Noeleen Timbery   0:05
Great. Thank you. All right. So welcome everyone and thank you for joining us here today for the Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, Governance, Resilience, Opportunities and Workforce Grant program session and that's sort that's shortened throughout the presentation.
Presentation is the Echo Grow Grants program, Um, which of course is a lot shorter, uh, than there's the full title. So you'll have, um, I guess a bit of a an understanding of that as we go through.
So my name is Noelene Timbery. I'm I'm currently the manager of the Aboriginal Sector Engagement and Pathways team, and today our team will be hosting this session alongside the DCJ Grants and Funding team and our colleagues from NSW Treasury who we've partnered with to bring you these.
Grants. This session has been designed to help you understand the grant, the application process, eligibility for the grants, the assessment process and the next steps for moving forward. So before we begin, just a little bit of housekeeping.
Next slide please. Thank you. So please keep your cameras off and your microphones on mute. There will be time at the end of the session to ask questions. You can type your questions in the chat or raise your hand during Question Time.
As I stated, we are recording this presentation part of the session only and we're looking at whether we can include the recording as part of the grant information online alongside the frequently asked questions. So any questions that we don't actually get to you through the through this through the question time?
We will take them on notice and we'll also add those to the frequently asked questions. So keep an eye on on that if if your question doesn't get answered today.
Uh, we'll move into. Oh, sorry, yeah, next one.
And of course I want to acknowledge country and and the traditional custodians of the lands that we're all joining from today. I'm joining you from the traditional lands of the Bidjigal people, which I, you know, I'm a proud Bidjigal woman. So I'm I'm very lucky to still live and work on country and.
I'm very thankful for that. I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging and celebrate the diversity of Aboriginal peoples and their ongoing cultures and connections to the land and waters in NSW. I also acknowledge and pay respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people joining us here today and.
Mutual respect to you guys for working in this sector and wanting to work along or continuing to work alongside DCJ to support Aboriginal families who still remain very vulnerable in our system. We'll jump straight into it.
So a little bit about the grants.
And the grants opportunity. So the purpose, oh, sorry, I've just jumped around a little bit.
So the Grow. So the ACO Grow Grants program is a NSW government initiative designed to strengthen, support and uplift Aboriginal community controlled organisations across the state. The program provides up to $1 million in one-off funding to help ACOs build their internal capability.
Improve organisational systems and strengthen their role in delivering culturally safe services for Aboriginal children, families and communities. At its core, the Echoes Grow Grant program seeks to encourage sustainable organisational growth.
Particularly among ACOs working in the areas such as early intervention, early childhood education and care, family support, child and child and maternal health, domestic and family violence services and other supports that benefit Aboriginal children and families in NSW.
The grants are not for establishing new ACCOs. Instead, the program is specifically designed to strengthen existing organisations by investing in their strategic workforce, governance and operational capacity.
The grant looks to prioritise small and emerging ACOs, including those looking to expand into other child and family program areas.
Oh, next slide.
Thank you. So the grant objectives. The program centres on four key objectives, strengthening workforce capability, enhancing governance and strategic partnerships, support, supporting business strategy and financial, sorry, sustainability.
And building culturally appropriate data capability and outcomes measurement.
And this includes funding for projects and activities such as workforce training and leadership development, improvement in governance practice through governance reviews or governance training for your board members, support for strategic and business planning, financial management and partnership development.
Development of of frameworks and systems for improved data collection, outcomes, measurement and evaluation, and other activities that improve organizational resilience and sustainability. These objectives directly respond to feedback from the sector and align with priority.
Reform 2 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and that focuses on building the Aboriginal community controlled sector by enabling actors to echo sorry to deliver high quality community LED services.
Next slide.
So who was the opportunity for?
The funding is for existing existing echoes in NSW that are delivering or seeking to deliver services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families, including those working in early intervention and family support parenting programs.
Early childhood education and care, child and maternal health, domestic and family violence and other family focused services. To support this, the program offers 2 funding categories, so grants of a minimum 3000 up to $15,000 for small.
