Spontaneous Volunteers Support Program Frequently Asked Questions

The Spontaneous Volunteers Support Program is a $5 million open competitive grant program established in response to the 2022 NSW Flood Inquiry’s recommendation that the NSW Government create a program to support better coordination of community efforts to save life and property during a disaster. The Program is also informed by the NSW Government Review of Emergency Volunteering (2023).

The target group for projects funded under the Program are informal volunteers who may operate as individual spontaneous volunteers or as part of an emergent group of people who come together to respond to a particular challenge. Target organisations are those who play a role in coordinating or organising, directly, or indirectly, the work of informal volunteers.

The Program’s objective is to support communities and volunteers to be better prepared, supported, coordinated and mobilised to respond to disaster events.

The Program aims to achieve this by funding locally led initiatives in NSW communities that will develop informal volunteers’ capacity, capability, and coordination in times of emergencies.

Target End of Program Outcomes include:

• Informal volunteers are equipped to respond and can effectively use equipment and resources.
• Informal volunteers have the capability, knowledge and confidence to support community response efforts.
• Communities and informal volunteers have plans that can be effectively enacted.
• Informal volunteers understand their role and contribution in an emergency response.

The Program is administered by the NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA), the lead agency for disaster prevention, preparedness, recovery, and reconstruction in NSW.

Applicants are not required to identify whether other projects in their region or LGA are also applying for funding. As an open competitive process, the funding round is open to Eligible Applicants and eligible Applications will undergo a merit assessment.

No, for profit businesses are not eligible to apply, unless they are a Social Enterprise registered with Social Traders.

No, only individual organisations can apply as per the eligibility criteria.

If an Applicant is considering involving partners in the delivery of an approved project, the funding arrangements will be between the NSW Government and the Applicant. Delivery partners are not party to the funding and the recipient will be required to establish sub-contracting arrangements with any identified delivery partners.

Additionally, the Guidelines do not mandate procurement requirements for successful Projects. Therefore, if two or more applicants are successful and are seeking to jointly procure a service provider, they must comply with Funding Deed provisions for procurement and sub-contracting. For additional transparency, RA has published draft template Funding Deeds on the RA website.

Similarly, if two or more applicants are successful and are seeking to jointly develop processes, protocols, procedures, each recipient must evidence in the application how this will be delivered under an individual grant project basis.

Applicants are reminded that applications will be assessed comparatively on the basis of merit and must submit a project that addresses local need amongst other merit and eligibility criteria.

Lastly, the RA cannot assist Applicants to identify other potential Applicants in their local area or region, for example to identify partnership opportunities or potential duplication of projects.

Social Enterprises must have certification through Social Traders.

Social Traders defines that to be a Social Enterprise, an entity must do three things:

1. Have a defined primary social, cultural or environmental purpose consistent with a public or community benefit, and
2. Derive a substantial portion of their income from trade, and
3. Invest efforts and resources into their purpose such that public/community benefit outweighs private benefit.

A for-profit social enterprise can apply for funding; however it  must be certified via Social Traders.

There is no limit to the number of applications an Applicant can submit. However, only one project may be awarded a grant. The exception is where an Auspicor is directly awarded a grant in its own right that it will deliver, and also on behalf of one or more Auspiced Entities which are accountable to deliver a project.

An Applicant based outside of NSW may apply, however the project must be delivered within NSW.

Projects must meet each of the following requirements which are detailed in the Guidelines:

1. Address at least two (2) End of Program Outcomes (total four).
2. Include at least two (2) Eligible Key Activity Types (total four).
3. Be delivered within NSW.
4. Seek to address preparedness for one or more natural hazards.
5. Not commence until the funding deed has been executed. 
6. Be able to be completed within a 12 month period or no later than January 2026.
7. Be a new and unfunded initiative(s).
8. Equipment Key Activity Type: you must certify how purchased assets will be managed and related training requirements.
9. Training & Knowledge Key Activity Type: you must certify the different types of training to be delivered under your project.

In accordance with the Key Information of the Guidelines, projects seeking funding through this Program must not commence prior to execution of the funding deeds. Deeds must be executed by 15 November 2024. This means a funding request cannot seek funds for an existing initiative or project, including any retrospective costs or costs considered ‘business as usual’ for your organisation.

Successful projects must not commence prior to execution of the funding deeds. Deeds must be executed by 15 November 2024. Projects must be completed by 31 January 2026. 

