Caring for our Country Open Grants
Caring for our Country Open Grants were advertised on the weekend, with funding of up to $25 million available in 2008-2009.
Open Grants is a transitional component of the Australian Government's new $2.25 billion Caring for our Country initiative. Applications are being sought now for funding in 2008-2009. Detailed information and Application Guidelines can be found at: http://www.nrm.gov.au/funding/open.html
Caring for our Country Open Grants funding will provide up to $25 million in 2008-2009.
This funding is targeted to the following Caring for our Country priority areas:
- Protect, enhance or restore Australia’s biodiversity and natural icons;
- Improve the water quality of our critical aquatic habitats
- Achieve greater take-up of sustainable farm practices.
Anyone can apply as long as you are a legal entity.
Applications must be received by 5.00 pm (AEST) Friday 1 August 2008.
Competitive grants will fund projects costing from $80 000 to $400 000.
During 2008-2009 this funding will support:
- larger scale projects which have the capacity to achieve significant outcomes;
- projects that involve consortiums of key interest groups; are multi-regional or multi-jurisdictional and that leverage additional investment from other sources;
- projects that target significant outcomes in at least one of the Caring for our Country national priority areas targeted for 2008 -2009;
- projects that can be delivered in a timely manner with measurable outcomes by 30 June 2009, but we will also accept projects that can be completed within 12 months;
- Projects should engage key stakeholders and must demonstrate how the project outcomes will be communicated and promoted to other natural resource management stakeholders.
We encourage you to still apply through this process if you are seeking a smaller amount of funding but have leveraged considerable investment from other sources. For details on the range of activities supported read the fact sheet:
Caring for our Country will not fund proposals
- that will devolve grants to other bodies;
- for research and development projects of a general nature which do not address specific Caring for our Country priority areas;
- that duplicate work undertaken within the same region(s) by other organisations;
- by applicants who have overdue final reports and/or acquittals for previous Australian Government natural heritage trust or national action plan for salinity and water quality funding, including Envirofund and Coastal Catchment Initiatives;
- for monitoring and data projects that are not consistent with the Australian Government natural resource management monitoring and evaluation framework;
- for facilitator and coordinator projects where the facilitation component is not directed at linking national activities to regional activities or does not play a national leadership role;
For further information about the Open Grants, try our frequently asked questions, or contact us.
Email: opengrants@nrm.gov.au
Phone Caring for our Country Open Grants: 1800 065 823
For details/interview call the Editor on (03) 5798 1858