Past Programs

DR:FR Victoria

The communities of Korumburra, Myrtleford and Whittlesea Township and surrounds partnered with FRRR through the Disaster Resilient: Future Ready program in Victoria (DR:FR VIC) from 2021-24.

The DR:FR VIC program began with a series of activities that brought community working group members together and engaged the broader community to share knowledge, experiences and aspirations so that they could be better prepared for future climate disasters.

Community working groups met regularly and accessed funding from FRRR to carry out activities identified by their community as important to strengthening their community resilience. Grants totalling $135,001 were awarded to the three communities to progress their priority projects.

IRCF NSW Pilot

FRRR’s 2017 Impact Report revealed a significant gap in investment in the capacity of not-for-profit organisations. In 2018, the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation partnered with FRRR to design and implement a program of work that would bring together local NFP groups in select communities to learn, identify strengths and common challenges and then work collaboratively to lift up each organisation for the benefit of each community. This became known as the Investing in Rural Community Futures pilot program, which was piloted in Leeton, Junee and Nambucca Valley between 2019 and 2024.

IRCF South Coast

The Investing in Rural Community Futures (IRCF) South Coast program began in 2020, after Snow Foundation committed $2,656,000 to bring the not-for-profit capacity-building program to the South Coast.

The program, which ran from 2020 to 2024, operated in Nowra, Ulladulla and Bateman’s Bay. In total, there were 30 partner communities, who shared more than 100 grants. An additional 70 NFP organisations benefitted from the program.

Following the Black Summer bushfires and COVID, additional funding from Bendigo Bank’s Community Enterprise Foundation and the Australian Government enabled the program to expand into the Bay and Basin and Bega Valley, in partnership with Bega Valley Shire Council and Australian Rural Leadership Foundation.

SRC Rebuilding Regional Communities

The Strengthening Rural Communities (SRC) Rebuilding Regional Communities stream gave small remote, rural and regional communities across Australia the opportunity to access funds for a broad range of initiatives that directly and clearly benefit local communities. Recognising the impacts of COVID-19 on communities, the Australian Government partnered with FRRR to distribute $5 million from 2022 to 2024 to support community-led initiatives.

Aboriginal Health in Aboriginal Hands Responding to COVID

The Aboriginal Health in Aboriginal Hands program addressed priorities identified by Spinifex, and the communities they represent, to ensure Aboriginal people are prepared to manage the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 in a way that works best for them. The combination of this partnership approach, together with flexible funding, aimed to ensure solutions for First Nations people in remote, rural, and regional communities are locally-led and locally-determined.

Back to School

Back to School was a national program that helped rural and remote children and young people access quality educational experiences by providing vouchers from Target, Kmart or local retailers, to students in need.

Gardiner Foundation Community Grants

The Gardiner Dairy Foundation Community Grants program ran for more than 20 years, offering small grants to strengthen Victoria’s dairying communities.

Bushfire Recovery Fund

The Bushfire Recovery Fund grant program was an invitation-only program designed to build the capacity of local organisations playing a central, coordinating or networking role in the recovery of Victorian communities affected by the 2019/20 bushfires. It was funded by Sidney Myer Fund and Helen Macpherson Smith Trust.

Networks to Build Drought Resilience

Thanks to a partnership between the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, FRRR and a wide range of collaborative donors, the Networks to Build Drought Resilience program funded grants to support agriculture-dependent communities to be more prepared for, and resilient to, the impacts of drought.

The Networks to Build Drought Resilience Program was one of the Future Drought Fund’s foundation programs. It was designed to build community capacity by strengthening social and community networking, support, engagement and wellbeing. The aim was to build an enduring resilience to the impacts of climate change, drought, and enhance the public good in agriculture-dependent communities.

This program was funded by the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

Resilience NSW COVID Regional Community Support

Resilience NSW COVID Regional Community Support was a two-part program, designed to support eligible not-for-profit organisations, community groups and associated volunteer-based organisations that were involved in delivering food and/or personal care hampers to individuals and families affected by COVID lockdowns.

