Search Grants & Funding

If you’re an employee who works from home, you may be able to claim a deduction for expenses relating to that work to cover:

• Running Expenses
• Occupancy Expenses
• Phone and Internet Expenses

Please note that this information is general in nature only, and may not apply to your individual situation.

This 'shortcut method' is available for the 1st of March 2020 to 30 June 2021 only.

The new $1 billion JobTrainer program will provide up to an additional 340,700 training places to help school leavers and job seekers access short and long courses to develop new skills in growth sectors and create a pathway to more qualifications.

Courses will be free or low cost in areas of identified need, with the Federal Government providing $500 million with matched contributions from state and territory governments.

The ATO are also offering tailored support for your needs and circumstances on a case-by-case basis. They do not apply these additional relief options automatically, so you need to contact the ATO. Assistance includes:

• Payment deferrals
• Changing your GST reporting cycle
• Vary pay as you go instalments
• Remitting interest and penalties
• Low interest payment plans

Business Connect is a dedicated and personalised NSW Government program that provides trusted advice to help you start or grow your small business and are running a series of specialised free webinars to provide additional support.

If you’ve been affected by a bushfire, storm or flood, we can help you with everyday legal problems including insurance claims and disputes, financial hardship, tenancy and Centrelink.

An Early Resolution Assistance (ERA) approval of $2000 in professional fees is available for legal services and up to an additional $5000 is available for disbursements. Funding extensions are available in reasonable circumstances. An eligible business or primary producer with more than one bushfire related legal matter may receive more than one approval for legal services and related expenses.

Eligible LGAs in the Northern Inland are:

• Armidale
• Glen Innes Severn
• Inverell
• Tenterfield
• Walcha

The funding is available for legal issues including, but not limited to:

• Insurance disputes
• Commercial leases
• Contract disputes
• Planning and building law
• Local Government disputes
• Entitlements to government grants and schemes
• Credit and debt
• Banking
• Fencing issues
• Property law
• Employment law issues for employers

To be eligible for funding under the Scheme, the applicant must be:

• A primary producer or small business owner.
• With a farm or business located in a designated LGA.
• With a legal issue arising from the 2019/2020 bushfire season in one of the designated LGAs.

The High-Risk Settings Pandemic Payment is to provide lump sum financial assistance to limit the financial hardship of eligible individuals working in high risk settings who are, or were, unable to work and earn an income as a result of having tested positive with COVID-19.

The High-Risk Settings Pandemic Payment grant program commences on 15 October 2022 and replaces the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment that ends on 14 October 2022. The High-Risk Settings Pandemic Payment supports eligible workers in high-risk settings to not attend work for a seven day period of workplace exclusion if they test positive to COVID-19, in order to mitigate the risk of infection within the high-risk setting.

The amount of High-Risk Settings Pandemic Payment that is payable is determined by the number of hours the person would have worked during their period of workplace exclusion due to testing positive with COVID-19. All eligible people who test positive with COVID-19 on or after 00:01am, 15 October 2022 and are excluded from work in a high-risk setting for 7 days, will receive:

• $750 if they would have worked 20 hours or more; or
• $450 if they would have worked a full day or at least 8 hours and up to 20 hours of work.

Only one payment can be claimed for each period of infection.

For the purposes of High-Risk Settings Pandemic Payment, a “high-risk setting” means a setting or workplace in which the person works that involves close personal care and support services involving frequent close contact in the following settings:

• Aged Care, including home care that involves close personal care and support services involving frequent close contact.
• Disability care, including disability home care that involves close personal care and support services involving frequent close contact.
• Aboriginal healthcare, including workforce employed by Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, community health care, Aboriginal drug and alcohol services and support services involving frequent close contact.
• Hospital care, including day hospitals and smaller facilities, paramedical, ambulance, patient transport and support services involving frequent close contact.

The number of times a person can receive a High-Risk Settings Pandemic Payment will be capped at three in a six month period. The payment count will start from 1 July and take into consideration any prior claims, including previous Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment claims from this date.

If you find that you are unable to make your repayments due to an unforeseen circumstance you may be eligible to receive Financial Hardship assistance.

