The partnering foundations regularly consult with the community sector and are guided by their identification of needs and priorities.

This grant round welcomes expressions of interest from charitable organisations and social enterprises that address systemic disadvantages for Canberra communities and nearby regions.  It supports initiatives that engage socially disadvantaged or marginalised community members and strengthen charities to support them.

Whilst all applications are welcome as they represent community need, each foundation has its own focus areas.

John James Foundation

• A leading medical charity focused on strengthening health outcomes in the Canberra community

The Snow Foundation

• Supports a range of causes, from grassroots projects to established organisations and leaders driving social change. The Snow Foundation is committed to strengthening community infrastructure, with a deep focus on youth at risk, domestic and family violence, being a respectful ally to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and supporting women and girls through a gender lens.

Hands Across Canberra

• Supports community organisations working with socially disadvantaged and marginalised individuals and families to address challenges in the community with a strong interest in for-purpose collaboration.
• Hands Across Canberra is currently offering Gears 4 Giving grants of up to $2,500 for relief and capital works projects. Learn more about this grant round by visiting https://handsacrosscanberra.org.au/grants/hac-x-gears-4-giving-relief-and-capital-upgrades-grant-round-2025/

Eligibility

Grants are intended for community organisations and social enterprises working with socially disadvantaged and vulnerable groups[1]

Location: projects delivered in Canberra and the nearby region

Eligible Activities:

• New and expanded programming – costs associated with the development, delivery, or evaluation of new programs or expansion of existing programs.
• Existing Programming – costs associated with the delivery of current or ongoing programming – only for individual organisations and where outcomes can be attributed.
• Capacity building – costs associated with strengthening an organisation’s ability to deliver on charitable mission.

Activities may contribute to (but are not limited by the below list):

• Social inclusion opportunities: working to build community harmony and inclusiveness
• Programs that directly improve health outcomes
• Enhancing community connectedness: including spaces to convene and connect; and bridging the digital divide.
• Support for sector collaboration
• Service awareness and outreach
• Support for staff mental health and wellbeing
• Equipment enabling improved or increased service provision
• Health education and awareness programs
• Capacity building for staff and community
• Mobility of service users to and from programs/appointments
• Taking measures to help reduce the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans in the justice system and to promote access to justice
• Providing support for individuals and families experiencing housing stress
• Preparing young, marginalized people to enter the job market and addressing barriers to employment for various community groups

Exclusions: funding will not be considered for individuals, overseas study or travel, lobbying, political activities, completed projects or expenses that have already been acquitted or salaries for regular staff.

[1] At-risk children, youth, young people, women, men and elderly persons; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, refugees, migrants, precariously employed people, unemployed people, prisoners, domestic violence victims and perpetrators, homeless people, persons with a disability, persons identifying as LGBTIQ+ amongst others.

Grant proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria:

• Focus Area (Alignment with Foundation’s values, vision, mission and purpose)
• Unmet need: relevance and rationale for identified need
• Potential for impact (reach or depth, plan to measure impact and sustainability of impact)
• Collaboration and community support
• People (organisation capacity to deliver proposed activities, inclusion of lived experience)

In addition, innovation (new, more effective, efficient, or fair approaches) will be viewed favorably, though proposals will not be judged on this criterion.

Other Considerations:

• The proposed project should not overlap with or replace government activities/projects/services but rather complement these.
• Ability to leverage financial, human and technical resources for greater impact

We have a two-step process:

1. Submit an Expression of Interest online via the Hands Across Canberra grant management portal (link below).
   Expressions of Interest open on 4 February and close on 4 March.
2. Invitation to submit an application.  Once Foundations have reviewed the Expressions of Interest, selected organisations will be invited to submit a full application. These applications will be open on 26 March and close on 17 April.

Each Foundation will go through its own process of assessment and approval and announcements will be made in June.

Please see relevant dates below.

Each foundation has its own acquittal process.

Hands Across Canberra requires a summary report within three months of the project completion, outlining impact, expenditure and key learnings.

To support organisations in measuring their impact, the foundations have developed a shared impact measuring tool. Please see it here: https://www.snowfoundation.org.au/news/canberra-foundations-collaborative-theory-of-change-outcomes-measurement-toolkit/

The Canberra Foundations Collaborative – Expression of Interest process will be administered by Hands Across Canberra which uses Foundant to manage applications.

All applications must be submitted via the online Expression of Interest Form.

New Foundant Users: Please click on “Create New Account” to complete the brief registration process and create your logon credentials.

Existing Foundant Users: If you have applied for a grant with Hands Across Canberra and the Chief Minister’s Charitable Fund in the last 3 years you should already have a username and password to access the portal. If you have forgotten your password please request a new one by clicking the “Forgot your password?” link under the logon prompts.

Interested grant applicants are encouraged to contact someone from the collaborative before making a submission.

Please click on the following link to submit an Expression of Interest:

Logon Page – Grant Lifecycle Manager (grantinterface.com.au)

The following link will take you to the Hands Across Canberra Grant Management Portal where you can submit your Expression of Interest:

https://www.grantinterface.com.au/Home/Logon?urlkey=hacf

Expressions of Interest submitted at the above link will be reviewed by all members of the Canberra Foundations Collaborative.