Grants, Competitions and Awards
Grants
These grants may support your school’s sustainability aims. When applying for a grant we suggest that you carefully check each grant’s eligibility criteria before starting your application. Also, please note that eligibility for some of these awards may be restricted to not-for-profit or other organisations partnering or supporting your school to deliver a project.
Funding Body |
Description |
Application Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Wildlife Society Youth Conservation Award |
Applicants must be between the ages of 13 and 18 years old. Australian Wildlife Society will provide an annual award of $1,000 to a young individual (or small group) contributing to Australian wildlife conservation. A trophy and certificate will accompany the award. |
Ongoing |
| Bendigo Bank – Community Enterprise Foundation | The Community Enterprise Foundation™ administers community grants and scholarship programs on behalf of a wide range of individuals and businesses. Most school grant applications will require the support of a community partner to meet the Foundation’s eligibility criteria. | Ongoing |
| Beyond Bank Community Partnerships | The bank works with not-for-profit and community organisations collaboratively, as partners, through its dedicated community development team. | Ongoing |
| Bunnings – In Our Community | Bunnings provides a wide range of support to a cross section of local community groups including schools and kindergartens. Bunnings’ preference is to support local community groups by providing hands-on assistance with their projects. Wherever possible, their teams take the opportunity to get out into the community and help with grassroots projects, like assisting with garden makeovers and providing DIY support. They also regularly donate products for community activities including raffles and fundraising events. | Ongoing |
| Capital Grants Funding – Australian Government | Non-government schools may be able to get Australian Government funding to improve school infrastructure through the Federal Government’s Capital Grants Program. | Ongoing |
| Damien Greer Lawyers Community Grant | The Damien Greer Lawyers Community Grant program recognises and celebrates organisations that strive to make a positive impact within their local community.. | Ongoing |
| IGA Community Chest | IGA Community Chest raises funds to support local communities, charities, and worthwhile causes. Because IGA stores are independently owned, each store will choose the local causes that they would like to support. Please find your local IGA and approach them directly. | Ongoing |
| Liveable Communities, Liveable Waterways Program |
Melbourne Water’s Liveable Communities, Liveable Waterways program is designed to respond to emerging challenges and foster new partnership opportunities on initiatives that create healthy people, healthy places and healthy environments. Melbourne Water are looking for projects and longer-term partnerships that provide value to Melbourne Water, its customers, partners and community by aligning with at least one of the following themes: 1). connected habitat and catchments, 2). integrated water management (IWM) enablers, 3). science, innovation and technology, and 4). liveable cities. |
Ongoing |
| Parliament & Civics Education Rebate (PACER) | The PACER program provides travel rebates for students across Australia to visit national institutions as part of their civic and citizenship education. | Ongoing |
| Purves Environmental Fund | Purves Environmental Fund supports proposals that focus on species loss from habitat destruction, landscape and water management, and climate change and solutions. Submissions must meet the fund’s core objectives, charitable purposes, and current focus areas. | Ongoing |
| Real School Grants Program | This grant is offered annually to one school and/or school group/committee. The value of this grant is up to AUD $5,000 (total amount). This amount is paid as a one off payment to the winning school/school group. | Applications for the 2023 grant are now open until October 31st, 2023 |
| Small Environment Grant Scheme – Wettenhall Environment Trust | The Wettenhall Environment Trust aims to support grassroots organisations, individuals, and academics who are working with on-ground community groups targeting Australian flora and fauna conservation or threatened mammal conservation in particular. They do not fund school projects, but may support multi-organisation collaborative work. | Ongoing |
| Small Grants Program – Victoria Fisheries Authority |
The objective of the Small Grants Program is to provide funding for small recreational fishing projects which benefit public recreational fishing in Victoria. Funding is available for education projects that promote responsible and sustainable recreational fishing practice |
Ongoing |
| Teaching Initiatives Program – Bank First Community Fund |
