Business Grants

If you’re a small business or non-profit organisation impacted by recent severe weather events, you may be eligible for a grant to help with the costs of clean-up, repairs and reopening.

A grant of up to $25,000 is available to eligible small businesses and non-profit organisations in impacted Local Government Areas (LGAs) that suffered direct damage as a result of:

• NSW East Coast Severe Weather from 18 May 2025 (AGRN 1212), or
• Tropical Cyclone Alfred Severe Weather from 3 March 2025 (AGRN 1198).

To be eligible, your business or non-profit organisation must:

• have been operating in an impacted LGA listed under AGRN 1212 or AGRN 1198
• have suffered direct damage as a result of NSW East Coast Severe Weather from 18 May 2025, or Tropical Cyclone Alfred Severe Weather from 3 March 2025
• have an active Australian Business Number (ABN) and have held that ABN at the time of the disaster
• intend to re-establish operations within the same area
• not be fully insured and claiming all recovery costs through insurance.

AGRN 1212 - Local Government Areas
Armidale, Bellingen, Central Coast, Cessnock, Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Dungog, Kempsey, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, MidCoast, Muswellbrook, Nambucca, Newcastle, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Port Stephens, Singleton, Upper Hunter, Walcha

AGRN 1198 - Local Government Areas
Armidale, Ballina Shire, Bellingen Shire, Byron Shire, Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Dungog Shire, Glen Innes - Severn,  
Kempsey Shire, Kyogle, Lismore, Lord Howe Island, MidCoast, Nambucca Valley, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Richmond Valley, Tenterfield, Tweed Shire, Walcha

MVP Ventures is a competitive grant that helps businesses bring innovative products to market. It also attracts and keeps commercialisation activities in NSW.

Two funding streams are available for the 2025-2026 program and have been designed to reduce financial barriers and foster greater participation from under-represented groups.

To be eligible to apply, your business must:

• have an active Australian Business Number (ABN)
• be headquartered in NSW
• have an account with an Australian authorised deposit-taking institution
• be a company incorporated in Australia under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) or an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and /or Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth)
• hold intellectual property (IP) or rights to commercialise
• have an aggregated turnover of $400,000 or less in each of the three financial years prior to the lodgement of your application, and
• have 10 or fewer Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employees including founders.

In addition, you must satisfy the eligibility requirements of the funding stream you are applying for.

Stream 1

The grant amount for eligible businesses will be up to 50 percent of the Total Eligible Project Expenditure (grant percentage), with a:

• minimum grant of $20,000
• maximum grant of $50,000
• minimum co-contribution of 50%.

Stream 2

If your business is:

• Majority Women-owned and managed, or
• Regionally Headquartered and operated, or
• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander majority-owned and managed

A grant amount of up to 75% of the Total Eligible Project Expenditure (grant percentage) is available, with a:

• minimum grant of $20,000
• maximum grant of $75,000
• minimum co-contribution of 25%.

This Fund provides grants from $10,000 to $50,000 to build sustainable business practices and support economic and capacity-building opportunities. The opportunity is open to First Nations individuals and micro-organisations working in any artform and creative business.

Grants can be used to support, professional and workforce development, governance training, capacity building, temporary staffing, marketing, seed funding, building digital capabilities and strategic planning.

This fund should improve business skill, capacity and financial stability to increase opportunity for growth and elevate capabilities.

The First Nations Creative Business Fund is for projects beginning after Tuesday 12 February 2025. Funded activities must last no longer than 12 months from the proposed start date.

This new initiative is part of Creative Australia’s First Nations First industry development programs that outline our commitment to First Nations arts and culture. Creative Australia undertook extensive consultation to seek feedback on priorities and needs of the sector in response to the Australian Government’s shared vision for Australia, Pillar 1, First Nations First – Revive: a place for every story and a story for every place.

The Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship program supports investment in gender equity initiatives that aim for lasting systemic change by eliminating barriers for women’s participation in STEM education and careers, and entrepreneurship.

The program objectives are to:

• increase awareness and participation of girls and women in STEM education and careers
• increase awareness and participation of girls and women in other parts of the innovation ecosystem including innovative businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurial activities and careers
• increase the number of women in senior leadership and decision making positions in government, research organisations, industry and businesses.

