Matched Funding Program

The Matched Fund Program provides the opportunity for Traditional Owners who do not receive income from land use agreements to participate in the Community Projects program. Additionally, the Program will consider applications from groups who receive a small amount of income from land use agreements, resulting in a co-funded arrangement.

For groups that receive no income or small amounts for their land use agreements, the Matched Fund Program provides the opportunity to apply for a contribution of $50,000 (or more if the group has additional grant funding) towards a project that benefits their community.

The Matched Funds Program will mean your group might be able to:

• Make your money go further or last longer
• Do projects that otherwise are too expensive
• Achieve more significant and lasting benefits for your community
• (For groups with limited income) access funds to make projects happen and then learn skills like planning, budgeting, problem-solving and project management.

Your group can apply for Matched Funds if you meet the following criteria:

• Are working with Community Projects team to plan and do projects
• Have not received Matched Funding for another project in the current Financial Year
• Complete an application form
• Complete a feasibility study and/or plan for your community project
• Provide a preliminary project budget and outline your group’s financial contribution where applicable.

A member of the Community Projects team will help your group to prepare an application, including supporting documents.

The NLC will consider completed applications that meet all eligibility criteria.

To make sure distribution of benefits is fair and equitable, the NLC will assess and process Matched Funds applications upon receipt for groups:

1) With no land use agreement income

2) With a small amount of land use agreement income. In this case, a small amount of land use agreement income is a total of less than $200,000 per year.

Additionally, the NLC will consider applications from groups that earn more than $200,000 but less than $500,000 in land use agreement income per year, as long as the group is willing to put money towards their community project.

If the demand for Matched Funds outweighs the funds available, the NLC will consider and prioritise :

• Community projects with strong feasibility that do not duplicate existing services or projects
• Applications from groups working with Community Projects team, or groups who have made a recent renewed commitment to participation
• Applications from groups with strong participation in planning processes
• Applications where the group has looked to leverage other available funding before seeking CP&D Matched Funds.