Almost 780 Australian volunteer-involving organisations will now be able to take the next steps to support the efforts of Australia’s volunteers, encourage more Australians to give their time and re-engage volunteers as the economy re-opens.
The Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services the Hon, Luke Howarth MP and volunteering peak bodies across Australia have today announced the recipients of the 2020 Supplementary Volunteer Grants today, which provided over $2.7 million to local volunteer-involving organisations.
“While the work of volunteers may be unpaid, it is not unrecognised and we understand that volunteer organisations will continue to have an enormous challenge in the year ahead,” Assistant Minister Howarth said.
“This extra support could not come at a better time and will help more organisations re-connect with their volunteers as restrictions ease and the economy strengthens.”
The 2020 Supplementary Volunteer Grants are funded by the Australian Government. This funding is in addition to the $9.2 million distributed nationally to 2,699 community organisations this year as part of the 2019-20 Volunteer Grants round.
Grants of up to $5,000 each, will help organisations re-engage volunteers through a variety of approaches, including purchasing equipment items, transports costs of volunteers with disability, training, background screening checks and other re-engagement activities.
Volunteer involving organisations applying for the grants needed to demonstrate how their proposal would support and benefit the organisation’s volunteers and the work they do for the organisation and broader community.
Volunteering Australia CEO Mark Pearce noted the overwhelming volume of applications the peak body network received. Community organisations across Australia submitted over 5,400 application requests totalling over $20.8 million. The community organisations that applied for funding were overwhelmingly volunteer run. On average, 98% of the workforce of organisations who applied are volunteers.
“Community organisations are in desperate need of funds to support and enable their volunteering programs to continue delivering the important work they do across Australia, often to help those in need in our communities.”
The next Volunteer Grants round is expected to open mid-2021. Subscribe to the Community Grants Hub for alerts on this and other grant opportunities.
For more information on the grants, click the relevant link to your state or territory below
Insights into the 2020 Supplementary Volunteer Grants in Australia
- Out of 5,461 applications received, 779 will receive funding.
- Over $20.8 million in funding was applied for with a total budget of $3 million available.
- 98 per cent of the teams behind the organisations who applied are volunteers, equating to 1.4 million volunteers.
- Most organisations who applied are from regional, rural or remote parts of Australia.
- Over half of all organisations who are receiving a grant, provide community services support. The next most popular services, which recipient organisations provide, include youth, sport, recreation and education.
- While small equipment remains the most popular type of funding applied for, the next most popular items were adapting practices and re-engagement activities (because of the impact of COVID-19), followed by training.
