In a Good Place (IAGP)
Supporting mental health in rural communities
The In a Good Place program gives small remote, rural and regional communities across Australia the opportunity to access funds for a broad range of community-driven projects, services, activities or initiatives, which clearly and directly focus on strengthening mental health and wellbeing of vulnerable community members who are at risk of, or are experiencing, mental health issues.
The program aims to support a range of approaches that are preventative or responsive in nature, reduce social isolation by increasing social participation and connectedness, and reduce stigma surrounding mental health by encouraging open discussion and supporting self-help-seeking.
There are now two streams within the program:
Proudly supported by
Future rounds
There will be two rounds of the IAGP program in 2025; dates to be advised.
The 2024 program is now closed.
Recipient Announcements
How to apply
Please read the information on each of the three tabs below to make sure this is the right grant for your project.
If you want to explore other grant options, please go to Find Funding Now.
I have a question, who can I talk to?
Jeanice Henderson
j.henderson@frrr.org.au
1800 170 020
Confirm you are eligible to apply for this grant
To make sure this is the right grant for your community, please read the grant information detailed in the Program Guidelines below carefully. Click on each headline to reveal the detail.
What are the program objectives?
The In a Good Place program gives small remote, rural and regional communities across Australia, and particularly farming communities, the opportunity to access funds for a broad range of community-driven projects, services, activities or initiatives, which clearly and directly focus on strengthening the mental health and wellbeing of vulnerable community members who are at risk of, or are experiencing, mental health issues.
The program supports a range of approaches that are preventative or responsive in nature, reduce social isolation by increasing social participation and connectedness, and reduce stigma surrounding mental health by encouraging open discussion and supporting self-help-seeking.
Is this grant available in my area?
In a Good Place is a national grants program, with a preference to support projects serving communities with populations under 10,000 in remote, rural and regional communities.
Population centres greater than 10,000 for projects that support community members from smaller population centres will also be considered.
How much funding is available? Are there priority areas?
In a Good Place offers grants of up to $20,000, from a funding pool of at least $290,000. These grants are available thanks to the generous support of CCI Giving, Macdoch Foundation, Jibb Foundation, Morris Family Foundation, Norman Family Foundation and Rebecca Gorman & John Sevior.
There are two streams of funding available:
While all requests will be considered, our priorities for funding are outlined below:
What can be funded?
The program is open primarily to charitable projects that use non-clinical approaches to engagement, and are community-based and accessible to everyone. Priority will be given to initiatives that:
Projects must:
Applicants are required to submit a brief EOI outlining their proposed project. If the project and organisation meet the eligibility criteria and program objectives, a link to the more detailed online application form will be provided by email.
What can’t be funded?
There are several areas that we can’t fund through this program. If in doubt, please contact us.
Is my organisation eligible?
To apply, you must meet the following criteria:
If your project involves working directly with children / youth under 18 years, your organisation must have policies and procedures around working with children, Working with Children Checks, and the handling of child abuse complaints, or the project may not be funded. See the Frequently Asked Questions section on our website for further information.
Applicants with outstanding final reports are not eligible to apply unless a time extension has been granted.
Please note, you will be considered ineligible if the:
Gather information to support your grant application
Please read the information below to help you plan and prepare your project. The information below sets out what you MUST include for your project to be considered. There are plenty of helpful resources to support you along the way.
Please contact FRRR if you have any questions about the following information.
If you are invited to submit a full application, please ensure you have:
Your grant application MUST include:
Clear project information
A clear description of exactly what the grant funds will be used for, when and where the project will happen, who will benefit and who will be involved in delivering the project, why the project and grant funds are needed, how funds will be spent and how the activities and success of the project will be recorded, evaluated and shared.
Where possible, also indicate that your community is ready to deliver the project and if required, can support the initiative ongoing – i.e. awareness of need is widespread, appropriate leadership, resources, skills and knowledge exist in the community.
Why is this important?
FRRR needs to clearly understand your project to assess its merits. Applicants should focus on addressing the what, when, where, who, why and how of the project, as this is the best formula to clearly communicate the details of the project.
