Grant Guidelines

Community Grant Giving:

Through its Community Grants Program the Scanlon Foundation seeks to invest as a "Social Entrepeneur" by assisting eligible, primarily "Grassroots" community based organisations (with DGR status), through grants between $5,000 and $25,000 for innovative and creative projects aimed at:

1. Encouraging leadership from culturally diverse groups or individuals from culturally diverse backgrounds

2. Building awareness and acceptance of the right to cultural identity and understanding of difference

3. Enhancing the social development of individuals and/or groups from culturally diverse communities by improving self-awareness, self-esteem, tolerance and communication

4. Fulfilling the potential of youth from multicultural backgrounds through education, mentorship and early intervention

5. Supporting issues-based research that focuses on achieving cohesive social change

Funding Principles:

The Foundation applies some common principles to underlie our grant giving. When considering our support for a project, we look for:

• an emphasis on the "innovate - evaluate - disseminate" process. We seek to fund projects which take a new approach to problems, support the evaluation of their trial, and if successful, their replication in other locations.

• a focus on prevention. In seeking to maximize the value of our grants, we try to address the causes of problems, rather than treat the symptoms. Supporting social research is fundamental to this approach.

• potential for social change. We want our grants to provide the opportunity for people from culturally diverse backgrounds to be empowered to participate more fully in society.

• long-term sustainability. We try to fund programs that will continue to have an impact well beyond the period of our support. Will the grant be effective in bringing about structural change that will be significant (within its context) in ten years time?

• partnerships. We encourage applications from organisations that are working with others in their field. Our grants have greater impact when combined with support from other sources. These might include other trusts and foundations, government, business, and volunteers. We are very happy to be one of a number of supporters of a program.

Applications for funding support for programs (projects) should have regard to the Foundation's Funding Exclusions.

Funding Exclusions:

In evaluating whom the Scanlon Foundation will provide with a grant, the following funding requests will be excluded:

• Core business of an organisation or general operational or direct service provision expenses (involving salaries, rent, administration and travel costs).

• Recurrent costs or general operating expenses of established programs

• Long-standing social care projects

• Stand alone festivals and exhibitions with no social development component

• Stand alone theatrical performances, productions and workshops with no social development component

• Capital and building works, equipment or vehicles

• Political organisations or campaigns

• Associations that cannot prove tax deductible status

• Programs for which funding has previously been sought within the previous 24 month period and rejected

• Programs focused on supporting health campaigns with no social development component.

For information on how to apply please refer to the Grant Applications page