Depending on the nature of your financial difficultly, some possible assistance may be:

• Utilise any advance payment on your loans
• Convert repayments to an interest only structure for a period of time
• Reduced repayments for a period of time
• Extension of your loan term
• Debt restructure
• Debt refinance

While many businesses have been adversely affected by COVID-19 and are reducing their workforces, there are some areas of the economy which have an increased demand for workers.

This includes jobs in health and care sectors, transport and logistics, some areas of retail, mining and mining services, manufacturing, agriculture and government sectors, among others.

Conservation partners grants provide financial assistance to landholders in managing their conservation area, allowing them to improve the biodiversity value of their properties.

Landholders with an agreement with the BCT who do not receive annual conservation management payments can generally apply at any time for a conservation partners grant.

Landholders participating in the Humane Society International’s (HSI) Wildlife Land Trust are also eligible for grants from the BCT.

You can apply for a grant from the BCT if you have one of the following NSW private land conservation agreements:

• unfunded conservation agreement
• trust agreement
• registered property agreement
• wildlife refuge or wildlife refuge agreement
• participation in the Humane Society International’s (HSI) Wildlife Land Trust program.

The following activities are eligible:

• assisted regeneration and weed control (as part of assisted regeneration strategy)
• fencing to secure conservation area, control grazing from livestock, to enable restoration of native vegetation
• introduced pest animal control
• revegetation (including supplementary planting)
• habitat restoration—such as installation of nest boxes and artificial hollows, or additional ground cover layer and habitat structure
• Saving our Species management actions
• other maintenance—such as repairs to existing feature required to maintain conservation values
• native vegetation restoration planning to guide assisted regeneration or revegetation
• project / grant management by third party(s)

In some cases we may arrange to visit you on your property to assess eligibility and proceed with your application. During these visits, you can ask the BCT staff member any questions you have about your agreement and the activities you want to undertake.

There are three levels of funding available:

1. Up to $15,000 per year for up to three years for landholders with in-perpetuity conservation agreements, Trust Agreements, Registered Property Agreements.
2. Up to $8,000 per year for up to three years for landholders with a term Registered Property Agreement.
3. Up to $2,000 per year for up to three years for landholders with a wildlife refuge or wildlife refuge agreement or who are members of Wildlife Land Trust.

Applications will be funded if they are eligible, complete and meet the assessment criteria, and if the BCT has available funding. Works already completed or funded from another source will not be eligible for a grant.

The NSW Seniors Energy Rebate is available for eligible self-funded retirees to help cover the cost of their electricity. Gas accounts are not included.

To be eligible you must:

• be a self-funded retiree living in NSW
• hold a current Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) issued by either Services Australia or the Department of Veterans' Affairs
• be the account holder named on the electricity bill
• be applying for the rebate for your main place of residence.

This program provides funding assistance to organisations that donate and transport donated fodder to a central location within NSW for the benefit of three or more primary producers with livestock, in the event of a natural disaster. This contributes to an outcome of quicker recovery from natural disaster.

The scheme will pay for the costs of donating and transporting donated fodder to affected properties or storage facilities in a central location up to a maximum of distance of 1,500 kilometres.

Eligibility:

• The subsidy on transport of donated fodder is available to organisations* that donate and transport donated fodder for the benefit of three or more primary producers, whose property has been affected by a natural disaster.
• Pre-approval for the transport of the donated fodder must be obtained from the NSW Rural Assistance Authority (RAA) by the organisation including agreement on estimates for the amount of fodder to be transported, the number of trips to be completed and the total distance to be travelled.
• The donated fodder must be delivered to a central location within the declared natural disaster area.
• The central location receiving donated fodder must be in an area of NSW that has been declared a Natural Disaster.
• Payment of any assistance can only occur upon production of tax invoices for expenses incurred.
• Payment of any assistance is contingent on recipients acknowledging this financial support in annual reports, media releases, digital and printed materials, web pages and online documents, advertising, plaques and signs.
• Claims must be made within three months of the RAA's approval to the transport of the donated fodder.
• As part of the application process, the applicant must agree to relevant details from the proposed application being provided to the regional Rural Financial Counsellor, Rural Resilience Officers or other co-ordinating entity so as to promote coordination of effort

