Traditional Owner Healthy Water Grants

The Reef Trust Partnership - Traditional Owner Healthy Water Grants Program is a competitive grants program which provides $4.5 million to eligible Traditional Owners to build capabilities, increase skills and training opportunities, strengthen partnerships and undertake healthy water projects within the Great Barrier Reef Catchment that will help protect the Great Barrier Reef.

This grant round is co-designed by Traditional Owners who are members of the Traditional Owner Water Quality Technical Working Group together with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (the Foundation). The collective experience and expertise in understanding Country and looking after water sources - together with the exploration of issues and challenges commonly faced by Traditional Owners around accessibility and inclusivity has shaped program design, delivery and key focus areas for this grant program.

One of the standout key design features of the healthy water grants is the different entry levels that Traditional Owner groups can use to access funding. There are two grant categories covering three funding levels being offered under this grant round.

Grant categories and Funding Levels:
1. Foundational Healthy Water Grants
• Funding Level 1 (up to $25k): Getting Ready Grants – will help you get started
• Funding Level 2 ($25k-$150-K): Project Ready Grants – will help you work on planned projects

2. Keystone Healthy Water Grants
• Funding Level 3 (up to $500K): Complex grants – will deliver large multi-year projects, where groups demonstrate a strong track record of good project management, partnerships and delivery.

For more information please refer to page 4 of the grant guidelines.

The Reef Trust Partnership - Traditional Owner Healthy Water Grants Program is a competitive grants program which provides $4.5 million to eligible Traditional Owners to build capabilities, increase skills and training opportunities, strengthen partnerships and undertake healthy water projects within the Great Barrier Reef Catchment that will help protect the Great Barrier Reef.

There are two grant categories covering three funding levels being offered under this grant round.

Grant categories and Funding Levels:
1. Foundational Healthy Water Grants
• Funding Level 1 (up to $25k): Getting Ready Grants – will help you get started
• Funding Level 2 ($25k-$150-K): Project Ready Grants – will help you work on planned projects

2. Keystone Healthy Water Grants
• Funding Level 3 (up to $500K): Complex grants – will deliver large multi-year projects, where groups demonstrate a strong track record of good project management, partnerships and delivery.

For more information see page 4 of the grant guidelines.

The Traditional Owner Healthy Water and Stage 2 Grants are targeted towards Traditional Owner groups (with established or emerging governance arrangements) located along the Great Barrier Reef coastline and within the GBR catchment.

To be eligible Traditional Owner groups that apply for funding must meet all of the following criteria:

1. Must be a legal entity, for instance:
a. an incorporated association
b. a body corporate
c. a company
d. a cooperative society
e. an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander corporation or incorporated association, or
f. a trust duly constituted.

2. Be a Traditional Owner group for the area the work/planning is proposed (or have culturally appropriate permission where the project may be over multiple estates).
3. Accept the conditions of the application
4. Confirm that all actual, perceived or potential conflicts of interest relating to the grant project have been declared
5. Hold or be willing to hold the required insurances.
6. Have a project that is ready to commence by early February 2021

Traditional Owner groups that are not legal entities at the closing date for applications must be sponsored by a legal entity (such as a peak body or regional natural resource management organisation) who may apply on their behalf. The legal entity will be legally responsible for meeting the contractual obligations of the grant.

PBCs or Aboriginal Corporations that represent more than one Traditional Owner group may apply for a grant but that does not exclude an individual Traditional Owner group applying separately.

For more information see Page 8 of the Healthy Water Grant Guidelines.

The following groups or organisations are not eligible to apply unless sponsoring for a Traditional Owner organisation
• Regional natural resource management organisations
• Peak industry groups or umbrella bodies
The following are not eligible to apply for the grants and are not eligible to sponsor a project:
• Individuals
• Organisations that have at the application closing date, any overdue final reports or acquittals for other grant programs.

For more information see Page 9 of the Healthy Water Grant Guidelines and Section 6.2 of the Stage 2 Grants Guidelines.

Read the grant guidelines, complete the application form and submit online at applications@barrierreef.org by 11.55pm 17 November 2020.

