Regional Youth Investment Program - Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a limit on the number of applications per applicant?

There is no limit on the number of applications per applicant. Each application will need to meet the eligibility criteria in order to progress to assessment against the assessment criteria.

The eligibility and the assessment criteria are set out in the published program guidelines (PDF 1.12MB).

Are schools eligible for funding?

Government schools are not “eligible applicants” as set out at page 10 of the published program guidelines (PDF 1.12MB).

P & C committees that meet the “eligible applicants” criteria set out at page 10 of the published program guidelines may apply.

Non-government schools that meet the “eligible applicants” criteria set out at page 10 of the published program guidelines may apply.

Organisations that meet the “eligible applicants” criteria set out at page 10 of the published program guidelines (such as not for profits and community organisations registered with the ACNC) may apply to run projects in schools.

Projects in schools must meet the “eligible projects” criteria set out at pages 11 – 13 of the published program guidelines provided that those projects are not for essential or core government services that should be funded from another source such as the NSW Department of Education.

View criteria for eligible applicants.

There is some ambiguity in the guidelines regarding infrastructure. Can the grant fund NEW infrastructure or only refurbish current infrastructure?

Applications may be for, new and current infrastructure and must meet all eligibility criteria (refer “eligible applicants” criteria set out at page 10 of the published program guidelines, and “eligible projects” criteria set out at pages 11 – 13 of the published program guidelines (PDF 1.12MB)) and be crucial to the delivery of a youth program.

Refer also to “Ineligible project costs” at page 15 of the published program guidelines, noting that “ineligible project costs” include: “purchase of land or buildings” and “funding for ongoing staff or operational costs beyond the 2-year period”.

Can this funding be used alongside other grants (with evidence of their being secured) for projects >$3m, e.g. for the construction of a PCYC?

Projects that have already received funding are ineligible: refer to “Ineligible Projects” at page 13 of the published program guidelines (PDF 1.12MB).

Can a new phase of work of a previously funded project, be a new cohort? Eg. If a career ready school program, it’ll be new students entering the program. Is this, ok?

Page 13 of the published Program Guidelines (PDF 1.12MB), under “Ineligible Projects” describes the types of projects that are not eligible for funding, and includes the following:

“Projects are not eligible for funding if they are:

seeking retrospective funding to cover projects that are already complete
for the delivery of essential or core government services that should be funded from another source such as local government, the NSW Government, or the Commonwealth Government
the recipient of any grant funding from another NSW Government grant program for the same project.”

Can you please confirm that use of Council staff (wages and on-costs for design and construction) on an infrastructure project is eligible expenditure?

Page 13 of the published Program Guidelines (PDF 1.12MB), under ‘Ineligible Projects” provides that projects are not eligible for funding if they are “Seeking funding for existing staff”.

Any design and construction costs provided by external suppliers and contractors may be “Eligible project costs” if they meet the requirements set out at pages 13 and 14 of the published Program Guidelines, and do not relate to matters set out under either “ineligible projects” at page 13 of the guidelines or “ineligible project costs” at page 15 of the guidelines.

How do we prove that an ineligible item is essential to program delivery and therefore can be included in our budget?

Page 15 of the published Program Guidelines (PDF 1.12MB), under “ineligible project costs” includes the following: “Ineligible project costs include:

costs related to buying or upgrading non- fixed equipment or supplies, unless considered essential to program delivery or accessibility equipment and are incidental costs to the overall project budget
purchase of laptops, mobile phones and other capital items unless considered essential to program delivery and are incidental costs to the overall project budget
costs relating to the purchase of vehicles, buses, boats, trailers, motorhomes, or other modes of transportation unless considered essential to program delivery and are incidental costs to the overall project budget”.

Eligible applications containing any ineligible project costs as described above must meet both two components set out above, those components being:

that such costs are “considered essential to program delivery”; and
that such costs “are incidental costs to the overall project budget”.

Can the funding be used to establish a social enterprise?

A social enterprise may be established, provided that:

the applicant is an eligible applicant (refer page 10 of the published Program Guidelines (PDF 1.12MB))
the project is an eligible project (refer page 11 of the published Program Guidelines)
the project is not an ineligible project (refer page 13 of the published Program Guidelines)
the eligible project is in an eligible project location (refer page 11 of the published Program Guidelines) and subject to the outcomes of the assessment process.

Do you have a cost/benefit guideline - $ amount vs number of beneficiaries?

No. Eligible applications will be assessed against the three assessment criteria (Desirability, Feasibility, and Impact); details of each are set out at pages 17-18 of the published Program Guidelines (PDF 1.12MB).

If we already receive part funding from the Federal Government, are we still eligible for this funding?

Page 13 of the published Program Guidelines (PDF 1.12MB), under “Ineligible Projects” describes the types of projects that are not eligible for funding and includes the following:

“Projects are not eligible for funding if they are:

the recipient of any grant funding from another NSW Government grant program for the same project”.

The above ineligibility also applies if a project is the recipient of any grant funding from the Commonwealth Government.

Applicants are informed that the 11th dot-point on page 13 of the published Program Guidelines is amended to read as follows:

“the recipient of any grant funding from another NSW Government grant program for the same project or any grant funding from the Commonwealth Government."

One of the priority groups are “Young people living in remote NSW” – What is the definition of remote NSW?

Remoteness is defined by the Modified Monash Model and includes areas in NSW located 10km or more from a regional hub with a population of 5,000 or less.