Applications are now open for the 2024 ANZ Seeds of Renewal program, with grants of up to $15,000 available for not-for-profit organisations and community groups in remote, rural and regional Australia.

Since 2003, ANZ has partnered with the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) to fund more than 850 community groups through the program, with a total investment of more than $6 million.

Now in its 22nd year, the ANZ Seeds of Renewal program is again offering a funding pool of $250,000 to community groups in remote, rural and regional locations for projects aligned to four areas:

ANZ Head of Agribusiness, Mark Bennett said: “The ANZ Seeds of Renewal program has been providing grants to communities in rural and regional Australia for more than two decades, many of which find it difficult to access the resources they need to prosper. The program is something we’re really proud of, and each year I look forward to seeing the diverse mix of applicants and projects,” Mr Bennett said.

FRRR CEO, Natalie Egleton, said: “Partnerships, like our long-running one with ANZ, are critical to enhancing the liveability and vibrancy of remote, rural and regional communities. These grants allow local not-for-profits to get support for initiatives that address the local priorities that communities have identified. I look forward to seeing what projects come through this year,” Ms Egleton said.

Last year, ANZ and FRRR provided grants to 20 community groups for projects including increasing rainforest regeneration, restoring Indigenous plants, enhancing local housing and employment opportunities, and improving financial literacy and money management skills against digital fraud.

Applications for the 2024 Seeds of Renewal program open on 3 July, and close at 5pm (AEST), 1 August 2024.

Interested community groups are invited to join a grantseeker webinar on Tuesday, 9 July at 12.30pm AEST. Register online.

Watch the ANZ Seeds of Renewal 20 year video.

FRRR and ANZ have awarded $250,000 in grants to 20 community groups and not-for-profit organisations through the ANZ Seeds of Renewal program.

The program, which is now in its 21^st year, provides grants to community groups across remote, rural and regional Australia. The awarded funds will support projects that improve access to housing, financial wellbeing, and environmental sustainability.

ANZ General Manager, Strategic Delivery, Jenefer Stewart said: “During the past 21 years, Seeds of Renewal has helped more than 800 communities in remote and regional Australia to thrive, while promoting community vibrancy and sustainability.

“The program is something we are really proud of and it was very pleasing to see a diverse mix of applications, all with strong alignment to the four focus areas; environmental sustainability, financial wellbeing, housing access and projects that assist local communities to thrive.” 

FRRR CEO, Natalie Egleton said “Many Australians are presently facing uncertainty and environmental, financial, housing or wellbeing concerns. For people living outside of metro regions, practical support is harder to access and sustainable solutions require both committed funds and local people with the capacity to lead the change.

“Across remote, rural and regional Australia, local organisations continue to show up for their communities, to help address the critical needs of locals that would otherwise likely be unmet.

“Through partnerships such as this one with ANZ, we can support local organisations to fill these gaps. For example, in Bairnsdale, Victoria, the community’s Recycling Enterprise is building local capacity to recycle. With their $10,000 grant, the Enterprise will purchase the machinery needed to process polystyrene and promote waste reduction practices across the region,” Ms Egleton said.

Since 2003, ANZ Seeds of Renewal has awarded $5.75 million to more than 800 community groups for approximately 900 projects. Some examples of the projects funded this year include:

Improving access to housing:

• Office AU Limited, Wilya Janta: Making Bricks on Country, Tennant Creek, NT – Enhance local housing and employment opportunities through supporting a community house build designed for the Tennant Creek climate using locally produced bricks. $15,000. 

Improving environmental sustainability:

• ReForest Now Limited, Expansion of the ReForest Now Nursery, Mullumbimby, NSW – Build organisational capacity to increase rainforest regeneration, engage local community in environmental sustainability, and create new local employment opportunities via the expansion of native plant nursery operations. $10,000.

