Give to FRRR

Your support puts communities in control

FRRR is inspired and driven by the needs and abilities of remote, rural and regional communities. Our programs are designed to provide support for what each community tells us they need. After all, community-led organisations are the ones on the ground, and they are best-placed to know what will really make a difference.

That’s why we ask our supporters to consider supporting one of our core grant programs:

Strengthening Rural Communities – Small & Vital Grants
Strengthening Rural Communities – Prepare & Recover Grants
Back to School vouchers
Heywire Youth Innovation Grants

Thank you for supporting our project with your generous grant. There is no organisation like FRRR that exists specifically to support rural and remote projects. We are so grateful for the important and unique work of FRRR. We would not have been able to have such a successful year without your contribution. We are excited to keep growing and reaching our goals, and maintain a lasting reciprocal partnership with FRRR that goes beyond just a grant cycle.

Vanessa and the Team – Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (The Pertame School): “Ngketya Nwernaka Ilkerta Mparetyeka” Making Our Language Strong, Pertame Master-Apprentice Project

Ways to Give

Click on the tabs below to explore your options for partnering with FRRR.

FRRR is inspired and driven by the needs and abilities of remote, rural and regional communities.

Our programs are designed to provide support for what each community tells us they need. After all, these community groups are on the ground, and they are best-placed to know what will really make a difference.

These communities deserve better support and have a huge range of projects that need funding. Sometimes it can be very basic things like a split system air conditioner for the public hall, so community activities can continue on even the hottest or coldest days. Other times, it can be to assist communities recovering from natural disasters, such as purchasing new equipment to support volunteer emergency responders or supporting children and families impacted by bushfires to process complex emotions resulting from trauma.

The sections below outline some options for giving to FRRR today, so that together we can support communities beyond the big cities and make a positive impact in the short term.

Get in touch with FRRR’s Partnerships team to discuss how you can make a meaningful difference to remote, rural and regional communities.

Strengthen Rural Communities

The Strengthening Rural Communities (SRC) Small & Vital grants program gives thousands of small remote, rural and regional communities across Australia access to funding for a broad range of community needs.

Grants are available for grassroots, community-led initiatives that directly and clearly benefit local communities. Many of the small community organisations that apply find it difficult to secure grants for their projects or, in fact, are ineligible for some types of funding, so the Small & Vital grants stream plays an important role in sustaining and revitalising communities.

SRC grants can be used to support a range of community-led initiatives such as:

Increasing community connection by installing shade and lighting over the BBQ area at the town’s park.
Enhancing physical and mental health of farmers by promoting a community fitness group.
Supporting the delivery of playgroups, early learning and parenting support programs, or building pre-school nature playgrounds.

In essence, SRC grants allow communities to apply for funding for whatever they need – as long as it is has a broad charitable community benefit.

Importantly, the SRC grants program provides much more than funding. The knowledge, reach and flexibility of FRRR’s SRC team means we understand the unique needs of rural and remote communities. We support communities’ volunteer capacity and seek to assist them to attract additional funding. SRC grants provide a mechanism for future vibrancy and vitality. Significant donations to SRC can be tracked, with outcomes and impact reported back to donors.

Learn more about SRC Small & Vital Grants

Give now to support SRC Small & Vital grants

Help communities prepare for, and recover from, natural disasters

In recent years, Australia has suffered a string of natural disasters that have adversely impacted remote, rural and regional communities. For this reason, FRRR has a ‘Prepare & Recover’ stream within our flagship Strengthening Rural Communities (SRC) grants program.

Prepare & Recover grants up to $25,000 each support communities to implement initiatives that prevent and prepare for future climate related impacts or recover from existing disasters over the medium to long term, long after immediate relief has ceased.

Donations can be made to this stream at any time, with a donor able to nominate which disaster they are responding to – if they have a preference.

Learn more about SRC Prepare & Recover Grants

Give now to support SRC Prepare & Recover grants

Get children back to school, ready to learn

Established in 2005, Back To School is a national program that focuses on rural and regional children and families in need. Gift vouchers valued at $50 are redeemable either online through major retailers or at select local stores for items such as school uniforms, clothing, shoes, school bags and stationery.