A ready community is best placed to achieve the aims of your project, so during assessment, our staff look for
information that tells us that good leadership, skills and awareness exist in your community to support the project now and in the future.
Helpful resources:
Financial information
Applications received without the requested financial information are ineligible. Providing incorrect information on financials is currently the most frequent reason why applications are not considered.
Please note:
Why is this important?
FRRR uses this information to understand your organisation’s financial viability and ability to manage grant funds.
Project budget
You must include a project budget that clearly shows the items that FRRR grant funds will be used for and shows all income and expenses related to your project.
Budgets should be realistic and must add up – i.e. total expenditure must match total income.
Applicant contributions in cash or in-kind are highly regarded. Quotes or detailed rationale for items over $1,000 are required, where possible. Note: FRRR suggests costing unskilled volunteer labour at $45 per hour.
For more info on costing volunteer labour, visit: https://explore.fundingcentre.com.au/help-sheets/valuing-volunteer-labour.
Why is this important?
A clear budget helps FRRR to understand the size of your project, exactly how FRRR funds will be spent and helps demonstrate community support for your project through in-kind contributions either from your organisation or partners / community members.
Helpful resources:
Eligible legal entities
Every application needs to include an organisation that holds either an ABN or Incorporation Certificate. If your organisation doesn’t have that, FRRR could still fund the project (with your organisation as the delivery organisation) but you need another organisation’s support, which we refer to as the ‘legal organisation’.
Even though your organisation may complete the application (and will be doing the work), it’s the overarching organisation’s legal and financial information that needs to be provided. They also need to provide a letter from the legal entity, confirming they are willing to play this role, with a template available here for your convenience.
This situation often occurs often when the organisation delivering the activity or project is a branch of an overarching organisation – such as a local CWA or YMCA branch.
Why is this important?
This FRRR program is only able to distribute funds to not-for-profit organisations with an ABN or Incorporation number, and FRRR needs to know that the organisation with that ABN / Incorporation number understands and agrees to carry out their responsibilities in relation to your project, if successful.
Supporting materials
FRRR strongly recommends that you provide supporting materials such as letters of support, evidence of permission from the property owner, community plans, survey results, photographs, media clips and research reports that can show broad community support and partnerships involved in the project. For more information on supporting documentation, watch this recording.
Large documents should be referenced and explained in the application.
Why is this important?
FRRR seeks to fund projects that are well-supported by the broader local community, are locally-led and delivered, show good partnerships and benefit multiple parts of the community. As FRRR is not always familiar with your community, our staff consider support material as evidence toward understanding level of community need, benefit and support.
Helpful resources:
Focus area
We have grouped the kinds of projects communities commonly ask us to help fund in the IAGP program, which we call the Activity Tree. You will be asked to nominate one of these five areas for the IAGP program:
We ask you to nominate one of these five areas when you apply. So, before you lodge your application, download the Activity Tree to help you identify your focus area.
Why is this important?
FRRR makes grants to communities, but we also need to be able to demonstrate to our funding partners where communities need support.
Need some more help?
We have a large selection of resources on our Grantseeker Resources Page to help you along the way.
If you have significant issues accessing a stable internet connection, please contact our team to discuss an alternative way of applying:
Ph: 1800 170 020 or Email: info@frrr.org.au
Inspiration
Explore some of the projects we’ve previously funded to see how other organisations have helped their community thrive.
Maangart Yorga (Jam Tree Woman)
Goomalling Aboriginal Corporation in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, used their $19,605 In a Good Place grant, funded by CCI Giving for their project called Maangart Yorga (Jam Tree Woman) – a workshop series delivered over the course of a year to impart both traditional and life skills to Aboriginal women and girls.
Simpson Dairy Farmers in a good place
With plunging milk prices and bushfires in South West Victoria affecting the community, the Simpson & District Community Centre (SDCC) knew it was important to keep the conversation about mental health open.
Mental health training to support young people
Beyond the Bell Great Southern Coast applied to the In a Good Place program, on behalf of the Southern Grampians Live4Life Partnership Group, for funds to support the implementation of the Live4Life model in the Southern Grampians Shire.
