Not-for-profit organisations (NFPs) across the South Coast are sharing more than $360,000 across 27 projects that will strengthen their capacity to support their local communities.
The funding comes through FRRR’s Investing in Rural Community Futures (IRCF) program, in partnership with The Snow Foundation and Community Enterprise Foundation, which has been operating across the South Coast since 2020.
Carolyn Ardler, FRRR’s Program Manager for the IRCF South Coast program, said that the premise of the IRCF program is to encourage local groups to engage in greater collaboration, skill-building and, where possible, share resources and learnings for the benefit of the whole community.
“The IRCF program is all about helping local groups to be better able to support the communities and causes they were set up to assist. It involves a mix of grants directly to individual NFPs and workshops and training (usually led by a local group on behalf of other NFPs), all supported by a facilitator in each community who works alongside the groups. The program is entirely community driven, starting with a co-designed community roadmap that’s updated regularly, which helps FRRR and our partners prioritise where to direct investment in each community.
“Over the last three years, there’s been significant investment in strategy and planning, and now we’re seeing more projects around efficiencies, systems and processes, alongside continued investment in people and their capacity. As we head toward the culmination phase of the program, we’re also seeing communities establishing the systems and processes to sustain the networks, connections and collaborative ways of working they’ve established in recent years, so that’s exciting,” Ms Ardler said.
The Snow Foundation was the first donor partner to support the program on the South Coast and local resident and Chairman of the Foundation, Terry Snow, said that it’s so rewarding to see the long-term changes that have come about.
“While there’s still a few months until the program formally concludes, it’s been wonderful to see how well the local not-for-profit and community groups have embraced the chance to come together, agree where they could all benefit from upskilling and sharing their experiences, and to then put it into action. There are several organisations that are now much stronger and they are better able to support not only their chosen beneficiaries, but also other not-for-profit organisations. We’re delighted to have been part of this and look forward to seeing these projects that are being announced today also make an impact,” Mr Snow said.
Bay & Basin projects
In the Bay & Basin area, seven projects are sharing $76,749, thanks to the support of Bendigo Bank’s Community Enterprise Foundation. The focus in this round of funding was strongly on youth-aligned organisations and projects. This part of the South Coast is one of the more recent areas to come on board the IRCF journey, so the groups are still building connections and working closely with the local IRCF facilitator.
David Impey, CEO of the Community Enterprise Foundation, said it’s really pleasing to be able to support more projects that will strengthen the future of these local organisations and the region.
“It’s exciting to see a diverse range of projects continuing to come forward from local NFPs. This round, we are pleased to see several that focus on engaging young people, which is great to see as they are critical to ensuring a strong future in these regions. But there are also a number of projects that will enhance the capacity of these organisations, such as better systems and processes, upskilling staff or volunteers and creating assets and resources that can be shared across NFPs. This goes right to the heart of ensuring strong communities and we are delighted to be part of it.”
Nowra projects
Ten projects in and around Nowra are sharing $114,911, thanks to support from The Snow Foundation. This is the final round of grants for Nowra and we’ve seen increased networking activities and discussions about how to collaborate on projects. This tranche of projects has a strong focus on supporting people and developing systems.
Batemans Bay projects
This is also the final round of funding for Batemans Bay and five projects will share $94,946, with support from The Snow Foundation. With these grants there is a focus on creating efficiencies and most projects are collaborative, with more than one organisation benefitting.
Ulladulla projects
Thanks again to The Snow Foundation, five projects are sharing $76,125, most of which focus on enhancing administration systems and procedures to improve capacity and better support the community.
The full list of grant recipients and their projects are below.
| Organisation | Project | Location | Grant | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BATEMANS BAY | ||||||
| Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn Parish of Moruya | Moruya Commons Community Hub - Fostering Participatory Culture Foster collaboration, reducing duplication and strengthening networks across the not-for-profit sector by providing IT equipment and governance for a shared office space. | Moruya | $20,546 | |||
| Arts Council of Eurobodalla Inc | SASI - Shared Administrative Systems Implementation Ease volunteer working conditions through employing a co-ordinator to develop procedures and policy manuals for three organisations - Arts Council, River of Art Festival and Sustainable Agriculture Eurobodalla (SAGE). | Moruya | $30,000 | |||
| Southcoast Health and Sustainability Alliance | Governance In Action - Enhancing Sustainability and Collaboration for NFPs Support organisation to proactively tackle climate change, with training for volunteer committee in financial management, governance and administrative systems. | Batemans Bay | $14,400 | |||
| Sustainable Agriculture and Gardening Eurobodalla | Policies, Procedures and Capacity Building for SAGE Volunteers Support development of strong local food systems, offering events and training opportunities for community, by establishing an event management / coordinator position. | Moruya | $10,000 | |||