Initiatives and then 15,001 to $50,000 for larger capability capability building projects. Please note that the requirement of the one of the requirements of the grant is that all funds are to be spent.
Within a 12 month period, concluding no later than 30 June 2027.
Next slide.
OK, a little bit about the eligibility criteria. So eligible applicants must be not-for-profit ACOs governed and operated by Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander people connected to the communities where they deliver their services.
They must hold an ABN, be registered for GST and be based in NSW.
Overall, the ACOS Grow Grant program represent a strategic investment in strengthening Aboriginal LED organisations so they can continue to deliver culturally grounded community driven services that support long-term well-being for Aboriginal children and families across NSW.
And you'll see on the right-hand side of the slide there, there's just a a list of, I guess, not eligible. So if you were any of those, so an individual, any of the government's educational facilities, a for-profit organisation, if you were unincorporated, if you don't meet.
Project requirements if you're an organisation with a redress of obligations under the national redress screen, if you have overdue acquittals with DCJ, so that's that's if you're currently funded by them by DCJ and you have overdue.
Reporting, sorry, acquittals, reporting, or if you don't have the appropriate insurance, unfortunately that makes you ineligible for these grants.
Next slide.
So some examples of activities or projects that might be funded or that can be funded.
So this slide provides some examples of projects, activities that align with the objectives of the grant program and could be funded. This is not an exhaustive list and only provides an example. It is only provided for example purposes.
I really encourage everyone to read the grant program guidelines and the frequently asked questions for further information on what can and cannot be funded under the grant.
Uh, yeah, let's go to that next slide. So, uh, just to walk you through a bit of the applications program, I'm gonna, uh, a applications process. I'm gonna hand over to Rosita Lara, who's our colleague, um, in the grants design um.
and support team. Thanks, Rosita. 

Rosita Lara   9:51
Thank you, Noelene. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this information session for the ICO Grow Grant programme. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land we are all meeting on today. I am in Darkinjung land in the Central Coast.
My name is Rosita Lara. I am a acting Senior Grants Officer. I lead and support funding initiatives that strengthen community services and outcomes. How do you plan for the How do you apply for the grant program?
The applications are now opened. They open on the 4th of February 2026 and the grant programme. You can find the link in there at dcj.smartygrants.com dot au arco grow.
By clicking on that grant, you will be able to go into our website and I am going to share my screen for a minute.
Can you let me know if you see it please, Noelene or someone?

Noeleen Timbery   11:00
Yeah. Thanks, Rosita.

Rosita Lara   11:02
Yeah, all right. So this is the the grant application form that you will be able to see it. You can either start a submission straight away, you can preview the form and that's will give you a preview of what the form looks like.
You can also download the the form and share it with somebody for for their their completion or fill it out or complete it later.
So that is the form, what it looks like and the form has on the right side it'll have your navigation. This is the number of pages that you need to complete. First page is about what the grant is all about. Then we move on to what is the eligibility required for the grant as per.
Guidelines and like Noelene advised before, please read your your guidelines program and whether you're eligible or not will be on the second page.
Then we move on to the third page, which is the organization details. What is your organization name, details, phone number? Who are your primary contact details? Your banking details very necessary for when we if you are successful, we need to do the transfer of funds to.
To that account that is provided here. At the same time, we also ask you to provide us with the bank statement. It is necessary so we can make sure that the BSB details and account number are correct and belong to the organization that we're paying the funds to.
Finance contact details. It's also another field that is necessary. If you're successful, we need to make sure that the funds are going to the right account. Signatories. The signatories are the two people authorized signatories from your.
Organization that are authorized to sign the grant funding agreement on behalf of the organization. There will be two people required here and the details to be entered on this page.
Following the next page will be the project details. What is the project about? What are you intending to? What are you seeking funding for? The details? The title of your project? A brief description of what is that about?
When it's going to start? When is it going to end? Remember that all the projects must end by the 30 June 2026, 2027. Sorry. Where is going to be the primary location of your project? The.
Planning. It's old in here. What are you planning to do?
