Grants SA

In reply to Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (27 July 2017). (Estimates Committee B)

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers): I have been advised:

1. The Department for Communities and Social Inclusion (DCSI) provided one-off multicultural grants through the Grants SA and Multicultural Infrastructure Grants in 2016-17.

These programs are highly competitive and heavily oversubscribed, with grant rounds receiving many more applications than can be funded.

In 2016-17, 75 organisations lodged successful Grants SA applications and a further 78 organisations were unsuccessful.

In 2016-17, two organisations lodged successful applications to the Multicultural Infrastructure Grants program and a further 19 organisations were unsuccessful.

The provision of names for unsuccessful applications may negatively impact on the organisations, their relationship with DCSI, and/or the reputation of the funding scheme itself.

2. Applications for Grants SA and Multicultural Infrastructure Grants are assessed independently by Assessment Panel members.

The Assessment Panel does not provide individual commentary on applications, but assesses them using merit based scoring against assessment criteria. Scores for individual applications are then ranked in order of merit. Funding is allocated according to rank until the funding is fully expended.

An organisation's application is deemed unsuccessful when its application is not ranked as highly as others in merit, when assessed by the panel.

Due to the competitive nature of these grant programs, an application may not rank highly for a variety of reasons, including:

Does not demonstrate cost effectiveness/benefit to the extent of other applications;

Does not demonstrate the organisation's capacity to deliver on the project to the extent of other applications;

Community need not considered as high in priority as other applications;

Does not demonstrate an outcomes focus; and

Does not demonstrate benefit to target group/community to the extent of other applications.

All unsuccessful applicants are encouraged to contact the DCSI Grants Team on 1300 650 985, to receive feedback on their applications and discuss ways to develop and strengthen future funding proposals.

The department has also recently provided funding to the Multicultural Communities Council of South Australia (MCCSA), to deliver a new capacity-building support program for multicultural community organisations. Through this program, the types of support available to multicultural organisations may include, but not be limited to, assistance with grant writing, complying with grant requirements, governance advice and support, and facilitation of strategic planning activities. Further information is available by contacting MCCSA on 8213 4610.