The grant opportunity provides funding to deliver co-designed projects that:

• reduce and/or mitigate systemic and cultural barriers to participation in STEM education, careers, innovation and entrepreneurship by girls and women
• reduce the multiplier effect of intersectional barriers to participation, development and leadership of girls and women in STEM education, careers, innovation and entrepreneurship
• address inequality or discrimination against girls and women in STEM education, careers, innovation and/or entrepreneurship, by either:
  • increasing awareness and understanding of the barriers to participation of girls and women in STEM education, careers, innovation and/or entrepreneurship
  • increasing participation, development and leadership of girls and women in STEM education, careers, innovation and entrepreneurship, including senior leadership and decision-making positions in government, research organisations, industry and businesses
  • broadening and strengthening networks and support for girls and women in STEM education, careers, innovation and entrepreneurship.

You can apply if you:

• have an Australian business number (ABN)
• are one of the following entities:
  • an entity, incorporated in Australia
  • a publicly funded research organisation (PFRO) or publicly funded research agency (PFRA) as defined in section 14 of the grant opportunity guidelines
  • a government or non-government vocational education and training (VET) provider as defined in section 14 of the grant opportunity guidelines, or technical and further education (TAFE) institution
  • an incorporated not for profit organisation.
• meet the additional eligibility requirements specified in the grant opportunity guidelines (section 4.2).

The Elsa Dixon Aboriginal Employment Grant (EDAEG) adopts a number of strategies to develop and support Aboriginal people through the creation of training and employment opportunities. Promoting diversity, innovation and service responsiveness in the NSW workforce, the Elsa Dixon Aboriginal Employment Grant subsidises the salary, development and support costs of Aboriginal employees in public service agencies, local government authorities and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations.

To be eligible, organisations must be a:

• NSW Public Service Agency;
• NSW Local Government Authority (NSW LGA) operating under the Local Government Act 1993; or
• NSW Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO) who meet the eligibility requirements set out under Eligibility for ACCOs in the EDAEG Guidelines.

The Graphite Research and Development (R&D) Grant provides Australian small to medium enterprises (SMEs) with funding and access to CSIRO experts on collaborative R&D projects.

These projects will focus on developing innovative technologies and processes essential for natural graphite production, particularly for battery applications.

This initiative will support development of a sustainable graphite industry in Australia, which is essential to meeting the growing global demand for battery anode materials. Australia is positioned to become a key supplier to the USA and other global markets by capitalising on its natural graphite deposits. This program supports R&D in areas like alternative feedstocks, efficient recycling methods, and purification techniques, contributing to a cleaner, more sustainable graphite production process.

Eligible SMEs can combine this grant with the CSIRO Kick-Start Program to unlock up to an additional $50,000 to conduct a collaborative research project with CSIRO.

To be eligible for this grant opportunity, you must:

• Be incorporated in Australia and have an Australian Business Number (ABN) and Australian Company Number (ACN)
• Be registered for GST
• Employ fewer than 200 people

Heat Pump Feasibility Grant helps eligible NSW businesses to assess whether a heat pump is a feasible option for their site. You can apply for up to $30,000 to cover 75% of the project costs.

To drive the uptake of heat pumps, the Grant aims to: 

• enable NSW businesses to make informed decisions on heat pump implementation
• increase business productivity with high-efficiency heating, reduced exposure to rising fuel costs and lowered emissions
• support the growth of industry capability
• accelerate the uptake of the NSW Energy Security Safeguard.

To be eligible for this Grant, you must meet all of the following criteria:  

• have a current Australian Business Number (ABN) and be registered for goods and services tax (GST).
• deliver your heat pump project at a NSW business site address.
• use between 5,000 and 100,000 gigajoules (GJ) of gas (liquified natural gas, liquified petroleum gas, natural gas) per year at your business site, excluding fuel for transport. 
• have identified a specialist consultant(s) to complete the Grant milestones.

Established under the NSW Screen and Digital Games Strategy 2025-2027, Screen NSW, through this program, will wholly or partly reimburse, up to $5,000, a screen and digital games producers’ cost to option original intellectual property (IP) from NSW-based creators.