All applications must be submitted by 17 November 2020. The completed application forms with any of its supporting documentation must be submitted electronically by 11:45pm (AEST) 17 November 2020.

Late applications will not be accepted.

No. Great Barrier Reef Foundation staff are able to clarify any questions you have regarding the application form, but they are not able to help you complete it.

No. As an individual you are not eligible to apply either with or without a sponsor.

No. Applications should be submitted for new projects or further stages of an existing project. There should be no duplication of funding between existing projects and new applications made under this grant program.

Yes. Funds can be used for travelling if it relates to the project. All travel must be incorporated into the proposed budget for the project.

An organization CAN submit one application form for the Healthy Water Grants and one application form for the Stage 2 Grants. Only one application form per grant opportunity, may be submitted by each group. If multiple applications are submitted, only the first one received will be assessed and considered.

Items that were not budgeted in the original application will not be funded. Applicants must consider all aspects of their project and ensure they include all relevant costs within their application. Additional funds are not available to meet costs which may have increased after the application was submitted.

Quotes may be considered by the assessment panel but are not required to be submitted with the grant application. However, for complex or large budget items we do encourage you to provide quotes or supporting documentation to help the assessment panel understand the costs associated with the project.

Optional supplementary information (e.g. letters of support from stakeholders or other community groups) are encouraged to help assist the assessment panel understand your application. Support letters or letters of endorsement from your Traditional Owner group are required.

When you submit your application to applications@barrierreef.org you should receive an automated confirmation email that you have successfully completed the application process. If you do not please contact grants@barrierreef.org

No changes are permitted once the closing of the application date (post November 17). Please read your application carefully before submitting to ensure that you have completed every relevant section and that all the information is true and correct.

Applications will be assessed against the selection criteria described in Page 13 -14 of the Healthy Waters Grant Guidelines.

Successful applicants will receive a funding deed that will need to be signed and returned. Any specified conditions of funding must be met before full payment for the project can be processed and the project commences. Projects should expect to start in early February 2021.

The payment will be processed only when the successful applicant has accepted the terms of the funding by signing and returning the funding deed.

Traditional Owner Healthy Waters projects must be completed by 30 May 2024.

The Great Barrier Reef Foundation places a high priority on monitoring and reporting for all Reef Trust Partnership funded projects. The monitoring and reporting requirements are:
• Tracking of expenditure for acquittal
• A process to record project achievements
• A final report on project outcomes and financial expenditure

Refer to Healthy Waters Grant Guidelines Page 15 (What are the conditions or receiving a grant?).

The Grants program is being funded under the Reef Trust Partnership, which requires that all projects be conducted in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Projects that would be conducted in the Torres Strait are out of scope for these grants. The Foundation does recognize the important cultural and spiritual connection that the Traditional Owners of the Eastern cluster of islands in the Torres Straits has with the Great Barrier Reef, so there may be projects that these Traditional Owner groups apply for that are relevant and in scope for these grants.

Yes they would be eligible to apply, however the project must be undertaken in the GBR World Heritage Area. The Foundation does recognize the important cultural and spiritual connection that the Traditional Owners of the Eastern cluster of islands in the Torres Straits has with the Great Barrier Reef, so there may be projects that these Traditional Owner groups apply for that are relevant and in scope for these grants.

Yes, an Aboriginal Corporation can nominate a Landcare and Catchment group as their sponsor, if needed. If the Aboriginal Corporation is registered as a legal entity they can apply as the applicant, and include a partnership with the Landcare and Catchment Group in their application. The Aboriginal Corporation could include the experience of Landcare and Catchment Group in project management etc if they are working together. The main feature of the application needs to be the involvement of the Traditional Owners in planning, leading and running the project work. But we fully expect that partners are involved and working together where possible.

10% of the overall budget can be allocated for project administration.

Yes, the auditing cap is $3,000 to get auditing and acquittals done.

