Draft Community Fund Terms and Conditions.
The project Community Fund will offer financial support to local community projects through a grant program. The grant program will provide between $[45],000 of funding each year from commencement of construction of the project to decommissioning of the project. The amount will be up to $[3],000 per wind turbine generator installed for the commercial life of the project.
Organisations with suitable local community initiatives will be encouraged to apply by completing an online application form available through the project specific web site. The goal is to provide financial support for projects that contribute to the social, economic and environmental sustainability of the community in the immediate vicinity of the project.
Applicant Eligibility Criteria
Applicants meeting the criteria below will be eligible for grants:
Criterion 1. Grants are only available to organisations with an ABN. They are not available to individuals.
Criterion 2. If a grant recipient has previously received funding under this scheme, further grants will only be available once that organisation has completed the reporting requirement for those previous grants.
Criterion 3. Grants are not available to political organisations or for political campaigns under any circumstance.
Criterion 4. Grants are not available to religious organisations for religious purposes under any circumstance.
Criterion 5. Applicants may submit an application for only one project each year.
Project Eligibility Criteria
Community initiatives and/or projects meeting the criteria listed below are eligible for grants:
Criterion 1. The initiative and or proposal must be within the localities of the project, or alternatively be able to demonstrate a strong connection to the immediate district and or its local residents.
Criterion 2. The initiative and or proposal must deliver real measurable tangible benefits to the residents and or local communities of the project.
Criterion 3. Proposals should contribute to maintaining:
- environmental sustainability,
- economic sustainability;
- education advancement in the areas of sustainability; and/or
- social sustainability such as well-being, culture, recreation and education.
Criterion 4. Proposals should be complete before applications open for the following year. Grants for multi-year projects must be applied for on a year-by-year basis.
Criterion 5. Applicants must accept that their initiatives and or proposals and their deliverables/benefits may be publicized as being supported by the project.
Criterion 6. The maximum funding for any one project is 50% of the total available grant amount in any one year.
Criterion 7. Any initiative or proposal directly effecting any adjoining neighbour should include a letter of support from such person evidencing their support.
Voting Rules
As of 20[21/22] voting in the project grant program will operate as described in these Guidelines.
In particular:
- Community proposals will only be eligible to be included in the vote for funding if their nomination is accompanied by a letter of support from either the project and or an Eligible Voter; and
- Voting and tallying of voting will occur as follows:
Voting
- Each Eligible Voter can vote for as many initiatives and or proposals as they want, so long as the total value of the proposals they vote for adds up to less than the total amount available to be allocated;
- There is only one vote per Eligible Voter per calendar year or per rounding round. It is not intended to give the same landowner/ratepayer within the area multiple votes or for votes to be altered after they are cast;
- For corporate and or multi owner landowners that are Eligible Voters the individual listed on the Council rates notice shall be the nominated contact and authorized agent for the Eligible Voter;
- The project will set up online voting to make this as easy as possible; and
- Eligible Voters will be able to place their vote by email and or phone.
Allocation of the Grants will be based on Community Votes.
The eligible proposal with the most votes will receive grant funding;
- The eligible proposal with the next most votes that has a value less than the remaining pool of grant money will receive funding.
- This will continue until there are no more eligible proposals to fund or no more money available.
Eligible Voters will be those on the local Council rating records as owning land and or living within 5-10kms (tbc) of the project at the time of the voting round. The Project Community Fund remains under review and will be the subject of further consultation with the Community Engagement Committee and residents/landowners living within 5-10km (tbc) of the project site.
Grant Application Process
The project will administer the grants and call for funding applications once per calendar year following the commencement of major construction works at the site. The local community will provide input on which eligible proposals best achieve the outcomes the community considers the most important to them. Application forms will be provided in a word format during the application period by [ ].
It is expected that the project grant program will operate as detailed below but given the long term nature of the grant program this may be refined following consultation with and input from the local project community:
Step 1
- Download, complete and submit an application form to the project prior to the last working day of September each year.
- Applicants will be notified of receipt within 3-5 working days.
Step 2
- The project will check that each application meets the relevant criteria.
- Applicants will be notified if their application does not meet the criteria.
- All applications that meet the criteria will get moved on to Step 3.
Step 3
- Details of all eligible proposals will be put on the project website.
- Eligible Voters will vote for the eligible proposal that in their view best meets the goals of the project grant program.
Step 4
- Voting will run from for 10 working days during the 3rd and 4th weeks of [set month] each year.
- The project will make a final decision about which proposals receive grants based on this voting.
- All Applicants will be notified of the decision.
Step 5
- Successful applicants and project will enter into a standard funding agreement recording any joint funding, the agreed deliverables and the timeline.
Step 6
- Successful applicants will be required to provide a short report and or photos of the completed initiative and or proposal once the grant has been spent and which will be published at least on the project web site.
Questions?
Any interested organisation that has any questions regarding the grant program, will be able to contact the project community liaison officer through the contact form on this website.
End.