27 February 2023

$1 million grant round opens for local charities

| Morgan Kenyon
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Peter Gordon, Hands Across Canberra CEO.

Peter Gordon, Hands Across Canberra CEO, is looking to increase funding. Photo: Hands Across Canberra.

One million dollars in funding is open to community organisations and charities looking to improve Canberra’s health outcomes, address systemic disadvantages, and engage socially disadvantaged or marginalised community members.

Canberra’s largest charity funding cooperative, The Canberra Foundations Collaborative, opened its annual grant round to locals on 22 February. To make sure they reach as many organisations as possible, these grants will generally range from $5000 to $25,000, with a few reservations up to $50,000. There is also a limited number of multi-year agreements available for eligible projects.

The collaborative includes local foundation Hands Across Canberra, which supports community organisations working with socially disadvantaged and marginalised people to address the challenges they face. They are joined by the John James Foundation, a leading medical charity focused on strengthening health outcomes in Canberra, and The Snow Foundation, which supports health, education and employment, economic justice and safety, and for-purpose initiatives.

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Hands Across Canberra CEO, Peter Gordon said, “The benefit of a cooperative group like ours is twofold. By combining our knowledge and resources, we boost our capability to deliver larger grants to charities and non-profits that hone in on the root cause of the issues they address. It’s also a powerful opportunity for our cohort to learn and make community-changing decisions together.”

The three foundations are keen to bring on new partners to back their mission.

“The more organisations we have in our collective, the stronger our ability to offer funding will be. We want to increase our funding each year, so the more support we have from Canberran institutions, the better,” Mr Gordon said.

The collaborative uses the findings of the 2021 Vital Signs report, as well as other key highlights across the ACT and surrounding areas, to ensure grant funds go to areas of true need. In 2022, the collaboration awarded funds to 71 local projects from a pool of 171 applicants, a total of almost $1.5 million in grant funding.

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Some of 2022’s funding went to the Companion House ($9300 – Learning and thriving scholarships), Right to Work ($24,400 – Building regional microbusiness capability for young adults with disability), and the Perinatal Wellbeing Centre ($13,500 – Birth trauma counselling service).

In 2023, The Canberra Foundations Collaborative is offering the opportunity to provide verbal or written expressions of interest to make the submissions process more accessible. They are also running a grant writing seminar and information session on Tuesday 28 February to help applicants prepare a submission.

The Canberra Foundations Collaborative welcomes expressions of interest for 2023’s grant round from 22 February to 14 March.

For more information about grant application guidelines or the grant writing seminar, visit:
www.handsacrosscanberra.org.au
www.jjf.org.au
www.snowfoundation.org.au

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