No, the minimum grant size awarded will be $50,000.

Funding will only be provided for eligible expenditure items. Furthermore, the maximum individual grant value is $100,000.

RA reserves the right to redistribute funding across the program if the full allocation has not been requested through the Application process.

No, an Applicant’s co-contributions towards a Project are not mandatory but will be considered in the merit assessment.

The four Eligible Key Activity Types are:

1. Equipment
2. Training and knowledge
3. Planning
4. Community Engagement

At minimum, applications need to involve at least two (2) Key Activity Types, however an application that addresses all four (4) Key Activity Types is also eligible. Section 2.1 of the Guidelines lists example activities for each Eligible Key Activity Type.

Activities to develop a Spontaneous Volunteers strategy may not be eligible. If you require additional guidance on your Application, please contact RA: ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au

Guidance is provided in Appendix B of the Guidelines regarding different types of equipment to support informal volunteers and states quality standards where relevant. You may also refer to publicly available information published by the following NSW Government agencies:

• https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/plan-and-prepare/prepare-your-family/what-to-wear
• https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/plan-and-prepare/prepare-your-family/emergency-survival-kit
• https://www.ses.nsw.gov.au/storm-resources/before-a-storm/put-together-an-emergency-kit/

Eligible Applicants should consider equipment relevant to their local requirements. 

You must certify in your Application that any necessary training related to purchased equipment will be completed under the grant funded project. Successful Applicants must refer to available guidance on quality standards and training requirements when purchasing equipment. 

‘Business as Usual’ costs, such as staff or operational costs are not eligible.

Project management and, or grant administration, including technical and professional staff involved in delivery of the proposed project is eligible, however it cannot exceed a maximum of 10% of the total requested funding.

Where an ongoing staff member is involved in the project and their substantive role is backfilled by another employee, this would be an eligible expense; however the 10% maximum limit mentioned above still applies. The grant must be used to pay the salary of the existing staff member who has been reassigned to the grant project and must not be used to fund the backfill salary. 

If you are proposing to extend a part-time or temporary staff member who is not currently funded, for example currently works three days and you are proposing to fund two additional days per week, this would be considered eligible; however the 10% maximum limit mentioned above still applies.

However, staff costs related to delivery of direct project activities are eligible cost items under the Eligible Activity Streams. This is separate to staff costs related to program management and/or grants administration which is limited up to 10 per cent. Staff costs related to delivery of direct project costs are not capped.

Applicants are reminded that projects must be resourced for project commencement within 30 days of execution of the funding deed (i.e. staff recruitment activity not required to be able to commence immediately).

Additionally, costs relating to any insurance or liability are not eligible. This includes the insurance or depreciation of equipment or storage, maintenance or replenishment costs associated with pre-existing equipment.

Capital purchases are considered to be eligible expenditure if they are for the purpose of direct project delivery. Where a capital purchase would only be used occasionally or indirectly to deliver the project, the capital purchase would not be considered as an eligible expenditure item. Applicants should consider whether the capital item is more cost effective to hire and request funding accordingly. 

Volunteer hours can be costed at the relevant industry rate.

A natural hazard is considered to be one of the following:

• Floods
• Storms and cyclones
• Coastal hazards (erosion and inundation)
• Bush fires
• Heatwaves
• Earthquakes
• Landslides
• Tornadoes
• Tsunamis

There are no excluded natural hazard risk types under the Program Guidelines.

If your project addresses another hazard not listed above, you will need to list it in the Application.

All project activity must be delivered in NSW. However, if the majority of outputs from an Eligible Application border state lines, this will be considered by the Executive Panel in its deliberation of funding recommendations. Advice will be provided to the Program delegate for decision (NSW Reconstruction Authority CEO).

Before starting the Application, you will need to:

• read the Guidelines and refer to these FAQs;
• check your organisation is eligible to apply;
• check the project is eligible and meets the Program Objective;
• prepare the mandatory and optional documentation to be attached to the Application; and
• confirm that project costs are eligible under the Guidelines.

All files must be a maximum of 5MB each. The upload process is very simple, but requires you to have the documents saved on your computer, or on a storage device.

You need to allow enough time for each file to upload before trying to attach another file.

Eligible Applicants are required to submit Applications using the RA’s SmartyGrants system:

https://reconstruction.smartygrants.com.au/.