The first stream offered contribution towards reimbursement for the costs of personal and care hampers, while a second stream of the program supported community projects that increased capacity for service provision in ongoing and future pandemic events.

This program was funded by the NSW Government and delivered by FRRR, on behalf of Resilience NSW.

Investing in Not-for-Profit Capacity in Regional NSW

The Investing in Not-for-Profit Capacity in Regional NSW program aimed to support resourcing and capacity of NFP organisations in bushfire-affected communities, including Bega, Taree and Glen Innes, helping them to respond and thrive in the face of current challenges.

The Yulgilbar Foundation Fund

The Yulgilbar Foundation Fund supported communities in the Clarence Valley and surrounding regions who had a desire and need to strengthen their capacity and resilience in response to the 2019/20 bushfires, flooding and continued challenges across the region.

Grants for Resilience & Wellness Kinglake Ranges (GR&W Kinglake)

The GR&W Kinglake Ranges program had a specific focus on providing assistance towards community-strengthening and resilience-building projects for communities in the Kinglake Ranges that were affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires.

It recognised that while the fires were in 2009, recovery takes time and an important part of community recovery is having opportunities to connect, share experiences, enhance individual and community wellbeing and resilience, and to build strength and capacity for the future.

The GR&W Kinglake program was open to all community groups and not-for-profit organisations in Kinglake, Kinglake Central, Kinglake West, Pheasant Creek, Toolangi and Flowerdale.

Tackling Tough Times Together

The Tackling Tough Times Together (TTTT) program ran from 2014 to 2023. The focus was on supporting social cohesion and creating opportunities for connection, as well as leadership development and skill building for communities experiencing drought. Projects included addressing volunteer fatigue, building capacity and capability in community
groups, supporting opportunities for participation in education and reducing disadvantage for young people; and encouraging economic recovery or renewal.

Volunteer Emergency Services Fund

The Volunteer Emergency Services Fund grant program supported the needs of local volunteer emergency services and first responders supporting communities affected by the Black Summer bushfires.

Grants of up to $25,000 were available for disaster preparedness and response activities that included rebuilding or upgrading emergency services infrastructure and replacing or upgrading emergency services equipment; enabling the support and management of an emergency services volunteer workforce through recruitment and training; and programs to support volunteer mental health and wellbeing.

Westpac Foundation Rural Community Grants

Westpac Foundation partnered with FRRR to enable the delivery of the Westpac Foundation Rural Community Grants.

The Rural Community Grants helped to create strong and more inclusive communities in rural, regional and remote areas, providing assistance in what has been one of the most challenging years on record.

The grants focused on supporting organisations who are creating job opportunities and providing training and education to enhance employment readiness for people experiencing disadvantage.

Grants for Resilience & Wellness (GR&W)

Thanks to the generosity and support of the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund, the Grants for Resilience & Wellness (GR&W) program supported the long term recovery of communities impacted by the 2009 Victorian Bushfires.

A total of $4,111,633 was distributed via 283 grants across 18 rounds to provide assistance towards community-strengthening and resilience-building projects.

This program has now fully expended the funds available and no further applications will be considered.

News Corp Bushfire Fund Grants

News Corp partnered with FRRR to enable the delivery of the News Corp Bushfire Fund grants.

This program supported local not-for-profit organisations and community groups that delivered locally-led projects and activities to assist people in their recovery as a result of the 2019/2020 bushfires.

In total, 73 grants were awarded totalling nearly $1.4 million to help communities impacted by the Black Summer bushfires.

Disaster Resilient: Future Ready (DR:FR) NSW Pilot

The DR:FR NSW Pilot project was implemented between 2017 and 2020, with research taking place in communities over a two-year period, starting in 2018. Engagement with each community included community workshops, conversations with key stakeholders and support in community project development and resourcing.

Aussie Cotton Farmers Grow Communities

Aussie Cotton Farmers Grow Communities was a grant program initiated by the Bayer Fund in 2014, in partnership with FRRR. The program gave cotton farmers the opportunity to support their communities by nominating a local not-for-profit organisation to receive a $5,000 grant to enable them to undertake projects and activities that offer clear public benefit.