For nearly 20 years, FRRR has been supporting families with these vouchers so their children can commence the school year with much-needed confidence and a sense of belonging, making them better placed to learn and thrive.

Learn more about the Back to School program

Give now to provide more Back to School vouchers

Heywire Youth Innovation Grants

The FRRR ABC Heywire Youth Innovation Grants play a vital role in bringing the voice and ideas of young people to life. In collaboration with the ABC, FRRR provides grants to enable communities to take action on the ideas generated by young Australians who attend the annual Heywire Regional Youth Summit.

Through FRRR’s grants, our mentoring, experience and networks, these projects can make a huge difference in the lives of young people in remote, rural and regional Australia. FRRR ensures the voice and lived-experience of young people is present across the grantmaking process, involving Heywire alumni in the assessment of grant applications and proviing an internship experience with FRRR.

Find out more about the FRRR ABC Heywire Youth Innovation Grants program

Give now for Heywire Youth Innovation Grants

Remote, rural and regional communities have immediate needs to make where they live stronger and more vibrant but FRRR also looks to the future and plans for the long-term to support these communities.

There are currently two options for giving for the long-term. Both options are Endowment Funds, so that income from investments grow the Funds, which are sub-funds of FRRR’s Public Fund. A portion of the annual income from investments will be distributed via grants. This ensures that the corpus of the Funds grow, subject to investment market returns.

Donations and gifts are pooled together and donors will be kept informed of the Funds’ value and the impact of grants made possible with donations.

FRRR’s Board and its Finance & Audit sub-committee will safely steward these sub-funds over the long-term, investing conservatively alongside FRRR’s existing corpus. This means donations to these long-horizon sub-funds will be leveraged time and time again, ensuring they keep having an impact, rather than being spent once.

All donations and gifts to a sub-fund of FRRR’s Public Fund are tax-deductible in Australia.

Disaster Recovery and Resilience Fund

As Australia faces an increasing number of natural disasters – bushfires, floods, cyclones and extended droughts – it is increasingly important to have the resources and funds ready to support communities affected and to help them prepare for future disaster events.

FRRR’s Disaster Resilience and Recovery Fund (DRRF) was created in 2019 to reach grassroots community organisations across remote, rural and regional Australia, who collectively make up the social fabric of affected communities – but often miss out on receiving funds donated for disaster recovery.

This Fund ensures that FRRR can support community recovery, long after the headlines have faded. It also funds preparedness initiatives so that communities are in a better position to recover from a disaster event.

Read more about the Disaster Resilience and Recovery Fund.

You can give securely online to FRRR’s Disaster Resilience and Recovery Fund or contact the Partnerships Team.

Small Grants Fund

Since 2000, FRRR has supported remote, rural and regional communities in many ways to ensure they receive funding for the initiatives they identify as important for them. Many of the grantees that FRRR supports are small grassroots organisations in communities with small populations – most of which cannot easily access philanthropic support. Every year, FRRR relies on the generosity of individuals, philanthropy, business and government in order to offer grants and other capacity building opportunities.

To provide a level of reliability and security in the future for our national core funding programs like Strengthening Rural Communities and Back to School, FRRR invites donors to give for the long-term by giving to our Small Grants Fund. Over time, FRRR will build up an endowment to ensure there will always be funding available for small flexible grants for remote, rural and regional communities that need support.

Within the Small Grants Fund, it is possible to give specifically for small grants to support the Central Victorian region. This geographically-oriented approach was made possible after the the Community Foundation of Central Victoria (CFCV) wound-up in 2020 and gave its corpus of around $580,000 to FRRR as the founding donor of this new fund. If other regions or towns would like to establish a grants fund specific to their area, please get in touch with the Partnerships Team.

FRRR is proud to continue the impact of the CFCV which gave hundreds of grants to local community organisations and administered scholarships and sub-funds. Individuals and businesses can continue support community groups in Central Victoria by donating to the Central Victorian Regional Grants Fund which initially will offer grants through FRRR’s Strengthening Rural Communities program.

You can give securely online to FRRR’s Small Grants Fund or contact the Partnerships Team.

Make a lasting difference in remote, rural and regional Australia… through a gift in your will to FRRR.

Including a gift to FRRR in your will means that people and places in remote, rural and regional Australia can access the support they need to continue to create wonderful places to live and work and drive our shared prosperity.