The RA will not accept Applications made via any other means (e.g., email or post).

If you find an error in your submission after submitting it, you should contact the RA immediately in writing to the Program inbox ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au. If we find an error or information that is missing, we may ask for clarification or additional information from you that will not change the nature of your submission. 

You may wish to consult the following sources of information to prepare your Application:

• The State Disaster Mitigation Plan: https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/nsw-reconstruction-authority/reducing-risk/state-disaster-mitigation-plan
• NSW Government Natural Disaster Declarations information: https://www.nsw.gov.au/disaster-recovery/natural-disaster-declarations
• AdaptNSW regional climate change information: https://www.climatechange.environment.nsw.gov.au/my-region
• The Climate Council Climate Risk Map: https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/climate-risk-map/#climate-risk-map
• NSW State Emergency Service Flood Data Portal: https://flooddata.ses.nsw.gov.au/
• Insurance Australia Group – Mapping natural perils across Australia https://sgsep.com.au/projects/insurance-australia-group-mapping-natural-perils-across-australia
• Australian Disaster Resilience Index: https://adri.bnhcrc.com.au
• Local Council websites
• Media reports

Where a word limit is applied to a question, this will be noted in the Application Form.

Applicants are required to provide a budget based on valid cost estimates. These costs need to be reasonable. If you have formal quotes for goods or services for your project, you can upload these in the relevant section of the Application Form. This is an optional attachment and not a mandatory requirement. 

In the Application Form, Applicants also have the option to provide comments summarising budget assumptions related to the categories of expenditure across the selected Key Activities in the mandatory Budget Table. This could include but not limited to: assumptions about staffing, procurement related assumptions, or justification for the contingency estimate. This section of the Application Form is not mandatory. 

All budget items should be itemised exclusive of GST. GST will be applied on top of the agreed grant value when payment is made. 

No. To be considered an eligible Applicant, you must be registered for GST.

Before submitting your Application, you must ensure the relevant authorised official or delegate in your organisation has reviewed and approved the submission.

This person’s details must be recorded on the Declaration and Authorisation page of the form.

To seek their authorisation you may choose to enable them access in your SmartyGrants access account or download a copy of the draft form for them to review offline.

Applications submitted by the due date and time without authorisation from the appropriate official or delegate may not be eligible.

To fulfil probity requirements of transparency and fairness, projects must undergo the screening and determination process in line with the timeframes set by the RA.

Applicants can enter a nearby property address. For the discrete community, the main address or the LALC building address can be supplied. Please refer to the application form in Smarty Grants for more instructional text. 

Community groups, associations, clubs or other groups may apply under the auspices of an Eligible Applicant. The Auspicor Organisation must be either NSW Local Government or be one of the other Eligible Applicant Types with mandatory Regulatory or Other Registrations, as listed in the Guidelines.

An Auspiced Entity can include Unincorporated Entities that may have an ABN but may not have a legally recognised structure. Incorporated Entities are not required to have an ABN; however, may need one for taxation purposes.

A Local Emergency Management Committee (LEMC) is neither an unincorporated entity (no legal structure) or an incorporated entity and therefore cannot be auspiced or apply in its own right.

An auspice arrangement is when a larger, incorporated organisation assists a smaller entity with grant funding arrangements. The larger organisation is known as the Auspicor Organisation.

For the purposes of these Guidelines if the Auspiced Entity is approved for funding, it will be the ‘grant recipient’ however contractual funding arrangements will be established on its behalf between the RA and the Auspicor Organisation.

The Auspicor Organisation may also apply in its own right for grant funding under these Guidelines.

Auspiced applications will also require a Letter of Support from its auspicing entity which confirms:

• the auspice arrangement is valid and current.
• that Eligible Applicant Organisation is not under administration or have debts owing to NSW Government (not required if NSW Local Government entity).
• must be issued on letterhead and signed by an authorised person (e.g., Manager, CEO or Board Chair) of the Eligible Applicant Organisation and must include: name, position, contact number and email, signature and date.
• the Eligible Applicant Organisation has read this submission and confirms it will act as the auspicor for the project if funded.
• the Eligible Applicant Organisation agrees to enter into a legally binding funding deed on behalf of the Auspiced Entity and administer all obligations under this deed including payments and reporting requirements.
• the Eligible Applicant Organisation understands and agrees that any auspicing fees related to this project will only be approved if budgeted within the 10 per cent project management / grants administration limit.