• Trillion Trees Australia Inc., Healing West Australia’s Wheatbelt – One Tree at a Time, Westdale, WA – Restore Indigenous plants and shrubs to regenerate cleared landscape to benefit the environment and the local community with volunteer planting of 20,000 saplings. $14,400.

Improving Financial Wellbeing:

• South West Community Foundation, Financial Know-how in the Digital World, Warrnambool, VIC – Improve financial literacy to reduce vulnerability to digital fraud and increase money management skills through local workshops in South West Victorian communities. $15,000.

Assisting local communities to thrive:

• Warialda Cultural Community Centre Craft Shop, Building Capacity and Helping Volunteers, Warialda, NSW – Enhance community facilities and volunteer safety at the Warialda Cultural Community Centre Craft Shop with kitchen equipment, chairs, tables, a shade tent, and security cameras. $14,932.

• PCYC Innisfail Braking the Cycle (BTC), Innisfail, QLD – A learner driver mentoring program that empowers young people facing barriers to undertake the mandatory 100 hours of supervised driving required to obtain their licence. $15,000.

The full list of grant recipients and their projects are below.

Tableland Community Link Association (TCL) in North QLD provides person-centred support for people with disabilities and/or mental illness to have opportunities that increase their connection and sense of belonging within their community.

They used a $15,000 ANZ Seeds of Renewal grant to build an enclosed verandah extension at ‘The Grove’ activities centre, which is used on a daily basis by their clients. The extension has added extra cooling, further weather protection and increased the capacity of the centre, which has allowed TCL to increase the number of participants in the activities they hold for clients each weekday.

‘The Grove’ hosts daily activities for clients like chair yoga, craft classes, bingo, games and karaoke items, and has a full industrial kitchen for cooking classes and many more activities. The Atherton Tablelands community, and in particular Atherton, is expanding rapidly and the increase in clients has followed this trend. Through the expansion of the back verandah ,more outdoor activities are now possible and more clients can visit and participate at the centre. 

Carrie de Brueys, Services Manager of ‘The Grove’, said, “This activity centre is the only one of its kind in Atherton and on the Atherton Tablelands. Clients must travel almost one and a half hours to Cairns to have access to similar facilities – so expanding our capacity has been critical.

“For people with a disability or mental illness, a sense of community and belonging is very important in their day-to-day routines, as it creates a sense of independence and stability. It enables clients to interact with like-minded people, whilst also feeling safe and comfortable. It also allows them to have a sense of independence in a community environment.”

This renovation project aligns with one of the ANZ Seeds of Renewal grant program criteria under the theme of ‘Improving Housing Access’. For organisations that offer housing support and services for people living with a disability, funding is available to improve disability access to community facilities.

ANZ and the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) have awarded $250,000 in grants to 20 regional community groups and not-for-profit organisations through the ANZ Seeds of Renewal program.

Jenefer Stewart, ANZ General Manager Business Banking, said: “We understand small communities face unique challenges in terms of access to services and community facilities. Programs like Seeds of Renewal aim to support these communities by funding projects that address some of these challenges.

“This year is really special as it marks 20 years of ANZ delivering Seeds of Renewal. In that time, we have provided more than $5.5m to around 900 community groups to build vibrant and sustainable rural communities and ensure the ongoing prosperity of regional Australia,” Ms Stewart said.

The 2022 program supported remote, rural and regional communities across Australia to improve their town’s environmental sustainability; increase financial wellbeing in communities, particularly those with disadvantaged or minority groups; or improve housing access for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness and for people living with a disability; and other projects that help communities to thrive.

FRRR’s CEO, Natalie Egleton, said that long-term partnerships like this mean that community groups know that there will be funding available to help them respond to the myriad of challenges and opportunities that they face now, and in the future.

“These communities are extremely resilient and self-reliant but sometimes they need support to help them bring their ideas to fruition. Partnerships like the one that FRRR has had with ANZ over the last 20 years mean that they know that funding will be available, and so they can plan and work toward improving their community for the challenges ahead. We greatly appreciate ANZ’s ongoing support and look forward to it continuing for many years to come,” Ms Egleton said.

