Investing in Rural Community Futures Victoria
Investing in Rural Community Futures (IRCF) is a grassroots program that aims to build the capacity of not-for-profit (NFP) organisations.
After being piloted and delivered in eight NSW communities, beginning in 2018, the program is now coming to three Victorian communities, thanks to the support of four philanthropic organisations – Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, Jack Brockhoff Foundation, The Ross Trust, and William Buckland Foundation.
Run over five years, the program offers flexible and tailored support, including grants, workshops, and participatory planning processes, to strengthen the local NFP sector, so it can work collectively to more effectively advocate on shared issues, contribute to a thriving community and achieve long-term impact across agreed priority areas. You can learn more about the program below.
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How can we become a partner community?
After an extensive research and community engagement process, drawing on the learnings and successes from the NSW program, FRRR has identified four Victorian communities* as having the potential to achieve significant positive impact through the program:
Colac | Maryborough | Portland | Swan Hill
Each community is invited to attend a face to face workshop between 3 -10 February to experience more about IRCF and the opportunity to become a partner community.
Media Releases and Resources:
Community Workshops
Below are the dates for the Community Workshops for each of the four shortlisted communities. The workshop is part of the community selection process from which three communities will be invited to progress into the five-year program in March 2025.
The workshop will be an engaging experience that we hope will be valuable for all local not-for-profit groups, regardless of the outcome of the final community selection process.
Attending the workshop will be a great way to learn more about the program and ask any questions you might have.
Who should attend the workshop?
Staff, committee members, and volunteers from not-for-profit organisations and community groups, as well as other interested stakeholders such as local Council, business chamber, and First Nations organisations.
Note: Representatives from smaller nearby townships connected to the four communities through services and other means are very welcome to attend.
Register your attendance for the workshop by clicking on the relevant link below.
I have a question, who can I talk to?
If you have a question about the program or Community Workshops, please don’t hesitate to reach out:
How IRCF works
IRCF offers a combination of a locally based Community Facilitator, community-led and informed grants (approximately $600,000 per community), participatory planning processes, skill building workshops to support individual and community capacity, local networking and collaboration on shared objectives.
The approach focuses on small to medium sized NFPs and is intentionally flexible, progressing at the pace of the community over five years. IRCF can support a range of priorities for NFPs, including but not limited to, governance capability and strategic planning, volunteerism, organisational systems & processes, and local partnerships.
Community-wide conversations are facilitated to identify and activate shared goals based on local priorities. This process creates a Community Roadmap that is revisited on annual basis and is readily accessible on the FRRR website alongside other relevant resources and program information. An evaluation partner helps track progress and guide next steps.
You are welcome to explore the Community Roadmaps for our NSW partner communities as well as other shared resources on the FRRR IRCF hub.
Program elements
These are the important program elements that together can strengthen NFP organisations in rural areas to achieve positive change in their community. The program provides an opportunity to explore each element with engagement from across the NFP sector, building towards a shared vision for the future and activation of ideas.
“Participating in the program helped us understand our mission, how we work as a business, how we need good governance to tell our story and be involved in the community.“
“The most significant change for our organisation is stronger partnership with other NFPs involved, and the ability for us to work from a place where we are all on the same page.“
NSW community partners
The Four Pillars
These four pillars guide the program and are the focus areas for investment to help strengthen organisational capacity, activate ideas, and achieve community-led change.
Some examples of the projects funded under each pillar in NSW communities are:
Many more funded projects can be found on FRRR’s website.
Insights from our NSW partner communities
Recording the stories and voices of local people and leaders involved in the program is a fantastic way to share their experiences about what it’s like to be a partner community and what’s possible through the program.
Click on the picture to watch a short four-minute video.
If you’d like to learn more, we have recently launched an Impact Report sharing insights from Leeton, Junee, and Nambucca called Lessons and impacts from Investing in Rural Communities Futures pilot.
“There are better partnerships and collaborations between organisations in the community. We share a lot of our resources now. We used to be in competition with each other, but now we all talk more to each other. We didn’t do that before.”
NSW community partner