Each Application will be screened by the RA’s Grant Officers against the published Eligibility Criteria. If deemed eligible, the Application will proceed to have a preliminary assessment completed by the RA’s Grant Officers. The Grant Officers will provide a report including comments and ratings for the Executive Panel.

The Executive Panel will convene to deliberate on each eligible Application and provide funding recommendations in a report that will be endorsed by each member.

The RA is unable to provide Applicants with a ruling prior to lodgement on whether a Project is eligible, as the decision on eligibility sits with the Executive Panel. As such, Applicants are to make their own informed decision, based on the information provided in the Guidelines, on whether a Project meets the eligibility requirements for the Program.

Applicants can submit a written question on eligibility matters to: ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au.

The RA can advise if a Project appears to meet eligibility requirements, but Applicants need to form their own view on whether the Project is eligible in order to submit the Application.

Final determination on eligibility will be made by the Executive Panel under the assessment process.

Applicants are expected to carefully review the eligibility and assessment criteria in these Guidelines.

Eligible Applications will also have additional risk-based scoring applied in the assessment based on the State Disaster Mitigation Plan inherent risk data for each LGA. Where a proposal targets multiple LGAs, the risk ranking is applied based on the highest ranked LGA. This additional risk-based scoring represents a maximum of up to 10% of the total assessment score.

A single stage open competitive process aims to achieve targeted outcomes whilst maintaining probity, fairness and transparency. 

You will be notified in writing of the outcome of your Application.

If you are unsuccessful, you may ask for feedback within two weeks of being advised of the outcome. The RA will give written feedback within one month of your request.

If your application is approved, you will need to:

• enter into a funding deed with the NSW Government. This funding deed is administered by the NSW Reconstruction Authority on behalf of the NSW Government and must be signed within 10 days of being issued for signature.
• start and complete funded activities by the dates specified in your funding agreement.
• during the term of the deed, notify the RA in writing of any changes to your project.
• report on your project as specified in your funding deed.
• comply with all other terms of your funding deed including acknowledgement of NSW Government funding.

Projects of 6-12 months duration must submit a mid-project report, a completion report and financial acquittal to the NSW Government. Projects of less than six months duration are only required to submit a completion report and financial acquittal to the NSW Government. Individual reporting requirements will be outlined in the funding deed.

Timing and milestone requirements are subject to negotiation of the funding deed; however, at minimum there will be two milestone payments:

• A Commencement payment upfront on execution of the funding deed
• A smaller payment in arrears (i.e. 10%) on completion of the Project and subject to a Final Financial Acquittal Statement.

No. Your project must start after you have been notified that your application is successful, and the funding deed has been executed. 

You should develop your project’s proposed expenditure using quotes from suppliers, or from your own expertise in delivering a similar project.

It is your responsibility to develop a realistic budget for your application, manage the approved funding in line with your application and comply with the funding deed. There will be no further funding provided for projects that run out of money.

If you have completed your project but it has come under budget, the RA will require the grant recipient to return the unspent funds plus GST.

Requests for variations or changes to the Project will only be considered in limited circumstances and in accordance with probity principles.

Variations will not be authorised for Projects of less than 6 months duration.

Variation approvals for Projects of 6 to 12 months duration will be limited to 1 Variation and will not be considered after the Project exceeds 6 months of implementation.

You may consult with a relevant RA representative on technical and, or local considerations for your Project during development of your Application; however, this representative must not be directly involved with the assessment process.

You should maintain records of any consultation with RA representatives.

All other enquiries related to your Application should be referred to ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au.

To ensure the RA maintains a probity register of all enquiries, you must contact the RA in writing. All advice from the RA regarding your Application will be provided in writing to ensure fairness and consistency with public available information.

Proponents can submit a written question on eligibility matters to: ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au, however, the RA is unable to provide Applicants with a ruling prior to lodgement on whether a Project is eligible, as the decision on eligibility sits with the Executive Panel.

Information briefings will be provided by the RA on the following dates:

Information briefings will be recorded to ensure questions raised by participants can be updated to the Frequently Asked Questions on this webpage. The presentation slides will be published on this webpage and notified to all registrants. The recording is not for distribution and will not be published.

If you need further information about eligibility criteria, time frames and costs, or if you have a question about the application form, please email ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au.