Bank First has been supporting innovative teaching ideas and programs at the grassroots of education with its Teaching Initiatives Program since 1993. The funding program regards teaching initiatives as new ideas, programs and methods of teaching that support enhanced student learning outcomes. Ideas must fall under one of the following categories: General Curriculum, Diversity, Sustainability or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. |
Ongoing |
| The Andrews Foundation |
The Trust accepts applications from kindergartens and schools (primary and secondary) for projects of building or equipment and innovative programs that will assist students. The Trust gives priority to projects which are designed to enhance the educational and social needs of young people; designed to develop, test and implement creative solutions to persistent, difficult social and environmental needs and problems. The Trust supports selective projects for assisting in dealing with environmental needs and problems. These needs include rehabilitation of land and monitoring of land at risk. |
Ongoing |
| The Awesome Foundation |
Each fully autonomous chapter of the Foundation supports awesome projects through micro-grants, usually given out monthly. The Funders love innovative, exciting and unusual ideas that other foundations won’t support. |
Ongoing – Awarded monthly |
| The Catalyst Fund – Roddenberry Foundation | The Catalyst Fund makes grants between $2,500- $15,000 to anyone, anywhere in the world who has an idea or early-stage project that has a high potential for large-scale impact and sustainable change. The funders are looking for a well-thought-out plan with clear goals, specific metrics, and measurable impact. | Ongoing |
| The Reece Foundation | The Reece Foundation works with volunteer tradies and its project partners to fund and initiate projects locally and abroad to provide clean water and sanitation where it is needed to create long-lasting change. | Ongoing – Awarded quarterly |
| The Ross Trust | The Ross Trust Smart Grant provides funding for strategies which focus heavily on educational equity and biodiversity conservation and working in ways which are most likely to achieve positive differences in both areas. The Trust’s Smart Grants program offers funding of up to $40,000 per year for up to three years. | On hold until June 2023 |
| Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant | The grants, of up to $1,000 each, inspire children from across the country to get hands-on with the natural environment through projects that focus on sustainable food production, improving waste management practices and recycling, enhancing native habitats and deepening connections to First Nations perspectives. | Applications for the 2023 grant close March 17, 2023. |
Awards
Applying for awards for your sustainability work is a great way to build your allies and partners, celebrate your successes and drive student engagement and ownership of projects at your school.
| Award Body | Description | Entry Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Wildlife Society Youth Conservation Award | The Australian Wildlife Society aim to inspire young people to have a stake in environmental conservation by rewarding and recognising their efforts. Australian Wildlife Society will provide an annual award of $1,000 to a young individual (or small group) contributing to Australian wildlife conservation. | Now open |
| Eureka Prize – Sleek Geeks Science Prize | Sponsored by the University of Sydney, the Sleek Geeks Science Eureka Prize encourages students to communicate a scientific concept in a way that is accessible and entertaining to the public while painlessly increasing their science knowledge or, as prize patrons Dr Karl and Adam Spencer like to say, “Learn something without even noticing”. It is intended to support budding young scientists across the nation, who will be our future leaders in research, discovery and communication. | Now open. Closes Fri, 14th April, 2023 |
| ResourceSmart Schools Awards 2023 | The 2023 ResourceSmart Schools Awards acknowledge and honour ResourceSmart Schools that are Achieving Great Things – the theme for this year’s event. The Awards celebrate our young people and schools leading the way on sustainability, creating real impact for Victorian communities beyond the school gate. There are eight categories, including the ResourceSmart School of the Year. | Now open, closes Mon 20th March, 2023. |
| Victorian Schools Garden Program (VSGP) Awards | The VSGP Awards recognise and celebrate the gardening achievements of students and their school communities in existing and newly established gardens. You don’t have to be big or beautiful to enter. The awards are all about recognising schools that use their outdoor spaces to promote the engagement of students in practical activities which foster learning, well-being and community pride. |
Launches Mon 1st March, closes Fri 8th Sept, 2023 |
Competitions
Stay tuned for information on competitions your school or students may want to enter.