disability, including those with high support needs.
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Supported Employment: Structural Adjustment Fund Grant Opportunity
The Structural Adjustment Fund (the Fund) will run over 3 years from 2023–24 to 2025–26. The program was announced as part of the Government’s 2023–24 Budget.
The grant opportunity will support the employment of people with high support needs, with a view of assisting the sector to evolve in line with the guiding principles for the future of supported employment. The Fund will seek to support projects that enable the introduction of innovative approaches to:
create pathways to open employment
allow supported employment workplaces to better meet community expectations
create sustainable employment opportunities for people with disability.
Up to $29.5 million is available under the Fund, with grants to be allocated over 2 rounds. There will be up to $20 million available in this first round, with individual grants expected to be between $50,000 and $500,000. A second round is expected to open in the second half of 2024.
The Fund will be open to applicants or consortia where the applicant or lead applicant is a registered NDIS provider.
A wide variety of projects will be considered, however all eligible grant activities under the Fund must:
clearly align with the guiding principles for the future of supported employment
support people with high support needs to progress towards their employment goals.
Projects that rely on an existing evidence base for delivery of effective employment supports will be prioritised.
