Supporting Spontaneous Volunteers Program - FY2023-24 Open Competitive Grant Round

To be eligible for funding, the Applicant must meet each of the following requirements:

• Be an Eligible Applicant Type
  • NSW Local Councils 
  • Not-for-Profit Entity Registered with Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC)
  • Not-for-Profit Entity Registered with Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC)
  • Social Enterprise with certification through Social Traders
  • Auspiced Unincorporated Entity must be auspiced by one of the above Eligible Applicant Types (refer to “Auspiced Unincorporated Entities” additional criteria information in the Guidelines).
• Have an Australian Business Number (ABN).
• Be registered for GST.
• Must not be in administration or have debts owing to NSW Government (excluding Local Government).
• Must provide minimum of one (1) Letter of Support and/or Endorsement (max. 2): Either Local Emergency Management Committee, Local Council, NSW RFS or NSW SES addressing Applicant’s role in local community relevant to mobilising and managing informal volunteers.
• Submit an Eligible Project as per the Guidelines.

Additionally the Guidelines stipulate:

• Limit on number of Applications per Applicant: No Limit
• Limit on number of Awarded Grants: 1

The target group for projects funded under the Program are Informal Volunteers who may operate as individual spontaneous volunteers or as part of an emergent group of people who come together to respond to a particular challenge.

Projects must address a minimum of two (2) Key Activity Types:

• Equipment
• Training & Knowledge
• Planning
• Community Engagement

The Program has been designed in this way to support the relevant aspects of Informal Volunteering in an Applicant’s community.

For detailed information on project eligibility please refer to the Eligible Projects Sub-Criteria in the Guidelines.

Projects must commence no later than 30 days of execution of the funding agreement (i.e. staff recruitment activity not required to be able to commence immediately) and be completed by 31 January 2026.

The project should be started by 1 February 2025 and the project must be completed by 31 January 2026.

The Program’s objective is to support communities and volunteers to be better prepared, supported, coordinated and mobilised to respond to disaster events.

The Program aims to achieve this by funding locally led initiatives in NSW communities that will develop Informal Volunteers’ capacity, capability, and coordination in times of emergencies.

The target End of Program Outcomes include:

• Informal volunteers are equipped to respond and can effectively use equipment and resources.
• Informal volunteers have the capability, knowledge and confidence to support community response efforts.
• Communities and informal volunteers have plans that can be effectively enacted.
• Informal volunteers understand their role and contribution in an emergency response.

Eligible costs are costs directly associated with the delivery of the project and can be funded through this program.

Eligible Project Costs can include:

• A funding request that does not exceed the maximum grant amount and is not below the minimum grant amount.
• Costs for the purchase of equipment comply with the Equipment Lists in Appendix B.
• Costs for the provision of training including stipends for participants to attend (where reasonable and quantified in the Application), facilities hire, planning and facilitation, design and publication of materials, community/ public messaging such as radio, print media and billboard space.
• Costs for other initiatives supporting volunteer and community engagement, planning and facilitation activities. This may include consultant engagements where the outputs are direct project costs.
• Project management / grant administration including technical and professional staff involved in delivery of the proposed project (cannot exceed a maximum of 10% of total requested funding).Agreed program signage if applicable.
• Contingency funds (cannot exceed a maximum of 5% of total requested funding).

You are ineligible to apply if you do not meet the above requirements.

Unfortunately, for probity reasons, the Authority is unable to provide eligibility rulings on individual Projects. Proponents can submit a written question on eligibility matters to: ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au.

The Authority can advise if a Project appears to meet eligibility requirements, but Proponents need to form their own view on whether the Project is eligible in order to submit the Application.

Final determination on eligibility will be made by the Executive Panel under the assessment process.

Proponents are expected to carefully review the eligibility and assessment criteria in these Guidelines.