During the funding round period, the RA will also maintain updates to the Program Frequently Asked Questions on its website.

The RA has in place an enquiries management plan with oversight from the external probity advisor, which ensures separation of roles between staff involved in the assessment process and staff involved in responding to Applicant questions.

Questions must be submitted in writing to ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au. Officers will provide written responses in accordance with publicly available information published on the RA website. If a new question is submitted, the FAQ on the RA website will also be updated to include this question to ensure consistency and fairness in access to information.

All enquiries must be recorded by the RA in an enquiries management register and where required, enquiries may be referred to the probity advisor for advice.

You can seek support in the following ways:

• Read the support information (https://Applicanthelp.smartygrants.com.au/)
• Contact SmartyGrants Technical Assistance on the below contact details:
  • Phone: 03 9320 6888
  • Email: service@smartygrants.com.au

RA has prepared a separate FAQ for SmartyGrants Applicant Users who need to update their account access.

You must make an Application between the published opening and closing dates. Applications and/or supporting documents submitted after the closing date of 12:00pm AEST 30 August 2024 may not be considered eligible.

The RA reserves the right to accept late applications on a case-by-case basis. A late Application will only be accepted where the RA is satisfied that the integrity of the process has not been compromised and subject to probity advice. 

On 15 July 2024, the NSW Reconstruction Authority extended the closing date and time from 12:00pm AEST 19 July 2024 to 12:00pm AEST 30 August 2024.

The Guidelines published on the NSW Grants Finder page and Frequently Asked Questions have been updated to include an Addendum with revised dates for the grant round.

Applicants who have submitted an Application before the extended closing day, may contact the RA to request to re-open their Application.  An Application may be re-opened by the RA if the RA is satisfied that the integrity of the process has not been compromised and subject to probity advice.

Applicants must contact the RA to request for an Application to be re-opened: please contact ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au. 

RA has appointed O’Connor Marsden & Associates as the probity advisor for the SSVP to ensure:

• the Program is delivered with integrity and transparency.
• all information made available by the RA is accurate, relevant and available equally.
• there are clear and relevant processes and procedures in place.
• the delivery of the Program is consistent in terms of procedural application i.e. transparent and systematic application and selection processes.
• the RA can demonstrate probity to all parties, internally and externally.

Should you have any concerns regarding the probity or integrity of this program, please email the RA in the first instance at: ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au

You may discuss your Application with RA staff – such as Regional Delivery – who are not involved in the merit assessment.

These staff:

• will not be involved in the assessment of Applications; and
• will not have access to information on the process other than what is in the public domain.

The RA is regulated by the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998.

When you submit an Application or make an enquiry about this Program, the RA collects information from this process.

For example, this information may include personal and organisational details, such as your name, job title, business name, phone number and email address.

This information will be collected, stored and used by the RA in accordance with the Privacy Collection Notice (PCN) for this Program published on the RA’s website, including to be added to a mailing list for ongoing and future grants marketing by the RA.

If you are on the mailing list, you can request the RA to remove or update your details at any time. For further information, please contact the RA at grants@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au.

Addendum Guidelines approved by the SEMC in December 2023, mandate that Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMCs) must prepare and engage spontaneous volunteers in local emergency management, including:

• Registration
• Pre-deployment / Induction Training
• Spontaneous Volunteer Reception Centres
• Demobilisation
• Ongoing Supports

The Guidelines addendum is published on the NSW Government website.

An “LEMC project” Application made by a Council targeting planning and one other eligible activity type to address requirements of the Addendum Guidelines is eligible under the SSVP.

It is not considered an auspice arrangement if a Council submits an application on behalf of the LEMC, as an LEMC is neither an unincorporated entity or an incorporated entity and therefore cannot be auspiced.

The Council making an application on behalf of the LEMC can also make an application in its own right that addresses other unmet need(s).

On this basis, there would be one (1) “LEMC project” .

Other Council members of the LEMC could also submit a grant request related to other unmet need(s) for a project delivered by those Councils.

For an “LEMC project” submitted by a Council, in accordance with Section 2.1 of the Guidelines, the Council must determine an appropriate entity to provide a letter of support. This can include a letter from the LEMC, for example by the Chair. This is not considered a conflict of interest under the Guidelines.

