Safe and Together Community Grants Program

The principles underlying the program are to:

• strengthen communities’ resilience to violent extremism, including in regional/rural Australia
• encourage localised initiatives to support vulnerable individuals (and specifically young people) to reject radicalisation and reduce the risk of becoming violent
• build grassroots partnerships between the Commonwealth and community organisations to enhance understanding of violent extremism, including early identification and referral pathways

The objectives of the program are to:

• build communities’ general awareness of and strengthen their resilience against extremism
• enable community organisations to partner with communities and families, to teach them the skills to engage with young people who may be vulnerable to extremism
• establish support programs for young people who are successfully disengaging from extremist views and behaviours

The intended outcomes of the program are:

• across Australia, communities will gain a general understanding of the nature of extremism and how to improve individual and community resilience to it
• at all levels, people will work together to identify risks and triggers that may lead vulnerable young people to extremist views and behaviours, and learn how to foster protective factors against those risks
• communities and organisations will be skilled in engaging and facilitating discussion with young vulnerable young people are referred to appropriate support programs at an early stage, to reduce the risk of them becoming violent

To be eligible you must:

• have an ABN where applicable
• be registered for the purposes of GST where applicable
• be an organisation that is wholly based in Australia, with office holders who are Australian citizens or permanent residents
• have a banking account with an Australian financial institution

To be eligible you must be one of the following entity types:

• Indigenous Corporation
• Company under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
• Local Government Entity established under state or territory local government legislation
• Cooperative
• Incorporated Association

Community-based organisations are strongly encouraged to apply.

If you are applying as a Trustee on behalf of a Trust, the Trustee must be an eligible entity type as listed above.

Applications from consortia are acceptable if you have a lead applicant who is solely accountable for the delivery of grant activities and is an eligible entity. Eligible organisations can form a consortia with ineligible organisations.

You can only submit one application form per organisation in each state or territory. A separate application form must be submitted for each state or territory. This includes applications received from joint consortia which will be counted as one application for each organisation participating in the joint consortia.

Successful applicants must maintain the following for all personnel working on grant activity:

• Working with Vulnerable People registration
• Working with Children check
• National Police check

You are not eligible to apply if you are a/an:

• organisation that has direct or indirect connections or links to civic, religious, nationalist or political parties, groups, organisations or associations that hold or condone extremist views or behaviour
• organisation that has been implicated in illegal actions or activities such as providing any kind of support (including financial) to terrorist organisations, advocating the use of violence for political means or any other unlawful activities
• organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s website on the list of ‘Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme’
• organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the Workplace Gender Equality Agency website on the non-compliant list
• Corporate Commonwealth Entity
• Corporate State or Territory Entity
• Non-corporate Commonwealth Entity
• Non-corporate Commonwealth Statutory Authority
• Non-corporate State/Territory Entity
• Non-corporate State/Territory Statutory Authority
• Statutory Entity
• individual (person or sole trader)
• unincorporated association
• overseas resident/organisation
• any entity type not included above as eligible

See the guidelines for full details of eligible and ineligible applicants.

To be eligible for a grant, your grant activity must fall into one of three categories:

1. Strengthen the Australian community’s broader awareness of and resistance to extremism

• This category will fund the development and delivery of activities, programs and education curricula that encourage communities to become more aware of how extremism can arise in the context of other broader social issues taking place.

2. Empower communities and families to engage with vulnerable young people

• This category will fund community organisations to develop and deliver programs, training or activities that can support community leaders, families and others to learn skills and engage with young people who are developing extremist views or behaviours.

3. Support individuals and their families who are successfully disengaging from extremist views and behaviours

• This category will fund activities, programs or initiatives aimed at helping vulnerable individuals and their families remain positively engaged and connected with their communities, learn strategies to maintain their resilience and manage any future triggers that may cause them to re-engage with extremism.

See the guidelines for full details and examples of eligible and ineligible activities.

Eligible expenditure items are:

• staff salaries and on-costs that can be directly attributed to the provision of the funded grant activity
• costs incurred in the delivery of your grant activity to participants, such as delivering workshops or programs, the printing of materials, and the design of online content or preparation of education curricula
• employee training for paid and unpaid staff (including Committee and Board members) that may be necessary, relevant and appropriate to assist in delivering the grant activity
• venue hire, insurance, catering, marketing and promotion for events, seminars and workshops
• payment of subcontractors such as the use of translating and interpreting support services
• up to 10% of the grant can be used for evaluation of the funded project and/or to explore options for future sustainability and ongoing viability of the funded project

Ineligible expenditure items include:

• activities for which your organisation has already received grant funding
• existing day-to-day corporate activities of your organisation
• activities or programs that are likely to contribute to racial, religious or cultural intolerance or social discord in a community or that are otherwise contrary to the views of the Australian Government
• activities or programs that cannot be completed within 12 months
• purchase of land
• wages and on-costs that cannot be directly attributed to the provision of the funded grant activity
• major capital expenditure
• retrospective costs
• costs incurred in the preparation of a grant application or related documentation
• subsidy of general ongoing administration of an organisation such as electricity, phone and rent
• major construction/capital works
• overseas travel

See the guidelines for full details and examples of eligible and ineligible expenditure.

You must attach supporting documentation according to the instructions provided within the application form, which includes:

• documentation to support entity type
• Trust deed and any subsequent variations, if applying as a Trustee on behalf of a Trust
• copy of current National Police Check
• ‘Details of Key Personnel – Safe and Together Community Grants Program’ (mandatory form available on the GrantsConnect website)

You may also be requested to provide:

• documented organisational and financial policies and procedures
• business plan and/or strategic plan
• risk management plan

Responses are required to the following questions in the application form (in addition to the assessment criteria):

• activity deliverables and project plan
• budget plan
• COVID risk management plan
• governance structure

Lead applicants for joint projects need to include:

• details of the partners organisation(s)
• an overview of how the partner organisation will work with the lead organisation and any other partner organisations in the group to successfully complete the grant activity
• an outline of the relevant experience and/or expertise the partner organisation will bring to the group
• the roles/responsibilities of the partner organisation and the resources they will contribute (if any)
• details of a nominated contact officer
• letters of support from partners

The amount of detail provided should be relative to the size, complexity and grant amount you are requesting in your application.

See the guidelines and application form for full details of information requirements.

Applications are submitted on the GrantConnect website.

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