Next will be the assessment criteria and this is the criteria that as per the guidelines it has been. There are 4 criterias, relevance, impact, implementation and prioritation, all to do with your project and what are you intending to do.
Each criteria question it's in here, so complete the fields will be ready for you to complete in here. No more than 200 words per question to be answered and criteria one has two questions, criteria 2 another two questions.
Criteria 31 question and criteria 4 is some two more questions.
Next page is your project budget. We have two categories in the funding for available to apply the grant amounts from $3000 up to $15,000 category one.
Category two, it's grant amounts from $15,001.00 up to $50,000. So we ask you here to advise what is the amount that you're seeking, the activities that are not are excluded from the grant funding.
And the project budget, please let us know in here, enter the details of what you're budgeting for and how the funds will be expend.
The next page is your last page, which is the declaration and your authorisation. The person that is authorised to sign this form, e-mail details and sign and submit. The submit button will be on the bottom in here.
Remember that once you submit your application, you will not be able to edit it and you will receive an e-mail from Smarty Grants portal to advise you that your submission has been received by us.
If down the line you need to do any amendments before the closing date and you want to to reopen the application, please reach out. That's an e-mail address Grant [email protected] dot au. Contact us and we'll be able to reopen the form. Remember.
Must be before the closing date. After the closing date we are not allowed to reopen any forms and we will read your application as it is.
Um.
Next page please.
OK. So I just run by the application form, the insurance we are you are required to have current public liability insurance for $10 million that is the minimum and.
Please upload a document that also will be your with your application form regarding the insurance.
Next page please. Tips. Yes, you will receive, as I noted before, an e-mail with your application ID number and the contact details for queries upon submission of your application.
Remember to save the form as you are completing it. You may you may save it and then return to it later or the next day. So the as long as the application is saved, you can always go back to it.
Any amendments prior to the closing date, please reach out. If you have submitted you need to do amendments, please let us know to reopen your grant application.
Next page please.
How's your application assessed?
Yeah.
Next page.
The assessment process. All applications will be initially reviewed and ensure that it is compliant and meet the eligibility criteria that is as per the guidelines. The all eligible applications will then be assessed by a panel of independent assessors.
Each application will be reviewed by two separate assessors. They will be independent from each other. They will not see what each other one is assessing and they will be scoring each of the criteria questions.
Once those applications are through the independent assessors, it'll go through the assessment panel for review.
The assessment panel will make final recommendations for the for funding and the they will provide a report to the delegated decision maker.
The decision maker will consider the panel recommendations and make a final decisions. Once the final decision is made, you will receive an e-mail from from Smarty Grants to notify you the outcome of your application.
Uh, Nolene, do you want to take, uh, this please?

Noeleen Timbery   19:18
Yeah, thanks Rosita. So just talking about the assessment criteria, your application will be assessed against for the four key assessment criteria that you see on screen to ensure project, sorry projects align with the program's intent and deliver meaningful benefits.
For Aboriginal children, families and communities. So going through the four criteria relevance, this assesses how well the proposed activities align with the grants objectives and the extent to which applicants have outlined clear outcomes and a plan to apply learnings beyond the grant period.
Impact considers the potential of the project to strengthen the organisation's capability, enhance service delivery and support positive outcomes for Aboriginal families, as well as the applicant's capacity to engage with community in a culturally respectful way.
Implementation examines whether the organisation has the necessary experience, resources and planning to deliver the project effectively, including a budget that is reasonable, realistic and proportionate to expected outcomes.
And finally, our prioritisation gives preference to small and emerging echoes or those seeking to expand into new child and Family Services service areas, while also supporting equitable geographic distribution or funded program sorry projects across NSW.
These criteria together ensure that funding supports initiatives that are impactful, achievable, culturally grounded and strategically aligned with strengthening Aboriginal communities and control at sorry, strengthening the Aboriginal community controlled sector.
Sorry, Karishma. Um, yeah, you can go to the next slide.
So partnering with ACCOs or I guess in DCJ speak, we'd call that subcontracting. DCJ will only provide a grant to a single organisation. However, organisations can work together to apply for the grant using subcontracting arrangements between them.