Since being established in 2003, ANZ Seeds of Renewal has awarded $5.5 million to around 900 projects. Some examples of the 20 projects funded this year include:

Environmental Sustainability

• Narrabri Shire Community Radio Incorporated, Narrabri, NSW – Install Roof Top Solar Panels and Battery. Boost organisational capacity using green solar energy to reduce emissions and operation costs at Narrabri community radio station. $15,000

Financial Wellbeing

• Australian Agricultural Centre, Crookwell, NSW – Australian Agricultural Centre Limited Youth AG Activation. Provide key skills training to increase employability of young people in Crookwell in agriculture. $15,000

Housing Access

• Phoenix Place Inc, Mackay, QLD – Teen and Adult Social Connection Space. Enable people living with a disability in Mackay to access a drop in social space for connecting with peers. $8,900

Thriving Communities

• Hub Foundation Castlemaine Limited, Castlemaine VIC – YIMBY Gymby. Boost the capacity of backyard composting through engaging young volunteers to support older community members in Castlemaine. $11,330

The full list of the recipients is below.

Last month, FRRR had the great pleasure of hosting a number of our Corporate Partners at ANZ’s offices in Sydney for a discussion about How corporate philanthropy can foster strong vibrant rural communities. With representation from multiple industries, the conversation was far-reaching – covering everything from telecommunications challenges to housing affordability.

Jenefer Stewart, ANZ General Manager, Business Banking, opened the roundtable and talked about the wonderful 20-year partnership that FRRR & ANZ have shared, including the extremely successful Seeds of Renewal Program. It has provided more than $5 million in grants to over 800 community groups during the lifetime of the partnership.

Jenefer highlighted the importance of supporting regional and rural communities, and also discussed the enormous benefits to ANZ employees involved in the Program.

“Our 20-year partnership with FRRR aligns strongly with ANZ’s purpose and our ongoing commitment to support vibrant and sustainable rural communities to ensure the ongoing prosperity of regional Australia.

“In addition to the benefits to regional Australia, the Program provides a great opportunity for our employees to be more involved with the Program by volunteering their time on the Assessment Committee. Under the guidance of FRRR, the Assessment Committee undertakes the thorough and methodical process of evaluating applications based on our four key themes covering Environmental Sustainability; Financial Wellbeing; Access to Housing; and Community Projects that assist communities to thrive. The overwhelming feedback from our ANZ volunteers is that they find the opportunity to be involved with the Program extremely rewarding and highly recommend the experience to others.”

Natalie Egleton, CEO of FRRR, gave an overview of the state of remote, rural and regional communities, sharing some alarming statistics about volunteer fatigue, youth engagement in volunteerism, disaster resilience and the digital divide from FRRR’s Heartbeat of Rural Australia study. Some of those key facts included:

• More than 50% of the community groups surveyed still rely on traditional communication techniques such as telephone, mail and face-to-face;
• 1/3 volunteers are elderly;
• Fewer than 30% rated their internet access as extremely reliable;
• 87% of community organisations play an economic role in their community; and
• 99% of community organisations play a social or cultural role in their community.

It was wonderful to hear the shared passion around the room for remote and rural Australia, and to learn of the incredible programs that so many of the organisations in attendance are currently undertaking to support these areas.

For example, we heard from Sasha Deshon, Community Engagement Manager for Transgrid, about their $1.5 million to a partnership with Regional Development Authority (RDA) Riverina to deliver a major jobs and skills boost to the region. Vicky Power, Head of Community for Suncorp spoke of their $1millon pledge last year to FRRR for a dedicated program to support rural communities impacted by significant natural disasters.

One of the most promising aspects of the roundtable was the clear commitment from the organisations present (including others such as Pepper Money, Stockland, Raine & Horne, Pinnacle Charitable Foundation & NRMA) for future collaboration to tackle some of the many challenges facing remote, rural and regional communities.