| The Family Place Inc | Building a Resilient Future: Advancing Sustainable Growth through Fee for Service Expansion Expand access to support services by growing organisation's capabilities, through increased staffing resource to enable CEO to focus on building sustainable OOHC model. | Moruya | $20,000 | |||
| BAY & BASIN | ||||||
| Bay & Basin Community Resources Limited | Work Re-Design to Thrive and Grow Upskilling staff to re-design workflows and tasks to increase the efficiency of a community organisation. | Bay & Basin region | $29,734 | |||
| Changing Tide Wellness Ltd | Community Connect: Empowering Wellness Creating an accessible, inclusive website, so those with disabilities can more easily access information about appropriate services. | Bay & Basin | $5,426 | |||
| Community Champions - SP&SGB Inc | Community Champions - Bay & Basin Community Growth and Empowerment Workshops 2023/24 Encourage collaborative community conversations to explore ways to better support the community across the not-for-profit sector. | St Georges Basin / Sanctuary Point | $4,000 | |||
| Noah's Ark Centre of Shoalhaven Inc | Building Bay & Basin Administration support for a service provider that is focused on children with disabilities and special needs, so they can expand and embed their services. | Sanctuary Point | $7,488 | |||
| Sanctuary Point Community Pride Incorporated | Sanctuary Point Nexus: Fostering Pride and Unity Bolster community engagement and pride in Sanctuary Point by creating a comprehensive visual of community assets. | Sanctuary Point | $5,650 | |||
| Sussex Inlet Foundation for Community Development | Building Youth-focused Services for Sussex Inlet Encourage youth engagement and involvement in the community through the development of a Youth Advisory Group. | Sussex Inlet | $9,500 | |||
| yiliga-miraral Wellbeing Team Vincentia High School P&C Association | walawaani-ngarn Into The Future Measuring the impact of a program that provides wellbeing support to students and families to help attract additional funding, so it can continue. | Vincentia | $14,951 | |||
| NOWRA | ||||||
| Beyond Empathy Limited | BE Studios Capacity Building Project Strengthen organisational capacity in Nowra and the Shoalhaven region by engaging someone to develop a business plan, marketing strategy and promotional materials to support employment pathways for young artists. | Nowra | $14,144 | |||
| Kangaroo Valley Voice Incorporated | Kangaroo Valley Voice Capacity Building and Longevity Project Enhance organisational capacity and sustainability by employing part-time staff and developing a website for The Kangaroo Valley Voice newspaper to better connect the community. | Kangaroo Valley | $20,000 | |||
| Noah's Ark Centre of Shoalhaven Inc | Our Workforce - A New Way Boost organisational capacity by creating a tool to help a children and family service provider transition to flexible working. | Nowra | $9,400 | |||
| Nowra Community Food Store Incorporated | HR Plan Implementation Strengthening operations by providing training and capacity building for staff and volunteers at a low-cost grocery store, which is run as a social enterprise. | South Nowra | $7,377 | |||
| Nowra Local Aboriginal Land Council | Strong Board Foundations Strengthening operations through training in IT, cyber-security and financial record keeping for staff and Board members to support their transition to digital record-keeping. | Bomaderry | $9,500 | |||
| Shoalhaven Business Chamber Incorporated | Resource Hub Shoalhaven Upgrading a website to create a central hub for policies, procedures and tools for members. | Nowra, North Nowra, Bomaderry, West Nowra | $11,490 | |||
| Shoalhaven Neighbourhood Services Inc | Creating Efficiencies: Streamlining Policies and Procedures Creating efficiencies by streamlining processes, policies and practices to comply with current regulations. | Nowra | $10,000 | |||
| Shoalhaven Womens Resource Group Ltd | Strategic Aim 2 - Successful and Sustainable Operation of ROCC Build organisational stability by engaging a HR consultant to review HR and WHS policies, as well as conduct team building and wellbeing activities to strengthen an organisation’s culture. | Nowra | $15,000 | |||
| South Coast Beef Producers Association Incorporated | Upgrading the South Coast Beef Website Upgrading a website to handle financial transactions such as invoices and taking payments, thereby streamlining processes and freeing up staff. | Nowra | $3,000 | |||
| Waminda South Coast Women's Health and Wellbeing Aboriginal Corporation | Blak Cede Social Enterprises - Pathways to Cultural Employment | Terara | $15,000 | |||
| ULLADULLA | ||||||
| Growing Together South Coast Incorporated | Growing Stronger Together Support skills development with training in market gardening and first aid, developing an e-commerce platform and sourcing funding streams for new NFP growth. | Milton | $14,900 | |||
| Safe Waters Community Care Inc | ASES Accreditation for Financially Sustainable Homeless Services in Ulladulla Build expansion of homelessness service, allowing access to longer term government funding with formal Australian Service Excellence Standards (ASES) accreditation and policies and procedures update. | Ulladulla | $16,565 | |||
| South Coast Bookclubs Incorporated | Growth of Services Foster literacy, social connections and engagement by collaborating with three organisations, pooling resources, and providing local book access. | Ulladulla | $7,200 | |||
| StoryFest Incorporated | StoryFest Sustainable Schools Program Encourage youth to develop a love of reading and writing, by building an ongoing sustainable financial model to host the Annual Literacy Festival for school students. | Milton | $15,000 | |||
| The Dunn & Lewis Youth Development Foundation Limited | Connected Space Develop youth employability / life skills via inspiring stories / achievements, through creating a communication strategy and building a website. | Ulladulla | $22,460 | |||