The primary aim of the program is to encourage screen content for audiences that has originated in IP created by people who are included in the Screen NSW Priority Areas: First Nations people, people living in Western Sydney and regional NSW, people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) backgrounds, people living with a disability, and LGBTQIA+ people.

The objectives of the program are to:

• Improve sustainability of the NSW screen and digital games industries
• Improve sustainability of related NSW-based creative sectors, particularly literary fiction, non-fiction and short-form web-based and podcast content creation
• Promote collaboration between the NSW screen and digital games industries and NSW-based practitioners from other creative industries
• Provide opportunity for early and mid-career creatives from Screen NSW Priority Areas to enhance their careers by having their work reach a wider audience through screen adaptation
• Increase visibility within screen and digital games content of people from under-represented groups as set out in the Screen NSW Diversity Commitment
• Increase the level of participation of practitioners from under-represented groups as set out in the Screen NSW Diversity Commitment
• Support connections that will shape the future of the NSW creative community and strengthen its position in the global market. 

The Journalism Assistance Fund Program, running over 3 years from 2025-26, was announced as part of the News Media Assistance Program (News MAP). News MAP aims to support public interest journalism and media diversity in Australia - recognising these are critical to a healthy democracy, social cohesion and informed citizens.

Organisations producing core news content will be eligible for funding. The funding will provide a proportion of the wages for journalists producing core news content that is distributed digitally. 

The program aims to:

• support the sustainability of Australian news publishers in the face of significant disruption to the media sector
• support the creation of digitally distributed news content,
• encourage continued employment of journalists who primarily produce news that is in the Australian public interest
• build and maintain social cohesion in Australia

You can apply if you:

• have an Australian business number (ABN)
• are registered for the Goods and Services Tax (GST)
• have an account with an Australian financial institution
• are an entity that produces and publishes core news content that is distributed digitally

and be one of the following entities:

• an entity, incorporated in Australia
• a company 
• an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
• an incorporated association
• a co-operative
• a partnership
• an incorporated not for profit organisation or registered charity
• a sole trader. 

The Strategic Opportunities Program supports innovative projects designed to strengthen the NSW screen and digital games industries.

The objectives of the program are to fund projects that:

• Build capacity within the NSW screen and digital games industries
• Support the growth and capability of NSW screen and digital games practitioners, organisations and businesses
• Are aligned with one or more strategic priorities in the NSW Screen & Digital Games Strategy (2025-2027):
  • Priority 1 – Creating Stories
  • Priority 2 – Building Sustainable Growth
  • Priority 3 – Improving Capacity and Capability
  • Priority 4 – Developing Audiences to Increase Demand
• Increase industry participation for audiences and/or screen and digital games practitioners from one or more NSW Government key priority areas:
  • Regional NSW
  • Western Sydney
  • First Nations people
  • People from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
  • People living with disability
  • LGBTQIA+ people.

To be eligible for funding under the Strategic Opportunities Program, applicants must:

• Discuss their proposed project with Screen NSW staff before submitting an application
• Be an Australian organisation, including:
• Companies and not-for-profit incorporated bodies
• Co-operatives, trusts or local government authorities
• A consortium or a group of organisations working collaboratively*
• Have an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• Be legally constituted and able to provide proof of legal status
• Adhere to general eligibility requirements under the Screen NSW Terms of Trade.

*In the case of a consortium or group of organisations working collaboratively, one eligible organisation must be nominated as the lead organisation. If successful, the funding grant agreement will be between Screen NSW and the lead organisation.

Eligible NSW small businesses who are embedded network (on-supply) customers can apply for a National Energy Bill Relief payment of up to $150 in the 2025-26 financial year via this portal.  

Eligible small businesses who are retail customers will receive their Bill Relief payment automatically via their energy bills.

Your small business may be eligible if all the following apply: 

• has not already received the National Energy Bill Relief payment for the small business's energy account in the 2025-2026 financial year
• is in an embedded electricity network in NSW
• has an electricity account in the name of the business with at least 90 days of metered electricity usage
• uses less than 100 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity per year across all sites in NSW
• has an active ABN.

If you operate your small business from your home or your small business is on a residential electricity plan, you are not eligible. Other exclusions may apply, for example post offices, government owned agencies, gas and water retailers, and telecommunications companies are also not eligible. Please read the Terms and Conditions for further information on eligibility.