Over the past seven years, Bayer Fund, in partnership with FRRR, distributed over $1 Million (AUD) to rural and regional Australia, through 210 grants. The Bayer Fund is currently renewing their Corporate Strategy, and accordingly the Aussie Cotton Farmers Grow Communities grants program was concluded at the end of 2020. 

Community Group Futures

In 2016, FRRR opened Community Group Futures (alongside Grants for resilience and Wellness) to support not-for-profit organisations working in and for the benefit of communities affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires, thanks to funding from the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund (VBAF).

The Community Group Futures program has been developed by FRRR to support community groups that continued to experience particular operational and service delivery challenges and were working in very different environments from those prior to the bushfires.

The Community Group Futures program provided resources for organisations to consider their viability, sustainability and future roles in their communities, and to strengthen organisational capabilities to achieve their aspirations. It presented an opportunity for organisations to think beyond day-to-day operations and short-term needs and look ahead to what would be required to be sustainable and viable to meet the needs of the community in the years to come.

VISY Tumut Region Recovery Fund

The Visy Tumut Region Recovery Fund was established in February 2020 to support community-led projects designed to address a diverse range of bushfire recovery needs and community priorities in the Snowy Valleys. A total of $970,136 in funding was granted to 36 projects over a seven month period, and the program is now closed.

Through the provision of grants, this program aimed to address a range of needs, including but not limited to:

• Mental health and wellbeing;
• Environmental and wildlife recovery and rehabilitation;
• Strengthening social connectedness and reducing social isolation;
• Culturally appropriate activities and resources for impacted communities;
• Community infrastructure and equipment that strengthens volunteer community groups and their activities;
• Community-based therapeutic programs and activities such as arts, theatre, gardening, community dinners, or informal mentoring and peer support groups, which engage vulnerable and at-risk members of the community.

Westpac Foundation Rural Community Grants

The Westpac Foundation partnered with FRRR in 2020 to take their annual community grants program truly national, to encompass rural, regional and remote communities. A total of $500,000 was distributed to 50 community organisations in $10,000 grants to support organisations who are creating job opportunities and providing training and education to enhance employment readiness for people experiencing disadvantage.

Find out more about the Westpac program.

Enhancing Country Health Outcomes (ECHO)

The Enhancing Country Health Outcomes (ECHO) grant program was delivered for two rounds from October 2018, thanks to funding from Beyond Medical Education. Grants of between $50,000 and $150,000 aimed to improve health outcomes for people living in rural, regional and remote Victoria and New South Wales.

The program provided targeted funds for charitable initiatives delivered by not-for-profit organisations to strengthen, improve accessibility and retain quality and contextually appropriate primary health care services in local communities, addressing the distinct challenges associated with distance and isolation, which place these communities at greater risk of poorer health outcomes and management.

Find out more about the ECHO program.

Caring for Ageing Rural Australians (CARA)

The Caring for Ageing Rural Australians (CARA) Program was delivered from 2005 to 2020,  thanks to support from various donors, and was designed to support projects and activities that benefit and support older people living in small rural and remote communities.

The program focused on the ageing population in remote, rural and regional Australia, enhancing aged care services and facilities; building community capacity for aged-friendly communities; fostering community development through opportunities and participation for older people; and encouraging positive and active ageing, community health and wellbeing, and education programs.

School and Beyond

The School and Beyond program was delivered from 2015 to 2020, thanks to support from the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund (VBAF) across 11 LGA’s in 2009 Victorian bushfire-affected regions. The program focused on supporting young people who experienced the fires, and the aims included removing financial and psychological barriers to participation and completion of study, supporting pathways to vocational training and employment; and to support the cost of education and training costs.

Small Grants for Rural Communities

Small Grants for Rural Communities evolved into the Strengthening Rural Communities program. It still offers the same broad grants that were available under SGRC, with the added benefits of being a rolling program that is open year round and higher levels of funding.

