$16 Million in Grants to Support Volunteers
18 March 2013 at 11:39 am
The Federal Government is offering community organisations the opportunity to apply for funding of up to $5,000 in its 2013 round of Volunteer Grants.
The Volunteer Grants are now open for application with $16 million available to organisations around the country.
In launching the grants round, Minister for Families, Communities Services and Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin and Minister for Community Services, Julie Collins, said that the grants can be used to buy much needed equipment or to assist volunteers with fuel costs, training courses and compulsory background checks.
“Our volunteers do an amazing job and these grants help them to carry out their important work,” Macklin said.
In 2012, the Federal Government reportedly provided volunteer grants to 4,800 community organisations, which helped more than 166,000 of their volunteers.
“Volunteers are an integral part of our culture, heritage and daily life – more than six million Australians volunteer each year,” Collins said.
“They also play a critical role in emergencies, as we saw during the recent fires and floods, supporting their fellow Australians on the disaster frontline and helping to rebuild local communities.”
Applications for Volunteer Grants 2013 are open online from March 15 until April 24.
“These grants are an acknowledgement of the invaluable work volunteers in community organisations carry out to help some of our most vulnerable people,” Collins said.
