Community Funding Policy Review
This consultation is now closed.
The City of Vincent is reviewing its Community Funding Policy and would welcome your feedback on the proposed changes.
Background
The City regularly receives requests from community groups, organisations and individuals for the provision of financial support towards projects, programs, events and other initiatives.
A range of grants are available that are aimed at helping local people to take an active role in shaping our community.
In December 2015, several different policies were consolidated into a new Community Funding Policy, adopted at the 27 June 2017 Council meeting.
This Policy has been reviewed several times since then: September 2018, July 2020, March 2021 and October 2021 to incorporate additional funding streams.
More recently, at their Ordinary Meeting on 18 June 2024, Council requested that a proposal to revoke Policy No 7.6.9 - Heritage Assistance Fund be considered as part of the Community Funding Policy review.
Project Details
The Community Funding Policy exists to:
- Provide financial assistance through grants, sponsorship, donations, waivers and in-kind support to assist groups, organisations and individuals to deliver positive community outcomes.
- Use community funding as a strategic opportunity to strengthen quality of life within Vincent through improved community engagement, partnerships and participation.
- Complement and support both Council and community priorities through a range of community funding initiatives.
In line with the Policy Development and Review Policy, the Community Funding Policy has now been reviewed, and we are seeking community feedback on the proposed changes:
Name of Grant | Proposed changes |
Seeding Grants | Consolidation of the Seeding Grants with Community Support Grants due to minimal uptake in Seeding Grants. |
Collaborative Grants | Re-worded to reflect that funding for Collaborative Grants is provided for a three-year period. Removal of reference to an Assessment Panel as Collaborative Grant focus areas are reported to Council, not an assessment panel. |
Town Team Grants | Removal of the number and names of Town Teams to provide greater flexibility if additional Town Teams are established and enable discretion where some Teams may not seek funding in a financial year. Removal of assessment and reference to Town Centre Place Plans and Town Team Action Plans. |
Heritage Plaques Program | Reference to the Heritage Management – Interpretive Signage policy removed. |
Waiving of Fees | Inclusion of a criteria matrix for the assessment of applications for reduction or waiver of fees. |
Student Citizenship Awards | Revocation of this funding category as it is an administrative function in liaison with the Office of the Mayor. This initiative will now form part of programs offered annually to all local schools within the City; and considered as part of the annual budget process. |
Business Enhancement Grants | Inclusion of Business Enhancement Grants which were identified in the Thriving Places Strategy 2023 - 2028 adopted on 22 August 2023. |
Female Sports Participation Grant | Replacement of Female Sports Participation Grant with a new Sports Participation Grant that promotes and encourages participation in sport with a broader focus on juniors, diversity and inclusion, as well as females in sport. |
In addition, the following updates are also included:
- Removal of legislation/local law requirements.
- Amendment to the Introduction to align with the policy template.
- Removal of procedural guidelines and assessment criteria from the Related policies, procedures and supporting documentation section. These are all available on the City’s website alongside the funding application forms.
- Updated purpose of the policy to provide clarity.
- Inclusion of a Conflict of Interest section to recognise statutory responsibility of staff to appropriately declare interests and excuse themselves from decision making where a conflict may exist.
- Inclusion of Financial Consideration section to reflect that funding available through the Community Grants program will be listed on the City’s Corporate Business Plan and presented as part of the Annual Budget to be approved by Council each year. Grants subject to this policy are funded by operating budget and expenditure of funding is the responsibility of administration.
- Removal of grant funding amounts as grant allocation can fluctuate dependent on the annual budget and this level of detail aligns more to an internal administration procedure.
- Formatting and layout changes to align with the current policy template.
- Removal of numbering system.
- Removal of outdated policy numbers.
- Update to terminology to replace ‘persons’ to ‘applicant’ for consistency.
- Removal of Community Funding Application and Assessment Overview as this relates to the amendment detailed in f) and is more appropriate as part of internal procedures.
- Funding information now laid out in a table to provide a high-level overview of each category and eligibility criteria to reduce duplication throughout the document.
Heritage Assistance Fund
Policy No. 7.6.9 Heritage Assistance Fund (Policy No. 7.6.9) provides financial assistance to persons who wish to undertake approved heritage conservation projects on places listed on the City’s Municipal Heritage Inventory and/or the State Register of Heritage Places.
We are proposing to revoke Policy No. 7.6.9 for the following reasons:
- The administrative process for the provision of heritage funding is not required to be included in a local planning policy and can be suitably addressed through the preparation of a new information sheet that would be available on the City’s website.
- An information sheet would allow for the grant amount to be modified based on budget allocation in the financial year without the need for a policy to be amended which would require the approval of Council.
Share your thoughts
Please let us know if you have any comments about the draft Community Funding Policy by completing the short survey below.
You can also contact us in any of the following ways:
- By phone 9273 6000
- By email mail@vincent.wa.gov.au (External link)
- In person at the City of Vincent Administration Building, 244 Vincent Street (corner Loftus Street), Leederville (during business hours).
- In writing, by mail to PO Box 82, Leederville, 6902
Hard copy forms are available on request.
Consultation closed 4pm Tuesday, 18 February 2025.
What will happen next?
After this consultation period closes, we will summarise the feedback and update the policy as required. A report will then be presented to Council for adoption of the amended policy.
If you would like to be kept updated on the Community Funding Policy Review, you can request to do so at the end of the survey.
Everyone who provides feedback and their contact details, will be notified when this will be considered by Council. Members of the public are welcome to attend the Council Briefing and Council Meeting to ask questions or comment on the proposal.
Information on this page is available in alternative formats on request.