The Healthy Water grants are available to Traditional Owners of the GBR catchment as well as the saltwater Traditional Owners along the coast of the GBR. You can check if your Country falls within the GBR Catchment boundaries on the map below. If you are unsure if your Country falls with the GBR catchment, please email us descriptions of the area a project might relate to, and we can explore this. Send these queries to grants@barrierreef.org

Your organization may be covered by the insurance held by the Landcare and Catchment Group, depending on the partnership that is explained in the grant application. However this grant provides the opportunity and time to get adequate insurance cover in place if you are awarded a grant.

Public liability insurance and a work cover policy will include workers compensation.

Yes, this grant provides the opportunity and time to get adequate insurance cover in place if you are successful.

Yes, a regional NRM organization could sponsor an established Traditional Owner Association. However the Traditional Owner Association would need to explain (in their application) why they prefer that arrangement, in order to help the assessment panel understand the advantages.

Yes, there will be a Stage 2 Healthy Water Grant opportunity within the next 18 months.

Yes, it is good to provide a letter of support and say who you are. The letter of support could be from the Board of Directors of your organization, or from an Elder, or a member of an established Steering Committee. It helps the assessors understand how the project is being developed and discussed with your Traditional Owner Group.

No. You can only apply for one type of grant (i.e. tick only one box in the grant application).

Yes, you can reference your existing WHS plan in the application (and state that it can be provided if shortlisted). Please attach the WHS cover/title page to your application as a supporting document. If there are any project specific risks not covered in the WHS plan, these should be addressed in a smaller risk management plan submitted with the application.

Yes the cost of producing a video is an eligible communication cost, as long as it will be used as a tool to communicate your project results to others, and assist in sharing lessons learned.

There are auspicing arrangements possible for both grant types – but the function is to assist Traditional Owners who don’t have a lot of structure or governance currently in place to partner with an established agency to make it possible to help them. To be eligible for the Keystone grant, the project would need to be Traditional Owner led and driven. Could one of the Traditional Owner groups take the lead in submitting the application, and work with you and the other Traditional Owner group as partners? If not, each Traditional Owner Group could apply for a smaller Foundational grant and include your organization as a partner. This would provide Traditional Owners with the ownership of their outcomes and priorities

Yes, the $10,000 limit on plant and equipment is the standard limit for all size projects for this round of Healthy Water and Stage 2 grants. We may consider revising the limit in future grant rounds. GBRF has planned for another Healthy Water grant round in the next 18 months, so it may be that a group establishes the project with the intent of scaling up the autonomy of the project into the future.

The cost of a hiring a project manager to work specifically on your project, could be funded through project funds. This would not be included in the 10% of funding allocated for administrative and project management costs.

Yes, the grant submission should be emailed to applications@barrierreef.org.

No, you do not.  Only successful grant applicants will be required to provide certificates of insurance after they are notified that their project will be funded.

The Foundation will assess each project for the types and levels of insurance cover that is needed to be in place before a project can be funded. At this time we are asking applicants to check that they are capable of having $1m in professional indemnity insurance and $20m in public liability.

There is duplication in Section 3.2 Engagement and 5.2.  In section 5.2 please just write “refer to answer in section 3.2”, there is no need to respond twice.  

Insurance costs should be included in the administrative costs.

No, the Foundation does not have guidelines for calculating Elder fees. We ask that groups consult with their elders and set the price point for Elder payments, as there is variation between Traditional Owner Groups.

A letter of support can be addressed "To Whom It May Concern", and the letter should be submitted by the applicant with their grant application.

The required insurances are listed in section 7.0 of the Healthy Water application form and include:
• Workers compensation
• Public Liability (minimum required: $20m per occurrence)
• Professional Indemnity (minimum required: $1m per occurrence)
• Motor vehicles and plant and equipment insurance (if applicable)
• Other relevant policies (eg volunteer insurance if applicable).

All Insurances must be in the Applicant’s legal entity name. Copies of the insurance Certificates of Currency must be provided to the Foundation if the application is successful.

The GBRF are busy assessing the Traditional Owner Healthy Water Grants, but things are talking a little longer than expected. We are working really hard to ensure all applicants hear from us by Friday December 18th. Thank you for your patience and understanding.