Since 2000, FRRR has delivered in excess of $155 million to more than 13,000 projects in remote, rural and regional towns and communities.

By leaving a gift to FRRR in your will – a bequest – you will be helping to address inequality and disadvantage. You will be contributing to creating strong, resilient and sustainable communities by bringing to life the projects that local communities prioritise.

Bequests are the gift that never stops giving and they are not difficult to set-up. It doesn’t require much time or a lot of money. In fact, any amount can have an impact far greater and more lasting than you might expect.

There are several ways that you can structure a bequest:

Give a specified amount;
Give a percentage of the overall value of your estate;
Make a residual gift – which is a share of your estate after providing for family and friends.

Get in touch with FRRR’s Partnerships Team for more information or to discuss how you could leave a legacy gift to support the sustainability and vibrant future of remote, rural and regional communities in Australia.

Make an impact across remote, rural and regional Australia by giving to grassroots community organisations through FRRR.

FRRR can help Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs), including family foundations and donor advised sub-funds of Public Ancillary Funds (PuAFs), to give to grassroots community organisations in remote, rural and regional Australia that these structured philanthropic vehicles can’t directly support. FRRR can receive donations and give to community groups that reflect preferences for particular geographies and/or themes of interests and priority areas.

FRRR’s specific Deductible Gift Recipient Item 1 (DGR-1) listing and broad charitable remit allow it to grant to not-for-profit organisations and grassroots community organisations conducting charitable activities across remote, rural and regional Australia. This means our grantees do not have to be an ACNC registered charity, nor do they have to be DGR-1 endorsed.

This means that PAFs and PuAFs can give to FRRR, obtain a DGR-1 receipt, and donations can reach the far corners of Australia, through grassroots organisations who are often otherwise restricted from receiving your philanthropic support.

Get in touch with FRRR to discuss how your PAF or PuAF Sub-Fund can support remote, rural and regional communities to thrive.

Giving a little can make a big difference.

Workplace Giving is an effective way for employees to make regular donations to causes they are passionate about and for employers to demonstrate their commitment to the community.

For Employees:
– you decide to donate a set amount each week, which comes out of your regular pre-tax salary payment
– you pay less tax, and your chosen charity gets much needed funds.

For Employers:
– helps to build your culture, strengthen employee engagement, enhances your brand
– has a meaningful impact in the communities in which you work.

Even the smallest donation from each pay can make a difference

Just $5 a week (that’s one coffee a week, which adds up to $260 a year) can have a big impact – for example it could:

Purchase Back to School vouchers so that five children can start the school year with the things they need, like the right uniform or stationery, which will help them to fit in and supports their learning;
Buy a printer so that a community group can publish a newsletter to let local community members know what’s going on and what’s on offer; or
Help a community group to buy paint to refresh their local community hall.

Matched giving makes an even bigger difference!

By employers matching their employees’ donations to FRRR, dollar for dollar, they can demonstrate their commitment to rural communities. It sends a powerful message, at the same time helping to build stronger, more vibrant rural, regional and remote communities.

Workplace Giving is usually managed through an employer’s payroll system. Companies may use their own system or integrate with an existing platform such as Shout For Good, Good2Give, Give Now and Good Company – FRRR is registered with all of these platforms.

Workplace Giving is one of the rare opportunities employers have to connect with their people on a very personal level. Saying, “We’ll help you support the things you care most about,” is a very compelling proposition and sounds like a company I want to work for!

I have always given to charity and through Workplace Giving, I was able to double my impact as my organisation matches any donation I make. I can make a bigger difference this way. Seemed like a no-brainer to be honest.

Emma Barton – Origin Energy

Five reasons to donate to FRRR

We are locally driven – so funds go to where communities most need them.
We reach community groups that often can’t access tax deductible donations.
We diligently assess the organisations and projects that receive grants, so you can be confident that your money is going to make a difference.
Funds can go to things that matter to you. It could be to a particular cause such as education, disaster recovery, aged care, environmental initiatives or culture and arts projects, or to a particular location.
We are the only national foundation focussed on investing in remote, rural and regional communities so we are able to observe, identify, understand and respond with funding to the challenges and needs of these communities.

Why FRRR? See what others say about our work.