Funding guidelines

The terms of the Wills of the Collier sisters provide the Trustees complete discretion to make decisions on what will be funded in support of the wishes of the sisters (referred to inthe Wills as Designated Purposes).

The general funding practices currently adopted by the Trustees are:

1. To encourage organisations to seek funding that meets their own priorities, not those that may be thought to be favoured by the trustees.
2. To be broad and flexible in their approach, within the scope of the Designated Purposes.
3. To fund a variety of organisations and initiatives rather than to make very large grants to fewer organisations – see Annual Reviews
4. To be open to making limited multi-year grants.
5. To be open to supporting organisations in collaboration with other grantmakers to maximise impact and eliminate duplication.
6. To be open to supporting organisations that collaborate with other like-minded organisations to maximise impact and eliminate duplication.
7. To be supportive of applications to build organisational capacity. This may include:
   
   • staff costs
   • staff training
   • costs to improve effectiveness through the use of technology, and
   • developing strategic capacity.
8. Where funds available permit, being open to out-of-round applications for emergency relief or genuinely urgent matters.
9. To limit each organisation to one application per sub-Fund.
10. To limit grant applications to a maximum amount of $50,000 (some exceptions will apply) although most grants will likely be smaller.
11. From time to time to make grants on the Trustees' own initiative.
12. Not to support the following:
    • initiatives that only benefit an individual or an individual's family,
    • that seek contributions for the corpus of another grant making organisation.

Organisations supported under this Fund will normally be registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission (ACNC) as a Public Benevolent Institution (PBI) and be incorporated in, or have their headquarters in, Victoria.

Initiatives supported under Fund 1 include (but not limited to):

• initiatives designed to alleviate the cycle of social disadvantage and social problems within Victoria, and
• emergency relief and material aid initiatives within Victoria.

The Fund is supportive of initiatives that assist disadvantaged groups including:

• recently arrived migrants, refugees and asylum seekers
• Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and
• people living in regional, rural and remote areas in Victoria.

It is also supportive of initiatives promoting non-discriminatory practices.

The Victorian Government's Department of Health and Human Services provides a list of all Public Hospitals in Victoria on its website. All hospitals on this list are eligible to apply for funding under Fund 2.

Areas of focus include:

• equipment and infrastructure
• initiatives that improve patient care (including hospital-based research)
• regional hospitals that act as centres of excellence and specialised services within an area, and
• support for smaller community hospitals.

Fund 4 encourages applications from across Australia including (but not limited to) the following areas of focus:

• early education initiatives for disadvantaged children
• education and training for the young
• improved education for indigenous, immigrant and disadvantaged communities
• initiatives designed to educate the public
• teaching, training or research carried out by universities or other tertiary institutions into any of the above areas, and
• the improvement of educational outcomes and the completion of schooling.

Initiatives supported under Fund 5 are open to all religions and denominations in Australia for the advancement of religion.

Understanding the diversity of religious practices and beliefs in modern Australia, the Fund supports ecumenical and interfaith initiatives.

The following are some of the areas that are currently supported:

• religious ministry
• religious initiatives to the poor and disadvantaged
• training for religious ministry
• upkeep and support of ministers of religion in their ministries
• chaplaincy or pastoral care initiatives, and
• maintenance, restoration, refurbishment or improvement of places of worship.

PLEASE NOTE: Social outreach initiatives provided by churches will usually be eligible for funding under Fund 7 and not Fund 5.

Under Fund 7 applications are encouraged from applicants within Australia, but outside of Victoria, in respect of initiatives mentioned above in Fund 1, which is limited to Victoria.

In addition, Fund 7 is available to support other charitable purposes in Australia outside the scope of the various Funds. These other purposes are not identified in the Wills but would include supporting the aged, sick and disabled.

Unless stated otherwise, a grant will be made on the following conditions:

The recipient will:

• use the whole of the grant exclusively for the initiative as described in the application
• endeavour to complete the project within 12 months from the date of receipt of the grant
• inform the Fund when any material change, which may affect the recipient's ability to undertake or complete the project within 12 months from receipt of the grant
• expend the grant only within Australia
• show the receipt of the grant in its financial accounts and keep appropriate records to verify the use of grant
• provide the Fund with a receipt for the amount received
• submit a grant report (acquittal) at the end of the funding period using the online grant report form

The recipient gives approval for their distribution details to be published on our website and in other other publications.

All applications are submitted online using the online application form which can be found under the Grants tab. 

If you are not able to submit an application using the online application system please contact the the Executive Officer to make other arrangements for submitting an application.

Except for emergency applications the Trustees make grants in one round each year. 

The opening date for applications is early to mid-April each year and will close on 31 May. 

The Trustees' normal practice is to finalise their decisions on all applications submitted by the end of October. All applicants are then notified of the outcome of their application and successful applicants will receive payment for the approved funding at this time.