Supporting Safe Access to Abortion Care Grant Fund

The NSW Ministry of Health is seeking responses to an Expression of Interest (EOI) to deliver additional low-no cost abortion care services to address access barriers for women in NSW to access abortion care in a timely, safe and accessible manner.

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Key information

Status: Open
Grant amount: From $300,000 to $2,050,000
Application opened: 26 November 2025
Application closes: 16 February 2026, 5:00 pm

Program objective

The allocation of funding under the Supporting Safe Access to Abortion Care Grant Fund (Grant Fund) is available to individual NGO and community-based service providers and consortium-based models. Both not-for-profit and for-profit entities are eligible to apply.

The intended outcome of the Grant Fund is women in NSW who may experience barriers to safe and affordable abortion care services, particularly for socially, economically and geographically disadvantaged women, have greater access to additional community-based low-no cost abortion care (both medical and surgical abortion services).

This program is funded and administered by NSW Health.

Eligibility

Who can apply

To be eligible for grant funding under the Supporting Safe Access to Abortion Care Grant Fund you must:

Be a non-government organisation/community-based service provider (not-for-profit or for-profit)
Be an organisation incorporated under relevant legislation. Responses to the EOI must be submitted by a legal entity with the capacity to contract (includes by one legal entity if a consortium). The Ministry will only enter into a proposed contract with such legal entity.

Where a consortium proposal is submitted, a single organisation is required to submit the EOI response as the Lead Applicant. If successful in receiving funding, the Lead Applicant will be the Lead Agency of the consortium and will receive the grant funding to administer the grant, with any required third party arrangements also the responsibility of the Lead Agency.

Who can’t apply

You cannot apply if you are:

an individual/s
an unincorporated organisation or group
a Federal, State or local government agency or body.

What your application needs to include

See the EOI Guidelines for all the information on the EOI required to make an application, including the mandatory selection and assessment criteria:

File
EOI Guidelines - Safe Access to Abortion Care Grant Fund (PDF 342.5KB)

Your application must:

Address the selection criteria.
- The applicant must meet the essential criteria outlined in the EOI Cover Sheet and Respondent Information Form (available via NSW Health website)
- Letters of Endorsement from all consortium members and/or formal proposal service partners (template guide provided via NSW Health website).
Address the weighted assessment criteria - please refer to the EOI Guidelines document.

Please refer to the NSW Health website for the full list of Supporting Documents.

Address the Eligibility criteria

Who can apply under the EOI:

To be eligible for grant funding under the Supporting Safe Access to Abortion Care Grant Fund you must:

Be an organisation incorporated under relevant legislation. EOIs must be submitted by a legal entity with the capacity to contract (includes by one legal entity if a consortium). The Ministry will only enter into a proposed contract with such legal entity.
Consortium proposals require a single organisation to submit the EOI response as the Lead Applicant. If successful in receiving funding, the Lead Applicant will be the Lead Agency of the consortium and will receive the grant funding to administer the grant, with any required third party arrangements also the responsibility of the Lead Agency.
Ensure the activity or service location where grant funds will be utilised is within NSW, and that the proposed service model is aligned with the intended grant outcomes.
Submit your application by the due date (applications received after the due date will be marked as a late submission and may only be considered by the assessment panel in extenuating circumstances).
Submit your application in full, providing all required documents and completing all relevant fields (incomplete application forms may not be assessed), including:
- A mandatory EOI Response Cover Sheet and Respondents Information Form must be completed
- Include Letters of Endorsement from all consortium or partners to any Lead Applicant response to the EOI (Template guide)
- EOI proposal and response to the Assessment Criteria. The format of this document is at the respondent’s discretion. Responses to the assessment criteria should be concise and should be no longer than 20 pages. Respondents may wish to include references and attach further appended information to support their response. The assessment panel is under no obligation to read or consider any of the appended information

Address the Assessment criteria

This is an open and competitive grants application process. All assessment criteria must be addressed.

We want to make the process as easy as possible for applicants, please keep responses succinct and directly address each assessment criterion.

Supporting documents, in addition to any mandatory requirements, may be included in the applications and may be considered by the assessment panel, however the assessment panel is under no obligation to read or consider any of the supporting documents. Supporting documents must be of appropriate recency and relevance to the eligibility or assessment criteria, the requirements of the service model, or to demonstrate partnership with other organisations.

