April 10th, 2023Improvements in store as new council community grants round opens

The Hepburn Shire Council says it will deliver grants through a more efficient, equitable and transparent process under changes recommended in a recent review and adopted by Council at its March meeting.

The council’s new round of Community Grants opened on Friday 31 March.

Mayor, Cr Brian Hood, said that grants play an important role in getting community projects off the ground and delivered.

“This review of Council grants has led to a report recommending some significant improvements, ensuring processes are streamlined and recipients receive funds in a more timely way, including through quick response grants,” said Cr Hood.

“We want to encourage more community groups to get involved in the grant programs and ensure that funds are more widely distributed across the Shire,” he said.

The review investigated Council’s five grants programs – Community Grants, Event Grants, Biodiversity Grants, Landcare Grants and Towards Zero Grants.

“Feedback from grant program applicants and recipients has been overwhelmingly positive, indicating the value and importance of these programs to our communities,” said Cr Hood.

Council undertook a period of consultation with the community and former grant recipients, and this feedback has formed the basis for many of the recommendations. The report also incorporates nine recommendations made by Victorian Auditor General’s Office to all councils after an audit in 2022. 

Some of the key recommendations include developing a Council Community Funding Policy to guide all grant making, strengthening the evaluation criteria and scoring matrix program, establishing strengthened evaluation panels, developing a grant handbook, and providing opportunities for community members to complete grant writing workshops.

Changes to the grants programs will be made over the coming year, the council says.