Small Grants for Rural Communities ran for 34 rounds over a 17 year period.

Domino’s Give for Good

FRRR partnered with Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd for two years from 2016 to 2018 to deliver the Give for Good program, which offered grants of up to $5,000 for community-led projects that responded to one of these three impact areas:

1. Education and youth initiatives (17 yrs to 25 yrs)
2. Leadership and entrepreneurship (17 yrs and over)
3. Skills, knowledge, and networks needed to prepare and recover from natural disasters.

Social Innovation Fund

To address pressing and persistent social issues in three particular communities, in collaboration with the NSW Department for Families & Community Services (FACS), FRRR developed the Social Innovation Fund. It focused on the communities in and around the townships of Wagga Wagga, Eden and Kempsey on the South Coast of NSW.

The project had four phases:

1. Community engagement and consultation – to ensure that the funding addresses priority issues in each community.
2. Co-designing the local responses and use of funding allocations.
3. Developing an evaluation framework.
4. Designing and administering a grants program or allocating financial investment to charitable projects.

Fast Track Ag Innovation

The William Buckland Foundation shared FRRR’s concern about the stand-still in agricultural productivity, the reduction in public agricultural research, development and extension and the subsequent gaps in innovation. Together we developed the Fast Track Ag Innovation program.

The invitation-only grants program saw four farmer groups across four primary industries in Victoria use grants of $150,000 each, over three years, to drive the adoption of science and innovation to address one of their top three production constraints.

Repair-Restore-Renew 2017

The 2017 Repair-Restore-Renew program provided grants to support the medium-to-long term recovery of communities impacted by the cyclones and floods in Queensland and New South Wales in 2017. 

Social Change 101

FRRR partnered with the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund to deliver the Social Change 101 program in three regions that were impacted by the 2009 Victorian bushfires.

Social Change 101 provided an opportunity for local change-makers to develop their ideas for social enterprises and learn from their leading business and social enterprise experts to gain the skills, knowledge and networks to bring their social enterprise idea to life for the broader benefit of their community.

The program kicked off with a community roundtable in November 2015 to introduce the initiative and build the support networks necessary to deliver the program and support the entrepreneurs and their ventures over the long-term. It then ran in 2016 in the Alpine / Indigo region and in 2017 in the Mitchell and Murrindindi regions.

Community and Philanthropy Partnerships Week (CPPW)

Community and Philanthropy Partnerships Week was a three-year initiative created to celebrate the ways in which partnerships between grassroots community groups and philanthropy build strong and vibrant places to live and work. The Australian Government provided funding through the program, with the last funds distributed in August 2017.

The Leading Practices of Community and Philanthropy Partnerships report, which captured insights into effective partnerships from some of the groups that participated in CPPW can be found here.

REAPing Rewards

The Rural Education Australia Program, also known as REAPing Rewards, was a national program targeting educational outcomes in rural and remote communities.

The flexible program provided grants of up to $10,000 for not-for-profit community groups, early childhood service providers, and primary and secondary school community support committees, for locally developed or locally-driven ideas, projects and programs that would directly enhance the educational outcomes for children and students (0-18 years) in remote, rural and regional communities. 

Innovation for Community Impact (I4CI)

Innovation for Community Impact (I4CI) supported innovative responses to issues including domestic and family violence, education disengagement, criminal behaviour, and unemployment. Co-funded by the NSW government, the philanthropic sector and local community groups, and led by FRRR, the program helped addressed pressing and persistent social issues facing communities in ten regional NSW Local Government Areas across the Hunter New England, Mid-North and Central Coast districts.

Goulburn Valley – McEwen Foundation

From 2007, in partnership with the McEwen Foundation, which was managed by Equity Trustees, FRRR provided grants for charitable projects within the wider Goulburn Valley District, Victoria. In 2016, the final round of the program delivered grants of up to $10,000 for projects and activities that offered a clear public benefit, for charitable purposes, and addressed a need in the community.