The Regional Filming Fund offsets costs associated with shooting in regional areas of NSW.

The objectives of the program are to:

• Increase economic activity in regional NSW, by encouraging NSW screen productions to film outside of metropolitan areas
• Enable regional NSW to benefit from the growth of film and television production in the State.

Applicants must fulfil the following eligibility criteria:

• The production must film on location in Regional NSW for a minimum of five shooting days in a single Local Government Area (LGA).
• At least one of the Key Creatives must be NSW-based
• The production company must be registered in NSW and have its principal place of business in NSW unless the production has an eligible NSW Spend of at least $5 million
• The production must film on location in Regional NSW for a minimum of five shooting days
• At least 50% of the total budget must be expended in NSW
• Productions must be fully financed at the time of application, with the exception of contributions being sought from Screen NSW and other state, federal or international agencies (Note: we will only consider an application where those agencies have confirmed their contribution or if the application has been submitted to a funding round running concurrently with the Screen NSW round.)
• Productions that have been shortlisted for Screen Australia’s Documentary Production Producer Program or Multi-Platform Drama Fund may apply
• Feature films must have distribution in place
• Television drama, narrative comedy and factual/documentary programs must have a financial commitment from a broadcaster, subscription service or distributor.

Types of projects funded under this grant:

• Feature films
• Adult and children’s television drama and narrative comedy including series, miniseries, web series and telemovies
• Content-rich factual and documentary television or web programs and series
• Animation series
• Creative interactive screen entertainment.

Applications to the Regional Filming Fund that are declined cannot be resubmitted unless there is a significant change to the proposal. 

The purpose of this grant is to provide Australian Government funding to support a wage increase for all eligible ECEC workers from December 2024.

Eligible ECEC workers include:

• workers covered by the Children’s Services Award 2010 and working in a Child Care Subsidy (CCS) approved Centre-Based Day Care (CBDC) or Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) service;
• workers covered by the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020 and working in a CCS approved CBDC or OSHC service; and
• workers who are undertaking duties covered by the Children’s Services Award 2010 or Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020 and working in a CCS approved CBDC or OSHC service but are not covered by these awards (including workers covered by a state industrial instrument, or working in a setting covered by a different award), and these duties constitute the majority of that workers role. 

Trainees who are undertaking a registered traineeship and whose pay and conditions are not covered by the Children’s Services Award 2010 or the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020 are not included as eligible ECEC workers. 

To be eligible you must be a legal entity that provides CBDC or OSHC services (a Provider). One Provider may apply in relation to one or multiple service locations (Services) that the Provider owns and operates.

The objective of the Program is to incentivise voluntary uptake of ADS-B equipment in Australian-registered aircraft operating under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) to improve safety and efficiency for Australian airspace users.

The program will provide:

• better situational awareness for pilots through improved electronic visibility of nearby airborne VFR and IFR aircraft
• enhanced search and rescue capabilities through improved air traffic information
• air traffic controllers with additional and accurate automated aircraft position information of VFR aircraft.

The Program funds two classes of eligible ADS-B equipment:

• installed ADS-B equipment that air traffic controllers can use for aircraft separation purposes (referred to as ADS-B)
• portable ADS-B equipment for local electronic traffic information purposes (referred to as ADS-B EC).

To apply you must:

• be the registered owner of a crewed aircraft operating under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) or Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) and shown in an approved registration database including:
• the CASA Australian aircraft register for VH aircraft (e.g. fixed wing, helicopter, balloon, glider) registration database managed by CASA
• an approved Australian Sport Aviation organisation:
  • Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus)
  • Australian Sport Rotorcraft Association (ASRA)
  • Sports Aviation Federation of Australia (SAFA).
• purchase and/or install in your registered aircraft:
  • a device which provides ADS-B-OUT functionality or an ADS-B EC device but not both, after 20 December 2021, or
  • a device which provides ADS-B-IN functionality or a device which provides ADS-B-IN and OUT functionality, after 31 May 2024.

If a grant was paid in respect of your aircraft under ADS-B Round 1 you are eligible to apply under the following conditions:

• the equipment adds ADS-B IN functionality that was not previously available, or
• you are upgrading from an EC device to installed equipment.

