Funding for community based on-ground projects to protect and care for the Great Barrier Reef.

You can apply if you:

• have an Australian business number (ABN)

and are one of the following entities:

• an entity, incorporated in Australia
• an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth)
• an incorporated association
• an incorporated not for profit organisation
• a publicly funded research organisation (PFRO) as defined in section 14 of the grant opportunity guidelines
• an Australian local government agency or body as defined in section 14 of the grant opportunity guidelines
• Queensland state government agency or body.

You can’t apply if you are:

• an organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s list of Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme
• an employer of 100 or more employees that has not complied with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (2012)
• an individual
• a partnership
• an unincorporated association
• an entity not included in section 4.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines
• trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust).

Partner with other organisations

You can partner with one or more other organisations that also meet the eligibility criteria. But you must decide who the lead organisation is.

The lead organisation must fill out the application form.

If we give your group the grant, the lead organisation:

• signs the grant agreement
• is responsible for making sure your group follows the rules in the grant agreement.

For further information on joint applications, refer to section 7.2 of the grant opportunity guidelines.

You must complete your project by 3 years from the agreed start date.

Your project must:

• be aimed at building long-lasting community stewardship across the Great Barrier Reef Catchments, to enhance commitment to protect and care for the Reef through environmentally responsible practices and strengthen coordination of delivery of protection activities by local communities
• support a coordinated approach to community-based on-ground projects across the Reef that deliver tangible and reportable benefits, outcomes and improvement for key habitats for Reef ecosystem and species health, including refugial waterholes, wetlands, seagrass, bird habitats and fish nursery habitats
• support the outcomes and objectives of the Reef 2050 Plan, one or more of the Reef Trust Outcomes, and the outstanding universal values of the GBR World Heritage Area
• have at least $500,000 in eligible expenditure.

Your project may be an extension of or build on an existing project, however you must clearly demonstrate the project is additional to any existing projects or grant activities.

Eligible activities must directly relate to the project and may include:

• on-ground community stewardship actions that support improving the health and resilience of key Reef habitats for ecosystem and species health (including refugial waterholes, wetlands, seagrass, bird habitats and fish nursery habitats)
• on-ground enabling activities for community stewardship such as community engagement (including development of action plans, training, education, communication) that support improving the health and resilience of key Reef habitats for ecosystem and species health (including refugial waterholes, wetlands, seagrass, bird habitats and fish nursery habitats). On-ground enabling activities may include:
  • knowledge building activities including events, awareness raising initiatives and citizen science activities
  • promotion and development of leadership including skills development and training or workshops
  • networking and facilitation of partnerships including establishment of committees and working groups to develop and implement stewardship action, networking and planning to support or enable stewardship, and community engagement activities.

You can apply for a grant of up to a maximum $6.5 million.

You can use this grant funding for items that are directly related to the project:

• labour and on-costs for personnel directly employed in delivering the project activities (this should be calculated on a pro-rata basis relative to their time commitment).

This excludes project management or project co-ordination costs which are covered under administrative support, including:

• contractor costs for the delivery of eligible project activities. All contractors must have a written contract prior to starting any project work. Invoices from contractors must contain a detailed description and breakdown of the work including hours and hourly rates
• costs associated with administrative support activities up to a maximum of 10% of total eligible expenditure incurred through the delivery of eligible project activities
• costs associated with purchase, lease or hire of equipment where needed to undertake eligible activities
• costs associated with monitoring and reporting (excluding grant reporting) activities up to a maximum of 5% of total eligible expenditure
• domestic travel limited to the reasonable cost of accommodation and transportation required to conduct agreed project activities in Australia
• staff training that directly supports the achievement of project outcomes
• costs you incur in order to obtain planning, environmental or other regulatory approvals during the project period. However, associated fees paid to the Commonwealth, state, territory and local governments are not eligible
• the cost of an independent audit of project expenditure up to a maximum of 1% of total eligible project expenditure.