Applications to our annual Margaret Attwood Grant Round are now closed.
We are thrilled with the applications for a diverse range of projects that were received, which is reflective of what we are hearing in the community.
Local not-for-profit organisations that are providing services and material aid to support people continue to find it challenging to source funds to keep up with this increased demand for their service, programs and with additional hardship and inequalities that are being identified that require addressing.
Through consultation, GSF has identified areas of major need in our community. Based on this, the focus areas for our grants program include social inclusion; youth employment; ageing well; at risk of or experiencing housing insecurity; safe families; economic engagement; and the cost-of-living crisis.
As the local philanthropic hub, nimble in our approach and transparent in our processes, we engage a community grants advisory committee to assess these applications and make recommendations to the GSF board.
For this important volunteer role, we engage passionate local people that align with GSF’s vision who then work to ensure your donations via the grant program reach the areas of most need and create impact for our community.
This committee is a great way for those involved to obtain a better understanding of the needs of the local community and to meaningfully contribute to improving the lives of others.
The process of our grant program is twofold — while it provides an avenue to support these necessary place-based programs, it also uncovers some of the wonderful work that others are doing to support and provide equal opportunity locally.
This is information that helps to identify potential partnership and collaboration opportunities for the most efficient and effective use of resources.
The assessment process for this current round of applications will be conducted during April, and successful applications will be announced to the community in May.
Your donations to GSF contribute to the support we provide via this annual grant program.
You can find out more about the projects we support via the ‘Small Grants’ page on our website.
Until next time.
Amanda McCulloch,
Greater Shepparton Foundation executive officer
