City launches first one-stop-shop for grant funding

City of Newcastle is making it easier for the community to access more than 1,000 grant funding opportunities through a new online service, Newcastle Grant Finder.

Newcastle Grant Finder provides a comprehensive listing of funding opportunities available to local businesses, community groups, sporting clubs, not-for-profits and individuals.

Newcastle Grant Finder identifies funding opportunities in the area from State and Federal governments and agencies, not just those provided by the City of Newcastle, presenting a one-stop-search tool with self-service functionality for users to track, bundle, save and create alerts.

Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said Newcastle Grant Finder is a first-of-its-kind in Newcastle and will see more funding flow to worthy causes as part of City of Newcastle’s digital transformation to make its services more efficient and effective for the community.

“Grant funding is a great way to help build a thriving community here in Newcastle,” Cr Nelmes said.

“We’re empowering local businesses, community groups, sporting clubs and not-for-profit organisations with a tool that allows them to easily find and apply for grants, to turn their ideas into reality."

Councillor Peta Winney-Baartz said Newcastle Grant Finder will assist community organisations in all areas of the application process.

“Until now, members of our community have experienced frustrations identifying grant funding, finding it an arduous task having to conduct searches across numerous websites, often resulting in missed opportunities,” Cr Winney-Baartz said.

“This is a fantastic free user-friendly service for our community to utilise and City of Newcastle is delighted to offer a solution to make sure that those seeking funding can quickly and easily find what they need.

"To give every applicant the best possible chance of success, Newcastle Grant Finder includes grant writing tips as well as a directory of external professional writers that can be contacted to help prepare applications.

“Our goal is to help local businesses and community groups to access grant funding opportunities that will, in turn, support economic growth and community wellbeing.”

BaptistCare’s HopeStreet group manager Phil Eastbury said not-for-profit organisations are hugely reliant on opportunities to seek additional funding support, which ultimately means they can offer more assistance to more people.

“For HopeStreet, the Newcastle Grant Finder online service will enable us to be both agile and efficient, so we can spend more time and effort offering hope and practical support to people while being in the know about funding opportunities that align with our services as well as bringing to life our future ideas.”

Maryland Fletcher Football Club vice-president Tom Marshall said the new online service would assist local sporting clubs with finding grant funding opportunities to maintain their facilities.

“We, like many sporting clubs in the area, are always looking for additional funding to maintain or improve our facilities to increase participation in the game and do our bit in building stronger communities through football.”

City of Newcastle’s Community Grants and Sponsorship Policies are currently under review and will go on public exhibition on 24 February 2021.

To explore funding opportunities visit Newcastle Grant Finder.