The Caring for Country Grant Round is a First Nations led and run grants program that supports the work of First Nations communities throughout Australia and...
Groundswell Giving
Caring for Country Grant Round: Support First Nations empowerment and self-determination through collective giving
GOAL
$100,000
RAISED
$10,000
australia > NATIONWIDE > Metro and regional
01/07/2024 > 01/07/2025
FIELD OF INTEREST
- Environment conservation and climate change
- Indigenous communities
TARGET POPULATION
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Peoples
- General population
PROJECT SUMMARY
The Caring for Country Grant Round is a First Nations led and run grants program that supports the work of First Nations communities throughout Australia and the Pacific focussed on climate justice and caring for Country.
This program engages First Nations community leaders to manage the decision making process of this grant round and direct funding to address climate justice in the way they choose, on their own terms, in accordance with the right to self-determination. This ensures culturally appropriate outreach and engagement with the changemakers they are seeking to support and strengthened decision making overall.
Since 2022, Groundswell in collaboration with a number of foundations across the country, Caring for Country grants have:
- Supported: First Nations led projects ensuring that solutions are culturally appropriate and community driven.
- Invested: in programs that build the capacity across generations and empower youth and elders fostering self-determination and;
- Preserving: cultural heritage, by funding projects that celebrate First Nations cultures, languages and traditions, which are invaluable to the fabric of our future.
A few weeks ago, Groundswell launched their 2024 grant round, offering $160,000 in new funding for Caring for Country leaders and programs. Since opening, they have been overwhelmed by the calibre and the number of exceptionally strong candidates applying for greatly needed funding.
Their major grant size is $40,000, which can be transformative for the organisations and projects applying. However, right now, they can only resource 4 of the grant-ready 25 First Nations projects, organisations and leaders who are leading in our communities.
In a critical decade for Country, climate, culture and communities, particularly this NAIDOC Week, and particularly post-referendum, Groundswell is on a mission to secure funding to resource as many First Nations led projects, organisations and leaders as possible.
They are seeking to collaborate with funders who understand the importance of equity, empowerment and self-determination in funding First Nations led work to meet their increased funding goal for this year’s grant round from $160,000 to $400,000 which will allow them to offer 10 x $40,000 grants in total.
PROJECT OUTCOMES
By resourcing as many of the grant-ready 25 First Nations projects, organisations and leaders who are leading in their communities, this will enable an empowered and self-determined approach to:
- Protecting Country: prevention of fossil fuel expansion (e.g., advocacy and campaigning);
- Caring for Country: land, sea and water management (e.g. preserving and protecting carbon sinks);
- Healthy Country solutions: supporting climate solutions (e.g. agriculture to sequester carbon and energy transition initiatives);
- Preserving Culture: strengthening community to ensure ongoing generational care for Country (e.g. cultural heritage campaigns).
Groundswell Giving
Groundswell is a community of passionate people who fund and power strategic climate action.
Groundswell was co-founded in 2020 by three friends – Clare, Anna and Arielle – to accelerate climate action in Australia.
They started Groundswell because while they could see no shortage of people deeply concerned about the climate crisis and wanting to be part of change, many were unsure about how to make the biggest impact. They could also see there was no shortage of brilliant climate action out there, ready to scale up and deliver important change, but that most organisations were restricted by a critical lack of funding. So, they created Groundswell to join the dots.
Since their launch, Groundswell has grown into a powerful community committed to funding and accelerating strategic climate action in Australia.
In addition to grant making, Groundswell runs a renowned climate fellowship program for philanthropic, business and cultural leaders working to change the game on climate this decade.
BUDGET BREAKDOWN
TOTAL BUDGET: $400,000
FUNDING
| Funding source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Philanthropic partners (confirmed) | $160,000 |
| Private philanthropic donors and other fundraising efforts (unconfirmed) | $140,000 |
| Funding gap (unconfirmed) | $100,000 |
EXPENSES
| Expense item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Direct grants to First Nations led projects, organisations and leaders (10 x $40k) | $400,000 |
Support Caring for Country Grant Round: Support First Nations empowerment and self-determination through collective giving
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DOES YOUR PROJECT NEED FUNDING TOO?
As a broker of change, we invite social change initiatives to apply for funding. Eligible proposals are shared with our giving community via our Granting Opportunities directory.