Shannon Whyte
The Protecting Our Places program encourages and empowers Aboriginal communities to protect, conserve and restore landscapes and waterways important to them.
Key information
- Status: Closed
- Grant amount: Up to $80,000
- Application opened: 19 February 2024
- Application closed: 2 April 2024, 5:00 pm
Program objective
This program empowers and provides opportunities for Aboriginal organisations to undertake projects that:
- contribute to ongoing sustainable management of significant Aboriginal cultural landscapes in New South Wales
- contribute to healthier environments and communities
- develop project management capabilities of Aboriginal groups
- encourage new collaborations and positive relationships with other organisations, government and stakeholders.
Grants of up to $80,000 are available over the 2 stages:
- Stage 1 Planning – up to $12,000 for project planning.
- Stage 2 Implementation – up to $67,000 to complete the project on-ground works, plus $1,000 quarantined for the mandatory financial audit, totalling $68,000.
Note: A funding cap of up to 30% must be allocated towards the employment of a project manager to manage and coordinate all project activities across both stages of the project.
See the Protecting Our Places program guidelines 2024–25 (PDF 1.27MB) for more information.
For each grant recipient, we will coordinate and deliver face-to-face workshops for 2 key staff/participants in your project at the beginning of Stage 1. In addition, proposed grantees are strongly encouraged to invite an Elder to participate in these workshops to act as a community representative, knowledge holder and relevant cultural authority.
These workshops will provide you with:
- support and guidance to develop a plan specific to your project
- mentoring, advice, and networking opportunities
- an understanding of the Trust's reporting requirements.
This program is funded and administered by Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water.
Eligibility
Who can apply
The following NSW Aboriginal community organisations/groups may apply:
- NSW Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs)
- NSW Aboriginal Corporations registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006
- NSW Incorporated Associations registered under Associations Incorporation Act 2009
- Non-distributing NSW Co-operatives registered under Co-operatives National Law and associated Acts*
- NSW Registered Native Title Body Corporates (RNTBC).
- Australian Public Company Limited by Guarantee operating as a Registered Charity under the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.
Note: applicants under this category must also demonstrate** that their organisation's primary objective is to support members and/or persons of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) descent in New South Wales.
Other Aboriginal organisations and groups are eligible to apply, however, these entities will need the support of another organisation that will perform the role of External Manager.
*Associations and Co-operatives will undergo additional eligibility checks to ensure they are not-for-profit/non-distributing and that the organisation's objectives and activities seek to provide benefits for and involves the participation of local Aboriginal people and communities.
**Charities registered under the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission must provide a copy of their constitution to prove that their primary objective is to support ATSI persons and, where possible, a letter of support from either the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, their Local Aboriginal Land Council or another registered Aboriginal organisation listed above.
Who can be involved in the project?
All projects must be led by an Aboriginal organisation. However, you should consider partnering with relevant groups or individuals. These could be:
- other Aboriginal groups
- local councils
- state agencies (for example, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water)
- non-government organisations
- local community groups
- universities
- private businesses
- landholders.
Who can’t apply
We won't fund applications from:
- non-Aboriginal groups, organisations, or companies
- individuals
- industry joint ventures
- profit-distributing corporations or co-operatives (limited by shares).
If you are unsure if your organisation can apply, contact the Trust.
Types of projects funded under this grant
Protecting Our Places program guidelines 2024–25 (PDF 1.27MB) explains what we will fund.
Different activities are eligible in each stage – planning and implementation. No on-ground works will be funded during the Stage 1 Planning stage.
What can’t you apply for
There are a range of activities that are not eligible for funding in either Stage 1 or Stage 2, as outlined below in Table 4. It is important to remember that cultural projects must show clear environmental benefits.
| Administration | Existing day-to-day administration or operational costs of organisations. Note: reasonable additional administrative costs resulting from the project may be included in the budget. |
| Aesthetics, amenity, recreation and cultural projects unrelated to an environmental benefit | The focus of all projects must be on delivering benefits for the environment. Projects primarily focussed on improving aesthetics (beauty or appeal), local amenity or recreational opportunities will not be funded. |
| Built environment | Construction, restoration or rehabilitation of buildings or facilities. |
| Core business | Activities where an existing organisation or individual is legally responsible for the task (e.g. a legislative duty under the Biosecurity Act to control certain weeds) or where funds obtained through a grant are used for cost-shifting purposes. This includes activities that are clearly the core business of local or state government authorities or the applicant organisation in the normal course of events. |
| Devolved grants | Offering funding to other organisations or individuals through a grant program. |
| Facilitating changes of land tenure | Expenses associated with any activity that will result in land transfer, either private or public, between landholders. |
| Equipment purchase | Capital equipment purchases, unless it is more cost-effective to purchase than lease equipment for the project’s life. |
| Non-competitive employment | Salaries of project staff not covered under either Options 1 or 2 as defined in section ‘3. Eligible activities’ Table 2 of these guidelines. |
| Maintenance | Ongoing maintenance of projects to which the organisation has previously committed. Routine property maintenance, such as lawn mowing and gardening, are also ineligible for funding. |
| Weed management (Biosecurity directions/undertakings) | Projects that seek to implement weed control activities under biosecurity directions or biosecurity undertakings (under the Biosecurity Act) will not be funded. These weeds are the core responsibility of landowners and are enforceable by local control authorities. Control of weeds that seek to achieve an economic outcome (e.g. to address a problem/issue impacting primary production) are the core responsibility of the landowner and will not be funded. |
| Research | Projects that specifically focus on research and are not adequately linked to on-ground environmental outcomes. |
| Similar projects funded by another funding body | Projects funded by another funding body that seek to achieve the same or similar outcomes will not be funded. |
| Retrospective activities | Activities carried out or committed before accepting and signing the grant management agreement or outside their specified stage. |
Most recent recipients
What your application needs to include
You can download the full guidelines:
Also read the
File
Protecting Our Places application guide (PDF 1.7MB)File
Protecting Our Places Application Program sample letter (PDF 661.98KB)
Complete information is available at Protecting Our Places | NSW Environment and Heritage.
Address the assessment criteria
We assess all applications against specific criteria. See the Protecting Our Places program guidelines 2024–25 (PDF 1.27MB) for details.
Applications are assessed by an independent technical review committee with members from the general community, industry, and government. Most members of the committee are Aboriginal.
Before you submit your application, check that it answers these questions:
- what is the environmental outcome you want to achieve?
- what types of activities do you intend to carry out?
- what planning processes will you carry out?
- how will you monitor implementation and project risks?
- does your project represent good value for money (that is, acceptable expenditure to achieve a realistic environmental benefit)?
- do you have the support of the community and other stakeholders in the project?
Start the application
Applications for this grant are available via Protecting Our Places | NSW Environment and Heritage
Any application that is late, incomplete or ineligible will not be considered.
Supporting documents may be submitted either as Word or PDF documents. Applications must not be larger than 50 MB.
Contact Trust Administration before 2 April 2024 if you have any issues in submitting your application on time.
After the application is submitted
Successful applications will be decided by: Applications are assessed by an independent technical review committee with members from the general community, industry, and government. Most members of the committee are Aboriginal.
The applications will be assessed and both successful and unsuccessful applicants will be notified.