Exclusions:

• Small volumes of fodder (i.e. under one tonne per load).
• Poor quality fodder, including fodder found to include weeds or other invasive species. The RAA must refuse to approve movements from regions with known or suspected biosecurity concerns. Under the Biosecurity Act 2015, the RAA cannot approve movements that present a known biosecurity risk
• In circumstances where the RAA receives notification of poor quality fodder, or fodder with weeds or other invasive species, the RAA is required to report this to NSW Biosecurity. Application and claims from organisations involved will be put on hold until a review of the operator’s movements can be completed.
• Transport of donated fodder from individual donors to individual farmers.
• Transport of donated fodder to commercial feedlots and/or feed processors.

A natural disaster assistance transport subsidy is available to eligible farmers who are affected by a declared natural disaster event. This subsidy pays for the cost of transporting:

• fodder and/or water to an affected property
• stock to sale or slaughter
• stock to/from agistment.

A list of declared disasters and the associated closing dates for applications is available on the Rural Assistance Authority website.

The Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme creates a financial incentive for individuals and small businesses to instal eligible small-scale renewable energy systems such as solar panel systems, small-scale wind systems, small-scale hydro systems, solar water heaters and air source heat pumps. It does this through the creation of small-scale technology certificates which Renewable Energy Target liable entities have a legal obligatio​​n to buy and surrender to the Clean Energy Regulator on a quarterly basis.​Small-scale technology certificates are provided 'up front' for the systems' expected power generation over a 15 year period or, from 2017, from the installation year until 2030 when the scheme ends. This renewable electricity replaces electricity generated from non-renewable sources. Generally, householders who purchase these systems assign the right to create their certificates to an agent in return for a lower purchase price. The level of this benefit differs across the country depending on the level of solar energy.

Small-scale technology certificates can be created following the installation of an eligible system, and are calculated based on the amount of electricity a system produces or replaces (that is, electricity from non-renewable sources).

The number of small-scale technology certificates required to be submitted by electricity retailers is set each year by the small-scale technology percentage​.​​
System eligibility

Under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme, eligible small-scale renewable energy systems may be entitled to small-scale technology certificates, which can be sold to recoup a portion of the cost of purchasing and installing the system.

The Foundation aims to improve and protect the quality of life of Australians by providing support to charitable organisations with recognised strengths in medical research and health care, in youth education, and aged care, and in fostering family and community support, based on Christian values.

The project must fit one of the Foundation's focus areas;
    Medical research and health care
    Youth education
    Aged care
    Fostering family and community support through Christian organisations

The Foundation accepts grant applications from Australian organisations that;

• Are registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC)
• Have Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) Item 1 endorsement by the Australian Tax Office
• Reported an annual income under $5M in the previous financial year

Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) funding, called ‘PBC Capacity Building grant funding’, is available to assist native title holding corporations, known as Prescribed Bodies Corporate (PBCs), to generate economic benefits through the effective and sustainable management of their land.

This funding is designed to build the capacity of PBCs, also known as Registered Native Title Bodies Corporate (RNTBCs).

This grant is open to all PBCs and to third parties working with the PBC sector across Australia. Applications will be considered throughout the year – there is no closing date.

Applications must be completed online and will be accepted from individual PBCs, groups of PBCs, or third parties (such as native title representative bodies and service providers, law firms, and interest groups). These third parties can apply to receive and administer funding on behalf of PBCs.

The funding has three elements:

• Direct support to increase the capacity of PBCs to take advantage of economic opportunities;
• Support for training to build long-term organisational capacity within PBCs, such as projects to amend a PBCs rulebook and governance structure, receive training or obtain professional expertise (for example, business consultancies, accountancy or legal services); and
• Direct support for effective native title agreement-making.

It is anticipated that most grants will be between $50,000-$750,000, depending on the scope of the grant activity and its complexity. There is no maximum grant amount but grants cannot exceed the amount of available funds. The Agency may award grants as one-off payments, or on a single year or multi-year basis at its discretion.