Updates

Grants: Queensland Government’s Communities Innovation Fund

Applications are now open for the Queensland Government’s $4 million Communities Innovation Fund to support community-led initiatives to reduce social isolation and loneliness in Queensland.

The Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy are looking for initiatives that support the Queenslanders who are more likely to experience social isolation and loneliness — older people, young people, First Nations peoples, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, newly arrived migrants and refugees, people with disability, unpaid carers, people who identify as LGBTIQ+, people experiencing or who have experienced domestic and family violence, single parents, people experiencing financial disadvantage due to unemployment and underemployment, people with poorer health and mental health, and people who have been incarcerated.

Loneliness and social isolation affect different people in different ways and it’s critical there are local services and supports available with capacity to respond to different situations.

There are two grant types available:

Small grants – round one

For short-term initiatives up to $50,000 to support projects like events, courses, innovative ways of creating connection and professional development opportunities. Small grants rounds will open annually. The total value of funding available for small initiatives is $800,000 over the next four years ($200,000 per year).

Large grants

For longer-term initiatives. Successful recipients will receive up to $200,000 per year, over multiple years. This will support programs, projects, services or supports that demonstrate new ideas, are place-based and person-centred to address social isolation, and create social connections for the long term. The large grants round will only be offered once, in 2023.

Applications close at 2:00pm on Monday, 6 March 2023.

Applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations or corporations will be highly regarded, as well as proposals for services that will be delivered in regional and remote Queensland.

For more information on the Communities Innovation Fund, visit www.qld.gov.au/communities-innovation-fund.