Gardiner Dairy Foundation, in partnership with the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR), is inviting community organisations in Victorian dairy regions - Gippsland, northern Victoria and south-west Victoria - to apply for grants of up to $5000.
The annual Gardiner Dairy Foundation Community Grants Program is delivered through FRRR, which has partnered with Gardiner Dairy Foundation for the past 19 years.
Grants are made available to registered not-for-profit groups and can be used for a wide variety of community activities including community arts, health and wellbeing, environment, infrastructure, education, history and much more.
To assist community groups in preparing their grant applications, Gardiner Dairy Foundation and FRRR are running free grant seeker workshops in each of the three Victorian dairy regions.
A webinar will also be held.
These workshops provide invaluable advice on how to put together a competitive grant application.
In 2021 Gardiner Dairy Foundation will make available a total funding pool of $120,000.
Since launching the program with FRRR in 2002, Gardiner Dairy Foundation has distributed almost $2 million to Victorian dairy communities and has supported a total of 471 projects.
"With better seasonal conditions in most regions, morale in dairy communities has improved over the past 12 months," Gardiner Dairy Foundation chief executive Clive Noble said.
"People can breathe a little easier and now is a good time for community groups to look at some of the projects they may have deferred.
"I'd like to encourage community leaders to take advantage of these grants, to leverage the money available with other inputs and to continue to improve and enrich their dairy communities.
"Strong and vibrant dairy communities are vital to a strong dairy industry and vice versa."
FRRR acting CEO Sarah Matthee said the grants were designed to give dairy communities the boost they might need to make great things happen.
"Last year was tough for most rural communities, and Victorian dairy communities were no exception," she said.
"We've seen from previous grant recipients that a small grant can open doors for further funding, and it will be great to visit some of last year's grants recipients to see what kind of opportunities have grown from the funding, and how they have used the grants to help address the needs of their communities.
"We know that these communities are determined, inspiring and resilient and full of great ideas.
"That's why the Gardiner grants are deliberately flexible - to allow local leaders to respond to what's happening, and address the biggest priorities.
"In previous years, that's been anything from community gardens to festivals, small infrastructure to training.
"I look forward to seeing what this year's applications bring."
Applications for the Gardiner Dairy Foundation Community Grants Program opened on Monday and close on Tuesday, March 16 at 5pm AEDT.
Grant seeker workshop timetable
The webinar will be held:
Date: Thursday, February 4
Time: 12pm-2pm
Register at: https://events.humanitix.com/gardinercommunitygrants
Workshops will be held at:
Warragul
Date: Monday, February 8
Time: 6:30pm-9pm
Location: Mercure Hotel, 23 Mason St, Warragul
Colac
Date: Wednesday, February 10
Time: 10:30am-1pm
Location: Colac Bowling Club, 4 Armstrong St, Colac
Tallangatta
Date: Thursday, February 11
Time: 10:30am-1pm
Location: Tallangatta Integrated Community Centre, 33 Towong St, Tallangatta
For more information or to register for the workshops, visit https://frrr.org.au/funding/place/gardiner-communities-grants/.