However, in the above scenario, the LEMC:

• cannot provide a letter of support for the Council’s individual application if that is the Council also submitting the “LEMC project” as this is considered a conflict of interest. This Council should consider another entity listed in Section 2.1 of the Guidelines for the mandatory letter.
• can provide a letter for other member Councils not submitting the “LEMC project”.

Further, as a one-off competitive grant round, Councils must also consider other funding sources for “LEMC project(s)” as Applications to the SSVP will be awarded on merit and comparative assessment.

No, Local Emergency Management Committees are not responsible for projects funded under the Program. The funding enables short term projects of 12 months duration to support the preparedness capacity and capability of successful Applicants. 

No. Local Councils are Eligible Applicants to apply on an individual basis for a grant of $50,000 to $100,000.

Partnership Applications with multiple Eligible Applicants are not eligible under this program. This includes Councils seeking to apply via a Joint Organisations of Councils or Regional Organisation of Councils.

If a Local Council is in administration, it is still eligible to apply to the SSVP. It is not required to certify its debt or administration status in its Application. This will be verified by the RA during the merit assessment and if successful in receiving grant funding, the RA may require special conditions in the funding deed which will be negotiated with the relevant Council.

No. Homes NSW administers the CPVTS which is a closed, non-competitive grant round provided to the NGO community partners listed in the Welfare Services Functional Area Supporting Plan to fund recruitment, training and related activities that support functions in evacuation centres.

No. The RA is currently developing Disaster Adaptation Plan (DAP) Guidelines for exhibition later in 2024. The Guidelines will not specifically include recommendations and guidance related to engaging and managing spontaneous volunteers, but focus more broadly on a range of risk reduction options. Other funding sources for supporting the development of Disaster Adaptation Plans will need to be sourced and the RA will provide more information on this later this year. 

Yes, statewide non-government organisations are eligible under the Program guidelines.

However, later in 2024, a separate targeted grant round will be offered to eligible statewide non-government organisations.

These grants will allow them to recruit and train new volunteers, including spontaneous volunteers, who support their organisations as they continue to work with the NSW Reconstruction Authority to help communities prepare for and recover from disasters.

This will be a one-off grant funding round targeted to eligible statewide non-government organisations. These organisations must have expertise in disaster recovery operations. It will support how they build their capacity in managing all aspects of volunteer coordination including spontaneous volunteers, in relation to disaster recovery within the framework of the NSW Recovery Plan.

No. The Program is being administered by the RA and has been developed in consultation with the Premier’s Department which led the Emergency Volunteering Review. 

Yes. The RA consulted the NSW Rural Fire Service and the NSW State Emergency Service during the development of the Guidelines of this program. If you have any issues regarding a request for Letter of Support, please contact the RA for advice: ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au

It is not considered a conflict of interest for an Applicant Council to provide a Letter of Support to another non-local Government Applicant, as the letter does not form part of the merit criteria.

If you are unable to obtain a Letter for Support and would still like to apply, please contact the RA at ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au for advice on how to proceed. Applications that can evidence they have made reasonable efforts to secure a letter may be accepted where the RA is satisfied that the integrity of the process has not been compromised and subject to probity advice. Final determination on eligibility will be made by the Executive Panel under the assessment process.

In this example, you could consider seeking agreement from the Local Councils to be co-signatories on a single letter.

No. Your letter should address the local requirements of your Project and the Guidelines do not mandate the information to be included except that the signatory must explicitly state support or endorsement for the project.

For this reason, the RA does not mandate or provide a template for the letter of support. 

Additionally, support letters from project partners as proof of community support are not mandatory under the Guidelines and do not form part of the eligibility criteria; however RA encourages any Applicants considering this evidence in their Application to do so.

The Guidelines provide examples of eligible activities but do not mandate priorities. Applicants will need to define and demonstrate the local need(s) and risk(s) being addressed. 

Section 2.2 of the Guidelines provides a list of possible sources of information and data evidence to support the case you want to make in your Application.

All of the questions in the Application Form are short form text limited to 300 words. You should summarise the evidence and data you have identified to support your Application in the Form and cite sources where relevant.

There is no requirement to attach raw data or evidence documents such as survey data to the Application. 

This Program objective is intended to primarily target preparedness in terms of communities and informal volunteers being “better prepared, supported, coordinated and mobilised to respond to disaster events”. This recognises that eligible activities will enable communities and volunteers’ capacity, capability, and coordination in times of emergencies. 