Repair-Restore-Renew 2013

The 2013 Repair-Restore-Renew 2013 program provided grants to support the medium-to-long term recovery of communities impacted by the bushfires, cyclones and floods in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland in 2013. 

Thanks to the generosity of our donor partners, five grant rounds were conducted across these disaster-affected regions, with nearly $530,000 distributed in funding to 48 community groups.

Repair-Restore-Renew 2014

The 2014 Repair-Restore-Renew program provided grants to support the medium-to-long term recovery of communities impacted by the bushfires, cyclones and floods in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

• Victorian bushfires – Feb 2014
• Barossa Valley & Eden Valley bushfires – Feb 2014
• Perth Hills bushfire – Jan / Feb 2014
• Severe Tropical Cyclone Christine – Jan / Feb 2014

Due to limited funding available, only one grant was awarded. This went to the Shire of Mundaring, in the heart of the Perth Hills, where the bushfires in January 2014 destroyed 57 homes and damaged many more.

Lachlan Region Community Grants

This program provided funding, provided by the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation, for projects that addressed Education and Young People, Employment and Industry, Community Spirit and Stability or Services and Infrastructure for communities in the Lachlan Shire, NSW. The final grant round was run in 2015.

Creating Inspiring Rural Community Leadership & Engagement (CIRCLE)

CIRCLE aimed to create capacity and enhance community leadership in rural and remote communities, tapping into local ingenuity and resources to reality-test ideas and put them into practice, learning along the way, as well as celebrating and sharing success stories.

The CIRCLE program, developed by FRRR, with the support of the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, had three components:
1. Training and development resources and materials – including webinars, animated video and video case studies;
2. A $350,000 grants program and diversity scholarships – twenty groups received grants up to $25,000, and four diversity scholarships were awarded to the value of $10,000;
3. An environmental scan to assess gaps in leadership training – the aim of the research was to ascertain what leadership development support is available across rural, regional and remote Australia and inform future investments. The full report has now been released and is available to download.

Skills, Training, Engagement and Practical Support (STEPS)

This program focused on supporting communities affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires. It was designed to enhance leadership in rural communities, improve the ability of not-for-profit groups to develop and implement community projects and ensure community groups avoid experiencing the effects of volunteer fatigue.

2011 Repair-Restore-Renew

FRRR’s 2011 Repair-Restore-Renew program helped communities recover from natural disasters, by providing grants that helped to address community needs that begin to emerge 12-18 months after the disaster event. This is often when the rest of the community has turned its attention to subsequent natural disasters.

The 2011 Repair-Restore-Renew program supported Queensland, Victoria, and New South Wales communities impacted by the floods and cyclones in the summer of 2010/11.

Culture, Arts, Tourism and Cultural Heritage (CATCH)

In 2009, FRRR established the stand-alone CATCH program, to provide focused support for these areas, with five rounds running over six years.

We have since streamlined our program offering, and projects relating to culture, arts, tourism, history and heritage are now funded through other programs, such as SRC.

Rural Early Childhood Education (REACH) program

The REACH program was established in 2009 to support the delivery of early childhood education across rural and remote Australia. The program ran for three years and subsequently informed the creation of the REAPing Rewards program.

2009 Repair-Restore-Renew

This program was set up immediately following the 2009 Victorian bushfires to provided support for community recovery. Projects ranged from repairing minor infrastructure, such as community meeting places, providing equipment to help communities fundraise or provide local support, such as BBQs and trailers, to projects that enhanced community connectivity, wellbeing and resilience.

Rural Education Program (REP)

The drought of the 2000’s was one of the worst on record, causing devastation of agricultural production and the social and economic heart of rural communities. The Rural Education Program (REP) was established in 2002 as a short-term response to concerns about the effect of drought on children living in rural and remote areas of Australia.

The program ran for eight years (2002 – 2010) and funded 385 projects across Australia valued at $2.839 million. The success of this program shaped FRRR’s subsequent education programs, including REAPing Rewards. This program was also included among the Top 50 Philanthropic Grants of all time, which were announced in 2013.