Proposals will demonstrate the grant funding will be utilised to support women to access abortion care and increase service provider capacity and capability, provide value for money, and in general promote women’s access to appropriate and effective community-based health services.

In addressing each assessment criterion, responses will demonstrate how the proposal will assist the Target Group. The Target Group is women from priority cohorts, as identified and determined by the respondent(s) in the proposal (Criterion 1), who face barriers, particularly cost barriers, to accessing time critical abortion care.

Criteria	Specific information and evidence required	Weighting
Criterion 1: Service model	You should demonstrate this through providing an interim Service and Project Plan outlining the proposed service model and methodology to support the grant purpose, outcome, and scope. The service model will identify: Type of services and service levels - Type and number of additional low-no cost service levels to be provided, inclusive of services supported but not directly funded under the Grant Fund, including, but not limited to: medical abortion and/or surgical abortion services to be provided, and by gestation of pregnancy Locations - Location of service by type and by availability. and where there are multiple locations, how these services may coordinate care where required While it is not required that the service model includes statewide coverage, improving access for women from rural and regional areas is a key priority under the Grant Fund Target Group - The Target Group and eligibility criteria for women to access services under the service model, and the out-of-pocket cost to these clients accessing services. Provide clear indication of proposed Intake and Assessment arrangements How the proposal will improve access for eligible women (Target Group), beyond the service levels the respondent(s) currently provide The Target Group may include, but not necessarily limited to: Women from remote, rural and regional NSW Holders of a health care card or concession card Evidence of financial hardship Victims of sexual assault, victims of family or domestic violence, including reproductive coercion Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Young people aged 24 years or less Referral pathways - The referral pathways for women to access abortion care under the service model, including: How transparent and accessible referrals to partner and other services will be managed How referral pathways to care for women who may require a higher level of care than can be supported under the service model Risk management - A high-level risk management framework which reviews potential risks and how these will be mitigated, including describing the challenges and how those challenges will be managed.	45%
Criterion 2: Service delivery experience	You should demonstrate this through identifying: Demonstrated experience in the development and successful delivery of reproductive health services to be provided Demonstrated capacity and experience in delivering to a range of client populations, in different locations, with social and economic disadvantage Demonstrated capability, capacity and readiness to implement the service model proposed to deliver the full range of services required under the service model, including that of any relevant service partners and/or referral service providers Demonstrated experience ensuring appropriate employment and recruitment diversity to reflect service clientele The infrastructure and technical capacity to fulfil the service model requirements.	30%
Criterion 3: Personnel	You should demonstrate this through identifying: Demonstrated skills and experience of key personnel to support the proposed service model, including those of any proposed service partners Knowledge and experience providing project management in accordance with the proposed service model.	10%
Criterion 4: Value for money	How the service model demonstrates value for money and promotes a sustainable service model across the term of the grant funding. Provide initial indicative price and budget, including: Proposed budget - total cost to fund the service model, including: Income and funding (including this grant) Staff costs (including staffing mix, training and development costs) Rent and leasing costs Administrative costs including staff travel and accommodation, motor vehicles Any additional establishment costs (from FY2025-26 funding allocation) In addition to the budget, provide a preliminary costing breakdown for key components of the service model structure, including any related/complementary service under the proposed service model that would not access any direct Grant Funds (any co-contributions [including in-kind], including by service partners) Noting NSW Health grant funding cannot be used to directly fund a clinical service also claiming a Medicare rebate, or a clinician’s salary providing a service claiming a Medicare rebate Financial arrangements between any partners Any cost offsets or revenue that will be used to support the model.	15%

Start the application

All applications must be submitted via email to MOH-womenshealthgrants@health.nsw.gov.au by the closing date, 5:00pm 16 February 2026.

Apply now

After the application is submitted

Successful applications will be decided by the EOI Assessment Panel. The Assessment Panel will assess applications based on an assessment of merit against the stated assessment criteria, as well as a comparative assessment.

The Assessment Panel will put forward recommendations for the awarding of the grant to the delegated Ministry of Health Decision Maker for consideration. The Decision Maker will consider all recommendations for funding by the Assessment Panel

Both successful and unsuccessful applicants will be notified.

Support and contact

Email: MOH-womenshealthgrants@health.nsw.gov.au

Please note this email will not be monitored between 20 December 2025 and 9 January 2026.

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