To be deemed an Eligible Application, the budget must not include:

• Costs not aligned with the objectives of the Program and the Eligible Key Activity Types.
• Ongoing/recurrent funding that is required beyond the stated timeframe of the activities outlined in the Application.
• Funding for any ongoing or BAU staff or operational costs, including office equipment, communications legal and accounting fees and bank charges, except:
  • a) Costs for project management / grants administration to a maximum of 10% of grant funding.
  • b) Where an ongoing staff member is involved in the project and their substantive role is backfilled by a temporary employee that is funded through the grant.
• Costs relating to any insurance or liability. This includes the insurance or depreciation of equipment or storage, maintenance or replenishment costs associated with pre-existing equipment.
• Repair or replacement of existing infrastructure where there is no demonstrated benefit.
• Vehicle and office equipment leasing, unless directly related to the delivery of the Project.
• Projects that have already received full funding, or a commitment of full funding, including projects that have received funding from another source for the same purpose of the application (i.e. ‘double-dipping’).
• Retrospective costs, including costs incurred by the applicant and/or third parties, for work already undertaken, part completed or that will commence prior to a funding decision being made.
• Costs incurred in the preparation of an application, business case development or feasibility studies.
• Activities conducted outside of Australia.
• Overseas or interstate travel.
• Purchase of land or existing infrastructure, including costs relating to the acquisition or sub-division of land.
• Activities with the potential to adversely impact on a matter of national environmental significance under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth)Statutory fees and charges, and any costs associated with obtaining regulatory and/or development approvals.
• The payment of existing debts or budget deficits.
• Making donations, gifts or sponsorships.

This list is not exhaustive and other costs may be ineligible where the Authority determines the expenditure does not directly support the achievement of the planned outcomes of the project, or they are contrary to the objectives of the Program. If you are successful in receiving a grant, you must attest in the Funding Agreement that there are adequate funds to meet the costs of any ineligible expenditure associated with the project where applicable.

Application submissions must be compliant with the following:

• Must not provide a private benefit for the Applicant organisation, for example private use of equipment.
• Must not involve duplication of grant funding from another NSW or Australian Government grant program for the same project.
• Does not constitute duplication of programs, projects or initiatives already being delivered in the community, such as SES CAT and RFS Farm Fire Units.
• Must not be core business of the organisation and its day to day activities, including supplementing, increasing or continuing ongoing service delivery.
• Must not seek retrospective funding to cover any projects already in progress or completed.
• Responses to Merit Assessment Questions must be clear and complete.
• Must be submitted by the closing date and time unless approval is granted for a Late Application (refer Section 3.1 of the Guidelines).

Example Activities that could form part of Eligible Projects under the Key Activity Types include but are not limited to:

• Equipment purchasing to support Informal Volunteer training and participation, including but not limited to two-way communication radios, First Aid kits, gloves, etc.
• First aid / Psychological First Aid Training- Hazard awareness training by Emergency Service Organisations to utilise / incorporate volunteers in formalised emergency response.
• Community-led planning, coordination activities resulting key policy and procedural documentation.
• Development of framework for local Informal Volunteer coordination and registration.
• Initiatives to build general community awareness of how to respond in an emergency and to engage community groups in planning.
• Providing access to information and resources on how to respond in emergency situations.

Refer to the Guidelines for more information.

An Applicant’s co-contributions towards a Project are not mandatory but will be considered in the merit assessment.

Co-contributions from other Commonwealth or State grant funding programs must not constitute duplication of grant funding for the same Project. If the Applicant includes cash co-contributions from other Commonwealth or State grant funding programs, the proponent must certify on the submission that the Guidelines for the other grant funding source allow it to be used as a co-contribution for another grant program and that the project scope is different to what has previously received funding.

Co-contribution costs can include, but are not limited to:

• a direct (cash) funding contribution provided at the time of project commencement;
• any costs associated with the Applicant’s delivery of the project, for example construction or project delivery; and
• other in-kind costs, such as wages directly attributable to the delivery of the project, and/or supplies, materials, and specific equipment required to execute the project.
• as identified in the Eligible Project Sub-Criteria, Applicants are required to demonstrate that the project must be for new and unfunded initiatives. As such, where a cash co-contribution is being provided which is from Commonwealth or other State funding, Applicants are required to certify that the project scope is different to what has previously received funding.