Program Area
Community Wellbeing
Community Wellbeing grants in action
Community Wellbeing has two main focus areas.
- Smaller grants (under $50,000) are used to support community-based organisations with strong volunteer components to deliver programs targeting disadvantage, poverty and the general wellbeing of the community.
- The large grants program seeks to improve the life chances of individuals and families by supporting projects and programs targeted at the prevention of homelessness, with a focus on early intervention and programs that work with disadvantaged families, women, young people and children who are at risk.
This area also makes grants in the name of The Alec Prentice Sewell Gift in recognition of the gift he bequeathed to the Foundation.
Applications
Grants under $50,000
PURPOSE
To enhance the wellbeing of members of the community experiencing, or likely to experience, significant disadvantage.
FUNDING OBJECTIVE
To support community based organisations with strong volunteer components to deliver programs targeting disadvantage, poverty and the general wellbeing of the community.
Please note: Applications for funding for research projects, DVDs or promotional materials are not encouraged.
GENERAL EXCLUSIONS
Refer to the Eligibility page for the Foundation's General Exclusions.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Please use the Small Grants Application Form for applications of up to $20,000 and the Community Wellbeing Application Form for applications between $20,000 and $50,000.
Detailed information regarding the application process and closing dates can be found on the How to Apply page.
Applications
Grants over $50,000
“We consider this complex issue [homelessness] to be a key indicator of the health of our society.”
Janet Hirst,
Chief Executive Officer, The Ian Potter Foundation.
PURPOSE
Prevention of homelessness
The Foundation seeks to improve the life chances of individuals and families by supporting projects and programs that target the prevention of homelessness. Our priority is making grants that develop and implement best practice in this area.
The Foundation will consider applications from community organisations seeking funding for programs that work with disadvantaged families, women, young people and children who are at risk of homelessness.
FUNDING OBJECTIVES
The Foundation welcomes applications from community organisations seeking funding for:
- Programs that attempt to prevent homelessness by addressing issues of substance abuse, family violence, mental health issues and/or poverty
- Education and employment programs and projects that assist disadvantaged young people to avoid becoming homeless
- Programs that seek to provide homeless young people with secure accommodation and support.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Refer to the Expression of Interest section and the Foundation's General Exclusions.
Community Wellbeing
International Travel Grants
Purpose
The aim of these grants is to assist senior managers and leaders in this sector to undertake focussed and comprehensive scoping tours of international centres of excellence. It is expected that when they return to Australia they will share the knowledge gained with their colleagues, with the intent of furthering the development of social welfare practice in Australia.
Grants up to $15,000 may be awarded to assist with the costs associated with the grantee visiting a number of international centres of excellence in the relevant field. Each scoping tour is expected to last up to three months, and the grantee should spend substantial time in each centre.
Exclusions
Grants may not be used retrospectively for costs already incurred. An approved grant is to be used only by the person identified in the application.
Usually the Foundation will NOT award Community Wellbeing International Travel Grants for:
- Attendance solely at a conference or international meeting
- Travel involving short visits to multiple institutes
- International travel by hospital staff
- International travel by academic staff employed at a university or research institute
- Domestic travel within Australia
- Travel or research to be undertaken by undergraduate or postgraduate students
- Travel by junior staff in welfare agencies
- Research or fellowship placements at an international host institute.
Stephen Nash, CEO of Homeground, received a grant of $15,000 to undertake a scoping tour of Housing Strategies and Models for Single Homeless People in the UK and US in 2007.
Stephen Nash is pictured (right) at the launch of HomeGround's Campaign to End Homelessness and Supportive Housing model 9th November 2007 at KPMG. Pictured are key partners and supporters Mark Mentha (founder and director KordaMentha), Rosanne Haggerty (founder and president Common Ground), Hon Richard Wynne (Victorian Minister for Housing).
Case Study: Community Wellbeing
Good Shepherd Youth & Family Services
Good Shepherd Youth and Family Services
is working towards greater social inclusion for Sudanese migrants
Sudanese Kinship Care Project
Grant: $120,000 (2009)
Arriving in Australia from North African refugee camps, new Sudanese migrants carry with them a multiplicity of complex issues which affect their settlement in the very different culture of Australia.
The number of children in statutory care from newly arrived immigrant groups is increasing and it was clear to the agencies working in the community that the complexity and depth of the issues facing these new arrivals required better understanding of the problems and culturally-appropriate solutions.
While this project began as a Kinship Care Program aimed at developing better foster care models for children, the initial phases of the project quickly revealed the compound problems facing the community including health, trauma, difficulties accessing childcare, housing and family breakdown.
The research scope was broadened to identify settlement issues and needs of Sudanese communities in the local council areas (Brimbank and Yarra), identify existing services available to the community and, as a result of this knowledge, develop a set of recommendations to guide Good Shepherd Youth and Family Services delivery.
Critical success factors:
- Cooperation between Good Shepherd Youth & Family Services and other agencies
- Recruitment of a skilled and experienced Project Worker who could speak Arabic
What was achieved:
- Increased understanding of the severity and complexity of issues facing Sudanese refugees
- Built foundations for developing an information resource on the Sudanese community
- Greater clarity about the task at hand to improve service delivery to the community: where the gaps are, preferred pathways, critical issues, barriers and challenges
- Development of functional networks between agencies working in the community
- Potential to share knowledge with Government and other service providers/agencies.