Reopening of the Bin Trim Equipment Rebates Program for eligible NSW businesses, councils, and organisations. $6 million has been allocated to continue the initiative for three years until 30 June 2027, or until all funding is used.

Rebates up to $50,000 are being offered to cover up to 50% of the cost of small-scale, on-site equipment or technology that avoids, reduces, reuses, or recycles waste. The initiative is aimed at supporting businesses to transition to a circular economy.

Some examples of equipment and technologies that may be funded include but are not limited to:

• balers
• briquette presses
• bulk bag stands and bulk bags
• cardboard perforator
• commercial worm farms
• compactors
• glass crushers
• granulators
• organics rapid decomposition units (where output is sent to a licenced composting facility)
• plastic injection moulders
• shredders
• smart scales and other food waste monitoring equipment
• source separation bins, wheelie bins, skip bins and other bin equipment – with bin signs and stickers
• trolleys to transport waste and maximise waste separation and diversion.

Businesses applying for the Rebates Program must:

• have a commercial and industrial (C&I) waste service at a site in NSW
• have a valid ABN and employ one or more full time employees in NSW, and
• send C&I waste to landfill in NSW.

Businesses can include entities that are registered charities, not-for-profits, public entities (including schools and hospitals), and government organisations.

The objective of the grant opportunity is to provide co-funding for dealerships and repairers to install EV chargers.

The intended outcomes of the grant opportunity are to:

• increase in the number of EV charging stations throughout the country including remote and regional areas
• increase the number of EVs on the roads.

You can apply if you:

• have an Australian business number (ABN)
• have an account with an Australian financial institution
• are an entity, incorporated in Australia.

You must also be one of the following:

• a licenced motor dealer/trader
• a service centre associated with a licenced motor dealer/trader
• an automotive repair business, compliant with Australian Standards 5732:202 2 (EV operations – maintenance and repair) and which has at least one current member of staff suitable qualified to undertake work on EVs.

To be eligible for a rebate, you must have purchased and installed at least one eligible smart EV charger(s) at an eligible site (listed in section 4.2 of the grant opportunity Guidelines) on or after 26 March 2024.

Eligible smart EV chargers include:

• AC plugs with 7 kW charging speed (single phase)
• AC plugs with 11-22 kW charging speed
• DC plugs with 50 kW or less charging speed.

You can only apply for concessional this loan if your small business is currently or has been supplying goods or services relating to primary production to farm businesses in an affected area. This loan is not available to farm businesses.

The loan is for ten years and has no fees, 2 years interest free, 3 years interest only and 5 years principal and interest.

It may be used for:

• refinance your debt
• pay suppliers
• pay for operating expenses
• pay salaries, wages and rent

The Impact Investment Ready Growth Grant provides impact businesses and mission-driven organisations with grants of up to $140,000 for business, financial, legal and other capacity building support from providers to secure investment.

Growth Grants were created in recognition of the potential for impact investing to change the way Australia addresses social issues and the important role that access to capital can play in delivering better outcomes for people and communities. They support enterprises that are high growth, can deliver positive social outcomes and have the potential to secure capital investment.

Trial a young person to find out if they're the right fit for your business and get $1000 to help cover the costs of the trial. During the trial, you don't pay the young person. Instead, the Australian Government gives them $200 a fortnight on top of their income support and covers their insurance.

Businesses can also receive up to $10,000 (GST inclusive) through a Youth Bonus wage subsidy if they hire an eligible young person between 15 and 24 years of age.

The young person must:

• be a fully eligible participant, commenced with a jobactive or Transition to Work provider
• have received employment services from a provider (jobactive, Transition to Work, Disability Employment Services or Community Development Programme provider) continuously for the last six months
• have mutual obligation requirements at the time they commence in the wage subsidised job
• not been in a pre-existing employment relation with you in the previous six months
• not be an immediate family member.

Concessional loan to help farm businesses in the agriculture, horticulture, pastoral, apiculture, or aquaculture industryto prepare for, manage through, and recover from drought.

The loan is for ten years and has no fees, 2 years interest free, 3 years interest only and 5 years principal and interest.

It may be used for:

• refinance your debt
• pay for operating expenses or capital
• access new debt for operating expenses and capital