Eligible projects must be locally led initiatives targeting unmet need and addressing natural hazard risk in a minimum of one to a maximum of ten New South Wales LGAs.

Applicants will need to define and demonstrate the local need(s) and risk(s) being addressed. Therefore Applicants must only list the LGAs that will directly benefit from the 12 month project. 

A contractor that is not employed but is engaged to deliver a key activity of the project, for example training or planning activities, is considered an eligible expenditure item.  This means the engagement of a contractor or facilitator who is not directly involved with project management is considered an eligible direct project expense.

No. Fee for services, such as to engage a facilitator or contractor to deliver project activities, are considered eligible direct project costs and do not form part of the 10% project management and admin allocation.

No, State Emergency Service Agencies are not Eligible Applicant Types.

The review of emergency volunteering recommended that State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC) member agencies must refresh sub and supporting plans to identify how and when informal volunteers will be used in disaster response, and establish consistent operational models for engagement and coordination.

This is different to the Spontaneous Volunteer Support Program grants, which are available to provide a targeted approach to building community capability and resilience to support informal volunteering in high disaster risk areas with locally developed initiatives. This Program has a focus on preparedness and recovery, not disaster response. 

No, only Eligible Applicant Types can act as an Auspicor Organisation. State Emergency Service Agencies are not an Eligible Applicant Type and therefore cannot act as an Auspicor Organisation. 

Section 2.1 of the Guidelines lists examples of eligible training activities; however, Applicants should identify training that is appropriate to local need to support informal volunteers to be better prepared, supported, coordinated and mobilised to respond to disaster events.

This includes the following:

1. Vocational Education Training (VET) units of competency must be delivered by a Registered Training Organisation (RTO).
2. Training for awareness purposes only, and/or does not include units of competency training, an RTO is not required to deliver this training/awareness content. For example, a local NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) unit or NSW State Emergency Service (SES) unit that has the necessary skills in hazard specific areas may deliver training related to that skill or expertise.

The Guidelines do not restrict the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. Applicants may consider using AI tools in preparation of Applications to assist in developing content based on multiple questions and prompts.

However, Applicants should:

• Use caution when using AI tools as you may not be able to manage subsequent use of information entered into the AI tool.
• Review responses effectively and make sure the responses are tailored to how your Application meets the program objectives.
• Verify content is accurate and reflective of the applicant’s circumstances.

Applicants are also reminded that final determination on eligibility will be made by the Executive Panel under the assessment process, which may include an Applicant’s use of AI tools.

Following enquiries and interest from Applicants, the RA has extended the closing date by an additional five weeks to allow Applicants to further consider their proposals.

On 15 July 2024, the NSW Reconstruction Authority extended the closing date and time from 12:00pm AEST 19 July 2024 to 12:00pm AEST 30 August 2024.

In accordance with Section 3.1 of the Guidelines, RA may extend the closing date at its absolute discretion. Any extension to the program closing date will be communicated to all Applicants through the RA’s website for the Program.

The Guidelines published on the NSW Grants Finder page and Frequently Asked Questions have been updated to include an Addendum with revised dates for the grant round.

Applicants who have submitted an Application before the extended closing day, may contact the RA to request to re-open their Application.  An Application may be re-opened by the RA if the RA is satisfied that the integrity of the process has not been compromised and subject to probity advice.

Applicants must contact the RA to request for an Application to be re-opened: please contact ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au.

Re-opened Applications must be re-submitted by the closing date of 12:00pm AEST 30 August 2024.

Criterion 1 (Demonstrated Organisation and Resourcing Capacity and Capability to deliver the Project) requires Applicants to list the top three risks for the project and appropriate mitigations. In this question, Applicants are addressing risks related to their implementation of a Project.

Criterion 2 (Project addresses an unmet need or identified gap in the project location) requires Applicants to summarise the background information and evidence that supports the need for this specific project in the project location to address the risks you have evidenced. In this question, risks relates to the Natural Hazard Risk(s) to be addressed by a Project.

Earlier in the Application Form, Applicants must also select one or more Natural Hazard Risks that the Project seeks to address.

Applicants must also address Criterion 5 (Evidences the prevalence and severity of local natural hazard risks), by providing information on the identified local natural hazard risk(s) in your community. This could consider the prevalence and severity of the hazard, as well as the exposure to the hazard and the vulnerability of the community.