Where the activity or project would be more beneficial, more beneficial if it is progressed in partnership, the applicant or lead organization will retain the contractual obligations to DCJ under the grant funding agreement for delivery and accountability.
You can provide details of partnering organisations if relevant in the in the application form. Please note that all partnering organisations much must meet the eligibility criteria.
Uh.
And there's an example of of what you can, I guess a partnering situation on the screen. For avoidance of doubt, you may choose to hire third parties, external contractors, or to support the delivery of capability building activities or projects.
These fee for service arrangements may be with non Aboriginal organisations, individuals and should be included in your budget.
Uh, next slide.
And I think I'm handing back to you, Rosita.

Rosita Lara   22:47
Thank you. What happens if you are successful?
Once your application has been successful and you have received notification from this Marie Grants portal, we you will receive also the next step is the grant funding agreement and to be signed by your authorized signatories signatories. Sorry. So all the successful applicants will receive an elected.
Electronic e-mail by via Adobe Sign, which is our digital signature, and that's how you will sign your funding agreement. It'll go from the first authorized signatory. Once that person has signed it, it'll move on to the next person automatically. Adobe Sign will do that for you.
And it will go to the next person to sign it digitally. You can sign it on the phone as well. If you're not at your laptop or computer, you can just sign it using your mobile phone. Remember that it is a requirement once the grant funding agreement has been emailed to the first.
Authorized signatories. Signatories. You only have two weeks to sign it and send it back to us.
The agreements, the funding agreements can only be signed by the authorised officers of your organization, so it is your responsibility to carefully read the terms and conditions of the grant funding agreement together with your program guidelines, your grant application, and sign that agreement using the correct.
Authorised signatories. If for whatever reason the signatory is no longer available and you need to get somebody else to sign it, let us know so we can amend the name of the person and send that funding agreement to the correct person once we have received the granting.
Agreement DCJ will countersign that funding agreement and return it an executed executed copy to you by e-mail for your records and any variations to the grant funding agreement. Remember that must be formally requested and approved in writing.
And you can send us an e-mail. Again the our e-mail address is there Grant Design and support at dcji.nsw.gov dot AU for anything that is variations to the grant funding agreement or the project itself.
Next slide.
Variations can be happening to the project scope. If anything changes with the scope, the location of the project, the completion timeframes must be formally requested and approved in writing.
By DCJ. So please reach out if anything changes with your project. Our e-mail address is in there and also remember your project must be concluded by the 30 June 2027.
Please keep all the financial records related to the grant project and following the conclusion of the project 30 June 2027, you'll have approximately 4 weeks to submit your final report and acquittal statement. It will be sent to you by e-mail by the.
Smarty Grants portal, so you will have some time to produce that final report and acquittal. At the same time, we will also ask you to complete a midterm report run about six months mark. We will ask you a few details about how the project is progressing.
Again, you will receive a form by Smarty Grants portal simple midterm report form that you will need to complete it online and send it by the portal submitted by the portal.
The successful recipients may be invited to a learnings workshop with other successful applicants to reflect on the learnings and impacts of the programme.
DCJ will be in touch with you if um we were doing uh uh learnings workshop.
Next page please.
This is our timeline. The grant application, the grant round is open, open on the 4th of February and it will be closing on the 19th of March 2026. Please note no late applications will be accepted after the 19th of March at 4:00 PM, so please.
Try to submit it before the 19th if possible. Then we will go through the assessment process which will be run about April period and notifications of outcomes will be done in May. The announcements will be made run about May as well and.
Everything will be published in the NSW Grants Finder who has been successful in June 2026 and the projects are to commence on one July 2026, concluding on 30 June 2027 and your final report and acquittal by 30 July 2027.
Thank you.

Noeleen Timbery   28:03
Thanks, Rosita. Look, thank you everybody for attending. We will take some questions in a moment, but for further review before you start your application, I really encourage you to have a really good look at the grant program guidelines and the frequently asked questions that you.
Find online there as well. Thank you again for attending. We will stop the recording now.