Grants Office secures over $43M in funding for Councils

Written by Zoe Dark, Principal Advisor and Manager, Grant Office

Over the past financial year, we’re proud to announce our Grants team secured over $43 million in grant funding for councils across the state. This is a significant amount of funding dedicated to creating liveable communities throughout Queensland. 

This brings the cumulative total of secured grant funding to well over $135M from a total funding pool of $230M equating our success rate to 60%. 

Our team of grant writers worked closely with councils using a wide range of strategies to bring projects to maturity, inform decision making and identify project priorities that align with funding eligibility.  

One stage in the grant process that is often overlooked is the planning phase. The planning stage of a project acts as a framework for growth, establishes grant eligibility, and ultimately increases the credibility and visibility of a project before it has even begun. By demonstrating your project is well planned to deliver good tangible outcomes for your community at the funding application stage, you will increase your chance of securing grant funds.  

Drawing on the resources from our entire team, we secured significant funding for a wide range of councils from diverse funding grants provided by the state and federal government.  

Here’s a quick overview from FY 22/23: 

• 73 Grants Submitted  

• 61 Grants Won (announced this financial year) 

• $43 million total funding secured for Councils  

Here’s our top tips for your best chances to secure grant funding:  

• Establish a project working group to monitor your project’s progress and get it ‘grant ready’. 

• Include stakeholders in your project/program design and include survey results and document your consultations with meeting minutes. 

• Project maturity plans – start preparing these during the conception phase, and keep them updated as the project progresses through to maturity. 

• Engage specialist expertise early. Robust planning with input from Project Planners, Quantity Surveyors, Economists, Architects, Engineers, Town Planning, Community and Contractors takes time to build.  

• Update strategic plans  - your project may solve an immediate need but demonstrating how your project will meet your long term goals by aligning with strategic priorities will help show that you have considered the future impacts of the project. List your agreed priority projects in the plan.  

• Get the foundations right – it’s imperative that the scope of the project has been well defined, and budgets are well considered and evidenced with current quotes or detailed cost estimates.   

• Apply for the right grant, ensure your project aligns with the funders' priorities and eligibility, discuss your project with the funding body if possible. 

• If your application is unsuccessful seek feedback from the funder and implement these changes in future applications. Getting a high success rate on grants is good, but could also indicate that you’re not applying for enough grants.  

To find out more about our Grant Program Office contact Zoe Dark