Urban Rivers and Catchments Program

To be eligible you must:

• have an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• be located in Australia
• be a not-for-profit organisation

and be one of the following entities:

For both Stream 1 and Stream 2:

• a not-for-profit company incorporated in Australia
• a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee
• an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth)
• an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
• a Regional Delivery Partner organisation, except where they are an Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority or Government owned corporation that derives revenue from waterway management levies, including developer, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies
• an incorporated association
• a co-operative
• a registered charity or an incorporated not-for-profit organisation
• a publicly funded research organisation (PFRO) as defined in section 14
• an Australian local government agency or body as defined in section 14
• an Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority or Government owned corporation that does not derive revenue from waterway management levies, including developer, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies.

For Stream 2 only, you may also be:

• an Australian state/territory government, including any department
• an Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority or Government owned corporation that derives revenue from waterway management levies, including developer, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies.

Joint applications are acceptable, provided you have a lead organisation who is the main driver of the project and is eligible to apply.

Additional eligibility requirements:

• declare you are authorised to act on behalf of the organisation(s) you are applying for
• declare you have identified and defined all project sites and activities to be funded by the grant
• declare you are not undertaking project activities in locations of proposed or approved development sites or offset sites, including offset sites under the EPBC Act or other relevant state environment protection laws
• declare you can meet your share of the project costs including all eligible and ineligible expenditure not covered by the grant funding
• declare you have access, or will have future access, to any required land, infrastructure, capital equipment, technology, and regulatory or other approvals
• declare you will have all required permit approvals in place prior to the commencement of the on-ground works
• direct at least 75% of the grant funding to eligible on-ground project activities for Stream 1
• direct at least 85% of the grant funding to eligible on-ground activities for Stream 2.

You are not eligible to apply if you are:

• an individual
• an 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’
• an employer of 100 or more employees that has not complied with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (2012)
• a for-profit organisation
• any organisation not included in section 4.1 of the guidelines
• a partnership.

For Stream 1 only:

• any Australian state or territory government, including any department
• any Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority or government owned corporation that derives revenue from waterway management levies, including developer and, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies
• any Regional Delivery Partner organisation that is an Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority or government owned corporation that derives revenue from waterway management levies, including developer, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies.

See the guidelines for full details of organisations eligible for URCP support.

Your project site must be:

• within the boundary of a Significant Urban Area as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, or up to 500 metres immediately adjacent to the boundary
• within and/or immediately adjacent to/associated with a waterway including an estuary, river, creek, ephemeral waterway, billabong, wetland, chain of ponds or drainage channel.

Projects will be considered ineligible if they are:

• beyond 500 metres of the boundary of a Significant Urban Area as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics
• not clearly linked to a waterway in an urban, peri-urban/outer urban or regional centre in Australia
• located in the marine environment (noting estuaries and barrier wetlands are eligible locations)
• focused on the protection of coastal sand dunes, ocean shorelines, beaches, or bay shorelines.

To be eligible, expenditure must:

• be incurred by you within the project period
• be a direct cost of the project
• be incurred by you to undertake required project audit activities (where applicable)
• meet the eligible expenditure guidelines.

Eligible labour expenditure for the grant covers the direct labour costs of employees you directly employ on the core elements of the project.

Eligible contract expenditure is the cost of any agreed project activities that you contract others to do.

Other eligible expenditures for the project may include:

• the purchase (or hire) of materials and supplies to support eligible project activities such as native tube stock and/or seed, hardware, and fencing materials
• staff training that directly supports the achievement of project outcomes
• the purchase, lease or hire of equipment required to undertake eligible project activities
• the costs of obtaining required planning, environmental and other regulatory approvals. However, associated fees paid to the Commonwealth, state, territory and local governments are not eligible
• domestic travel to and from the on-ground location limited to the reasonable and necessary costs of accommodation and transportation required to conduct the agreed project activities
• administrative support and overheads for project management or project coordination additional to the normal day-to-day running costs of the organisation (capped at a maximum 10 per cent of eligible non-onground expenditure)
• financial auditing of project expenditure, the cost of an independent audit of project expenditure (where one is requested) up to a maximum of 1 per cent of total eligible project expenditure
• contingency costs up to a maximum of 10 per cent for Stream 1 and 15 per cent for Stream 2 of the eligible project expenditure
• contractor costs including earthmoving and landscaping
• project or tender planning, design research costs, feasibility costs or preliminary design costs (unless activities have occurred prior to entering into an agreement)
• the costs of project-related monitoring, reporting on project outcomes and evaluation.

Examples of ineligible expenditure include:

• land purchase
• activities with the primary purpose of beautification or to increase amenity
• devolved grant processes i.e. where an applicant seeks a lump sum to devolve grant funding to third parties e.g. landowners
• the same project activities funded under Round 1 of the Program, or proposed project activities funded by another government-funded program already underway
• activities that have already been completed prior to executing the grant agreement, or the covering of retrospective costs (e.g. activities that commenced prior to the execution of the grant agreement)
• activities occurring outside of Australia, or outside the eligible locations (see section 5.2 of the guidelines)
• activities in locations of planned or approved urban development sites
• sites that are development offsets under the EPBC Act or other relevant state or territory environment protection laws
• projects that significantly increase risk to people, urban infrastructure, or environmental values e.g. flooding risks, risks to existing riparian vegetation, disturbance of Acid Sulfate Soils, facilitating the spread of weeds and pest species
• public art installations (e.g. murals)
• purchase of chemicals likely to have negative environmental impacts on waterways (any necessary chemical interventions for the project must provide reasonable justification outlining mitigation of negative impacts)
• subsidy of general ongoing administration of an organisation such as electricity, phone, and rent
• construction/capital works of civil infrastructure that significantly obstruct the natural water flow of a waterway (including bridges and dams). Infrastructure to improve environmental flows, improve natural baseflows, or reduce erosion and/or settle sediment are eligible
• school education activities, including field trips
• activities located in the marine environment (noting estuaries, coastal saltmarsh, and barrier wetlands are eligible)
• activities focused on the protection of coastal sand dunes e.g. sand dune revegetation, ocean shorelines, or bay shorelines
• activities focused on agricultural dams
• construction of pondage for irrigation
• litter collection and community clean-up activities
• garden construction or maintenance
• artificial reefs, fish aggregation devices, or aquaculture infrastructure
• activities for which other Commonwealth, state, territory or local government bodies have primary responsibility
• any activities required by law
• state or territory government agency administration and employment
• overseas and interstate travel.

