Funding to improve the inclusion and participation of people with disability

You can apply if you are located or operate in the ACT and are:

• an organisation
• a partnership, consortium or collaboration
• a small business.

You also must not have received funding from another source to deliver or provide the same or similar project/program.

You cannot apply if you have overdue acquittal obligations for any previous Community Services Directorate grants. You also cannot apply if you are:

• a government entity
• a registered political party
• an individual.

Organisation eligibility requirements

Organisations must meet the following organisational eligibility requirements to apply:

• be a non-government, legally incorporated entity or supported by an incorporated auspicing organisation
• be a registered not-for-profit or a charitable organisation
• have not received funding from another source to deliver or provide the same or similar project/program
• appropriate insurance cover must be held by the organisation implementing a funded project. This may include Public Liability of no less than $10 million, Personal Accident, Volunteer Cover and or Directors Professional Indemnity. Evidence of insurance may be required as a condition of the grant.

Unincorporated community groups may be eligible to apply through an auspicing entity.

Partnerships, consortiums or collaborations

Have you considered undertaking the project in collaboration with another organisation?

Projects that involve more than one group or organisation may apply as a partnership or consortium. In such instances the following is required:

• list the roles and responsibilities of each group or organisation;
• clarify who will take the lead, lodge the application, and submit the final acquittal; and
• identify the financial contribution each is making to the project.

Small business eligibility requirements

Small businesses which meet the following eligibility requirements may apply:

• are a small business as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics – small business operators are those operators who employ fewer than 20 persons (including non-employing businesses)
• appropriate insurance cover must be held by the organisation implementing a funded project. This may include Public Liability of no less than $10 million, Personal Accident, Volunteer Cover and or Directors Professional Indemnity. Evidence of insurance may be required as a condition of the grant.

Eligible projects must:

• provide an activity, project, or initiative that will be located in the ACT
• identify how the program will benefit ACT residents
• demonstrate how they address any of the ACT Health and Wellbeing Framework outcomes
• have not received funding from another source to deliver the same or similar project
• include all supporting documentation needed for the application.

Reasonable Adjustment

The Discrimination Act 1991 makes it unlawful to treat someone unfavourably because they have a disability. Generally, employers, service providers and others must make reasonable adjustment for people with a disability to have the same opportunities as others. This includes adjustment to:

• Workplace equipment or facilities, including provision of additional equipment;
• Workplace communications
• Work methods or arrangements, including flexibility of working hours and leave entitlements.
• Recruitment practices
• Facilities provided by educational institutions e.g., hearing loops and other equipment.
• Communication methods, including using a reader or interpreter, and
• Access to buildings.

These grants will not replace an organisation or business’ legal obligations to fair treatment and equal opportunities. However, these grants may provide financial assistance to organisations and businesses to implement projects and support and/or alleviate unjustifiable hardship barriers to enable organisations and businesses to be more inclusive for people with disability.

Funding cannot be used for

The following will not be funded:

• Activities or items that do not achieve the aims of the program.
• Projects that are not located in the ACT, or that does not benefit the ACT community
• General administration and operational costs such as salaries, community and IT, stationery, insurance, rent, leasing, or utilities.
• Costs of projects or activities that have already taken place, or items already been purchased.
• Debt repayments of any kind.
• Projects or activities already funded by the ACT Government or Australian Government.
• Projects where alternative funding is more appropriate.
• Infrastructure projects on properties owned by ACT Government. If you are not sure if your premises is owned by ACT Government, please check the Treasury website.
• Activities that applicants or organisations are obliged to undertake as part of their legal or operational obligations.
• Any travel or accommodation costs.
• Projects or activities which are deemed to be inappropriate or offensive including activities that contain content that may offend or bring into disrepute the application organisation, the Community Services Directorate and/or the ACT Government.

When your application is received it will be checked against these grant guidelines to ensure eligibility for funding.

After the eligibility check, a Grant Assessment Team will assess your application. The Grant Assessment Team will be made up of a chairperson and 2 other assessors. Grant Assessment Team members will be appointed based on their knowledge and experience of living with disability.

Panel members will use the information provided in your application and information from any previous Community Services Directorate grant rounds to assess the applications submitted. If you have been successful in other recent grant rounds, the panel may take this into consideration during their assessment considering the high number of applications received to ensure fairness across all applicants.

Due to the competitive process, all eligible applications will be assessed and prioritised by the Grant Assessment Team against the following criteria:

• Inclusion: The proposal demonstrates how people with disability were included in the scoping and development and will be included in the delivery of the project.
• Impact: The proposal demonstrates how the project, activity or initiative will remove barriers to participation for people with disability and have a broad and deep impact on creating enhanced inclusion of people with disability in the ACT community.
• Capacity: The proposal demonstrates that the organisation has the capacity to deliver the project including the appropriate qualifications, or dedicated staff with the skills experience and time to deliver the project and ability to manage the funding.
• Budget: The budget is realistic and clearly details all expenditure for the project including demonstrating value for money.

A budget is an estimate of income and expenditure required to complete your chosen activity. You will need to provide a budget with your application. This needs to show the funding breakdown for different items.

In some cases, due to the high demand for grants only part funding can be offered. Therefore, you will need to consider if you can proceed with your project if only part-funding is available.

If you have applied for another grant for this same project, please ensure this is explained in your application.

All applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications in writing. Successful applicants will be advised in writing by the Minister for Disability and a Letter of Offer will be sent by the Community Service Directorate.

This process can take a minimum of 12 weeks. During this time applicants may not hear anything from the Community Service Directorate Grants team.

Unfortunately, not all applications can be funded as there are usually more applications received than funds available. This does not necessarily mean that the application is not worthy. It is more likely that other applications were ranked higher in the assessment process.

All successful applicants must expend the funds within the timeframes nominated in the Letter of Offer.

An acquittal is a signed declaration, submitted at the end of the activity, stating that funding was used for the agreed purpose. This includes providing copies of receipts as proof of expenditure.

Acquittal process

The acquittal of the grant is managed through SmartyGrants.

Instructions will be provided to successful applicants in their Letter of Offer. You will need to login using the same identification details you used to submit the application. Please keep this in a safe place.

The funds must be expended in accordance with the activity/project outlined in the grant application and in the Letter of Offer, and all receipts must be retained and submitted with the acquittal.

Unspent funds

Any unspent funds from your grant must be returned to Community Services Directorate. Please email the Community Services Directorate Grants team at CSDgrants@act.gov.au to advise of any unspent funds.