Please note, additional eligibility requirements may be specified for individual grant streams. Applicants must meet minimum eligibility requirements below, plus any specified additional eligibility requirements, to be considered for a grant.
All applicants
All individuals, community groups and organisations must:
- Be located in the Maroondah municipality or, if located outside the Maroondah municipality, be able to demonstrate majority benefit to the Maroondah community.
- Have or be able to obtain Public Liability Insurance with minimum cover of $20 million. Note: this requirement does not apply to Quick Response Individual applicants.
- Have successfully acquitted previous Council grants received.
- Have no outstanding debts owed to Council or have entered into a payment plan.
- If a Council property tenant, have no active breaches against the Council tenancy agreement.
- Have no active breaches with Consumer Affairs Victoria, the Australian Not-for-Profit and Charities Commission, or the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, as applicable.
- Have no active liquor licensing breaches.
- Have not received financial assistance for the same or similar activity from other Council grants or budget sources in the same fiscal year running July to June.
- Submit a complete application within the advertised application period, including budget, attachments or other supporting information requested by Council.
- If successful, provide banking details in the applicant’s name (or auspice/authorised person if used).
Groups and organisations
In addition to eligibility requirements for all applicants, groups and organisations must:
- Be a legally constituted entity or be a registered pre-school or school.
- Be not-for-profit and managed by a volunteer management committee or board.
- Have an active Australian Business Number (ABN).
- Be financially solvent.
Artists and creative practitioners
In addition to eligibility requirements for all applicants, artists and creative practitioners must:
- Be an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident (with an appropriate visa).
- Aged 18 years or over.
- Be legally constituted as a sole trader, company limited by guarantee, or Pty Ltd company.
- Provide proof of identity and residence.
- Have an active Australian Business Number (ABN).
Individuals
In addition to eligibility requirements for all applicants, individuals must:
- Be an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident (with an appropriate visa)
- Aged 18 years or over (or have parent/legal guardian authorisation if aged under 18 years)
- Provide proof of identity and residence
Definitions
What is 'legally constituted'?
Legally constituted in the context of eligibility for these grants means an organisation registered under law. Examples include:
- Associations (registered under the Associations Incorporation Act 2012).
- Charities registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).
- Organisations with Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) or Public Benevolent Institution (PBI) status.
- Cooperatives.
- Companies limited by guarantee and/or limited by shares (non-distribution of profits or dividends).
- Trusts that are registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).
- Local Aboriginal Land Councils.
- Organisations established under an Act of Parliament.
What is an 'Auspice organisation'?
An auspiced application is where one organisation agrees to apply for and manage a grant on behalf of another organisation or individual who isn’t legally constituted. If the application is successful, the auspice organisation will receive the funds, manage the project, and sign off on grant acquittals.
If you need an auspice organisation, they must
What is a 'peak body'?
A peak body represents a specific profession, industry, or community, such as:
Ineligibility
Council will not consider applications from:
- Community groups or organisations that are not legally constituted or who are not auspiced
- TAFEs or universities
- Hospitals
- Statutory Authorities or other public entities under other levels of government
- Applicants that benefit from, promote or advertise gambling, including but not limited to electronic gaming machines, sports betting, and online gambling.
Council will not consider:
- Multiple applications to an individual grant stream from the same applicant in the same fiscal year July to June.
- Applications that exceed the limit of one (1) Quick Response Grant plus one (1) further application from any other individual grant stream available.
- Core operating, administration and staff costs.
- Project management or administration costs that are more than 10% of the total project cost (this does not include artist fees).
- New or improvement capital works projects to buildings or grounds.
- Building or grounds maintenance costs.
- New vehicles, vehicle accessories, vehicle signage, or ongoing vehicle maintenance costs.
- Activities related to worship, congregation, secular promotion, protest, activism, or campaigns.
- School activities that are curriculum-based or confined to the school property or school community.
- Non-recyclable or single-use/ promotional items or giveaways, such as event-specific or year-specific flags or banners, commemorative merchandise, and memorial plaques or signs. Council encourages the use of reusable, recyclable, or compostable alternatives, except where single-use items are essential and justified (e.g. for safety or accessibility reasons).
- Lease/hire or use of a venue with electronic gaming machines or other forms of gambling.
- Alcohol, tobacco, e-cigarettes, gambling products, or other items that cause community harm.
- Public art projects on Council-owned sites or on private property that is not publicly accessible.
- Fireworks, trophies, prizes or awards.
- Application preparation fees, paid or due, including professional grant writer fees.
- Funding requests above the maximum grant available.
- Funding requests arising from lobbying or canvassing support from Councillors or Council officers.
- Funding requests made outside of Council’s official application process.
- Funding requests that present unacceptable risk to Council by association.
- Retrospective funding (i.e. starting an activity before the grant has been approved).
- Late or incomplete applications.
Late or incomplete applications
Applicants are responsible for submitting a complete, accurate and true application prior to the closing date.
It’s important to have a fair grants process for all applicants. Council cannot accept late applications or receive additional information from applicants after the closing date.
Council offers application support before the closing date.
Please note, Council may allow late applications in circumstances outside the control of Council or applicants, such as a system outage on the closing date. If this happens, arrangements will be advised on Council’s website.