We look forward to continuing our role as the conduit and connector for the corporate community to collaborate for the ongoing sustainability and vitality of remote, rural and regional Australia. To find out more about the corporate partnership options or attend one of our roundtables in the future, contact the partnerships team via info@frrr.org.au.

Located on the Eyre Peninsula is the town of Port Lincoln in South Australia. This is the home of essential organisations like Yarredi Services, whose purpose is to create a space where those who need assistance can receive it.

Yarredi Services works hard to support local women and children who are victims of domestic and family violence (DFV). Working in collaboration with the South Australian Police, local health services, Aboriginal health services and other not-for-profit agencies, Yarredi focuses on a diverse range of ways to address the needs of the people affected by DFV.

Founded in 1979, Yarredi Services currently works out of a centre that provides resources for their clients to take control of their own lives; the “Women’s Wellbeing and Safety Hub”. In partnership with ANZ, FRRR awarded Yarredi Services $5,184 through the Seeds of Renewal program, to fund the purchase of a range of laptops and office equipment to be used by clients.

The laptops at the centre will be in a safe environment where women and children can study, work, find housing and any other services they may need to access online. The benefit of using the laptops at the facility ensures a level of safety and privacy. According to Executive Officer Sharyn Potts, while access to technology can be empowering, it can also come with risks.“

Technology can be used to abuse or track individuals. It’s important our clients have access to computers and technology in an environment that’s supportive and informative. We want them to be able to put resumes together and manage their banking while learning information about how to avoid being tracked.”

Adapted from an article published by ANZ.

FRRR and ANZ have awarded $250,000 in grants to 22 regional community groups and not-for-profit organisations through the ANZ Seeds of Renewal program.

The 2021 program supported remote, rural and regional communities across Australia to: improve their town’s environmental sustainability; increase financial wellbeing in communities, particularly those with disadvantaged or minority groups; or improve housing access for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness or for people living with a disability.

Jenefer Stewart, ANZ General Manager Business Banking said: “Every year, we are impressed by the innovation and desire that these local groups have for the long-term stability and sustainability of their communities.

“Over the past 20 years ANZ Seeds of Renewal has helped more than 800 community groups bring local projects to life and it’s a program we are really proud of,” Ms Stewart said.

Natalie Egleton, FRRR’s CEO, said that these grants will give communities a much-needed boost by funding initiatives that will help to build vibrant and sustainable rural and regional communities.

“Thanks to our long-standing partnership with ANZ, we are able to fund projects that we know will make a big difference to small communities. Over the last 18 months the impacts of drought, fires, floods and COVID-19 have challenged the capacity of communities and the not-for-profit organisations that support them to thrive. 

“Gaining access to this funding will make a huge difference for these local organisations and their communities. The grants will allow them to implement initiatives that will address pressing issues and support their communities to experience better environmental, financial wellbeing and social outcomes in a time when they need it the most,” Ms Egleton said.

Since being established in 2003, ANZ Seeds of Renewal has awarded $5.25 million to more than 800 projects.

Some examples of the 22 projects funded this year include:

• Agrifood Industry Training Advisory Body Ltd – Coffs Harbour, NSW – Bee Futures Environmental and Food Security Showcase – $12,100 – Educating students on career opportunities in bee propagation and environmental sustainability through two hands-on showcases.
• Yarredi Services Incorporated – Port Lincoln, SA – Women’s Wellbeing and Safety Hub Study Centre – $5,184 – Improve financial outcomes for indigenous women and girls by upgrading a facility to deliver programs.
• Anam Cara House Colac Inc – Colac, VIC – Supporting South West Victoria’s Most Vulnerable – $15,000 – Improving quality of life and increasing access to care for elderly people and those who are vulnerable to homelessness by extending available respite support.

The full list of grant recipients and their projects are below.