Small Grants

Priority will be given to applications that can demonstrate:

Evidence

Evidence of legal need and a good case that this response is likely to make a difference.

Impact

Projects that have potential to reach significant audiences – this could be a broad audience or a project that responds to a current issue or need for a specific group of Victorians.

The Executive Director of the Foundation makes funding decisions. In most cases, applicants will be advised on the outcome of their application within 2-4 weeks of the application being received.

Grant applications are assessed against the Foundation's statutory functions, grant aims and guiding principles. The following criteria are also considered as part of the assessment process:

• grants can only be made to organisations
• the project must primarily benefit Victorians
• legal need – what is the legal need of the target audience? What is the evidence?
• project methodology – what will you do to address the need?
• format – how does the format meet the needs of the target audience?
• duplication – does the information already exist?
• capacity – does the organisation have the skills and resources to undertake the project?
• impact – what difference will this work make?
• dissemination and promotion – has a strategy been developed to ensure the information gets to the target group?
• replication – is there potential for the project to benefit a broader audience?
• budget – is the budget realistic? Does it offer value for money?

Generally, we do not fund:

• professional development activities
• conferences – sponsorship or attendance
• government organisations with the exception of independent statutory bodies
• recurrent or core operational costs
• purchase of major items of equipment
• international travel costs
• commercial or profit-making activities
• litigation of any kind
• projects that primarily support political activity and lobbying
• costs incurred prior to grant approval
• grant applications previously deemed unsuccessful by the Foundation unless invited to reapply.

Victoria Law Foundation places conditions on the grants it makes. Some of the grant requirements include:

• successful applicants enter into an agreement with the Foundation
• a final report is to be submitted on completion of the project
• acknowledging the support of the Foundation
• having materials checked by a person with appropriate legal knowledge
• developing resources using plain language principles (where applicable).

Find out more about the conditions of our grants

We recommend that you contact the Grants Manager before submitting an application to get feedback on your proposal and find out if it meets our selection criteria. This may save you time in applying for something that is not eligible or unlikely to be funded. Getting early feedback on your proposal may help strengthen your application giving you the best chance of success.

Yes, you can apply for funding through the Small Grant program. The application form will be available later in the year. We expect to offer smaller amounts – up to $2000 (excl. GST) for Victorian Law Week events.

The Foundation’s grant pool is $300,000 divided between our three grant programs. Unfortunately we are unable to fund many great projects due to limited funding. We aim to fund around 4-5 projects within each grant program.

Contact the Grants Manager to find out if your project proposal meets our selection criteria and if sufficient funds are available, giving your application the best chance of success.

All successful applicants enter into a funding agreement with the Foundation. Some other general requirements include submitting a final report on completion of the project and acknowledging the support of the Foundation. Find out more.

We want to know how your project went, so require recipients to submit a final report on completion. This report can be found in your SmartyGrants portal.