This list is not exhaustive and applies only to the expenditure of the grant funds.

See the guidelines for full details of expenditure eligible for URCP support.

All applications will be assessed against the objectives and following assessment criteria:

 1. Your project’s contribution to meeting program objectives (40%)

• how your project will restore or improve waterway habitat, improve water quality, water in the landscape, or waterway connectivity, to benefit native plants and animals, or aquatic areas of significance. You should demonstrate outcomes for a nationally listed threatened species or ecological community, or a wetland of international significance namely a Ramsar site, or priority species and places identified in the 2022-2032 Threatened Species Action Plan
• how your project will benefit the community and improve urban ‘blue’ and/or ‘green’ space
• the extent to which the project will contribute to the program outcomes, including the local and regional setting, the condition and stresses on the catchment, project site and waterway habitat, the significance of the project site to the endemic flora and/or fauna present (inc. threatened species), the recovery potential for the site, and the significance of actions to be undertaken
• how your project site and on-ground actions have been strategically prioritised e.g. through a formal assessment process, or alignment with strategic waterway planning.

2. The quality of your proposal, the project’s impact, and the impact of the project grant funding (35%)

• describing how your project is best practice in restoring or improving waterway habitat, or improving water quality, water in the landscape, or waterway connectivity, to benefit native plants and animals, or aquatic areas of significance
• attaching your project budget, including any additional investment that your project will leverage, such as cash or in-kind co-contributions (including volunteer hours) that will enhance the achievement of intended outcomes. For projects located on public land, include information on any contribution from the public land manager
• your project design

3. Your organisation’s capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (25%)

• the experience and track record of the organisation in managing waterway projects of a similar scale and complexity
• your organisation’s access to the resources required to successfully deliver the project
• your capacity and commitment to maintain your project site and interventions beyond the date of project completion/life of the grant i.e. ongoing management of the project site. For projects located on public land, the commitment of the responsible land manager to maintain the project site and interventions.

See the guidelines for full details of the assessment criteria.

Your application will be considered on its merits, based on:

• how well it meets the criteria
• how it compares to other applications
• whether it provides value with money.

When assessing the extent to which the application represents value with relevant money, assessors and decision maker will have regard to:

• the overall objectives of the funding opportunity
• the evidence provided to demonstrate how your project contributes to meeting those objectives
• the relative value of the funding sought
• extent to which the application matches identified objectives/priorities

Applicants must:

• Read and understand the guidelines.
• Ensure eligibility for the funding. Applicants that do not meet all the eligibility criteria will not be considered.
• Deliver the project as outlined in the application and agreed project plan.
• Provide complete information requirements.

You must provide the following documents with your application. The amount of detail and supporting evidence you provide in your application should be relative to the project size, complexity and grant amount requested:

• a site condition report (an example is available on business.gov.au). In this report you should identify aspects including the project site location, land tenure and ownership, landscape context e.g. connectivity to high quality remnants, condition of the riparian zone, waterbody habitat, significance to flora and/or fauna present (inc. threatened species), water and sediment quality, site use, community use, other related catchment works, and surface water ground water interaction
• a project plan (Up to 20 pages plus appendices). In this plan you should describe aspects including: the project scope/description, project outcomes (change that will be achieved), activity targets/outputs, schedule (milestones), monitoring, evaluation, reporting, and adaptive management processes, stakeholder engagement (including First Nations Australians), governance arrangements, and risk management
• a project budget, including cash and/or in-kind contributions using the template available on business.gov.au
• a letter of support from each financial contributor, confirming the amount of financial support committed to the project and the date(s) contribution(s) will be made
• a title search outlining the relevant landowners of the proposed project site
• a letter of support from the landowner or site owner
• a letter of support from relevant Traditional Owners or First Nations organisations with landowning/management rights or responsibilities (if required)
• a URL of the project location utilising the mapping tool and a copy of the project location polygon as per the mapping tool
• trust deed (if applicable)
• evidence of support from the board, CEO or equivalent (template provided on business.gov.au and GrantConnect), including confirmation that the applicant organisation is able to meet all costs (eligible and ineligible) not funded under the grant agreement.

You must attach supporting documentation to the application form in line with the instructions provided within the form. You should only attach requested documents. The total of all attachments cannot exceed 20MB.

The application must identify all other members of the proposed group and include a letter of support from each of the project partner organisations. Each letter of support should include:

• details of the project partner
• an overview of how the project partner will work with the lead organisation and any other project partners in the group to successfully complete the project
• an outline of the relevant experience and/or expertise the project partner will bring to the group
• the specific project site(s) the project partner will be responsible for, and the activities the project partner will deliver at the site(s)
• the roles/responsibilities the project partner will undertake, and the resources they will contribute (if any)
• details of a nominated management level contact officer.

You must have a formal arrangement in place with all parties prior to execution of the grant agreement.

See the guidelines for full details of information requirements.

Applications must be submitted through the business.gov.au portal.

Register your interest here with GrantHelper to explore your alignment with this program and how we can assist you to increase your chances of success.