B Corp Offers Grants To NFPs

As a volunteer treasurer, you are probably always on the lookout for sources of additional funding for your Not-for-Profit (NFP). If your NFP does work that involves the health and well being of children, then you will be happy to learn about a new grant program being offered to NFPs by Whole Kids.

Whole Kids is a certified B corporation and a small, family business that offers children's products that are healthy and organic. This company has started the Small Seeds Community Grant to help fund local community NFP projects that improve the lives of children and their families.

The grants start at $500 and can be up to $5,000 for a single project. Currently, the company has committed to providing at least 1% of gross sales to funding the grants each quarter, and the company hopes to fund up to six projects per quarterly round.

NFPs can only apply for one grant per project. Applications that can be fully funded with smaller amounts are given preference so that the company can fund as many projects as possible each round.

The company started accepting online applications for the grants on April 1^st, and will continue accepting applications for this first round of funding through June 30^th of this year. Your NFP will be notified the following month after the round closes if their project was selected to receive one of the grants.

Service areas for the grants focus on projects that help children in the following eight areas:

·         Efforts to build stronger communities for families and children.

·         Improve the health and nutrition of children and improve access to wholesome foods.

·         Improve children's access to learning opportunities and education.

·         Improve the environment to reduce hazards to children.

·         Secure the environment, wildlife and natural resources for children for generations.

·         Promote safe places where children can play and enjoy recreational opportunities.

·         Improve the health and well being of children, including their mental health.

·         Promote social justice for children and the community and protect children's human rights.

Securing funding for your NFP local projects not only helps strengthen your community directly, it can also increase the stability of your NFP to ensure that you can continue operations and serve the needs of your community for the long term. If your NFP has projects that focus on improving the lives of children, why not consider applying for one of the grants today?

NAB And Community Spirit

Today we want to address our gratitude to the National Australia Bank and Impact Investing Australia for a piece of great news – the foundation of a brand new impact investment fund amounting to $1 million. NAB, which is one of the founders of Impact Investing Australia, appears quite keen to start a new process that is bound to shape the social face of Australia for years to come.

The latest report by Impact Investing Australia (which came hand in hand with the announcement of the new fund) is named “Delivering on Impact: The Australian Advisory Board Breakthrough Strategy to Catalyse Impact Investing” and is full of useful content that explains how exactly Australia will become a better place with the help of Impact Investing. According to the specialists who have worked on the report, if everything goes as planned, it will be easy to achieve $10 billion in impact assets in the market.

So what does all that mean? To start with, if you want to do Impact Investing but you don't have the capital to start, now you can access it. If you have a business model that can improve the social and community conditions in Australia, you can realise it with the help of the new fund. If you want to invest in the improvement of Australia and the Australian community and earn at the same time, you only need to find out how and apply for financing. If you have already found out how – so much the better!

The fund will be known as the NAB Impact Investment Grants Program and will be managed by NAB in cooperation with Impact Investing Australia. The Difference Incubator will also have a significant role for making it happen – mainly in terms of the structure and design of the program. As Steve Lambert (who is both part of NAB and Impact Investing Australia) says, "the program is only one of the projects currently being developed to improve the community situation in Australia and overcome any challenges the country may face in the future". According to him, one of the main responsibilities of NAB is to provide their customers with ‘holistic and innovative financial solutions’.

This is a great start for the Australian Impact beginning (although there have been other efforts to push it forward), but it most certainly won’t be enough to help create the Australia we want. Therefore, the National Australia Bank encourages all organisations and businesses out there to contribute to the fund. With mutual effort and hard work, Australia may become a great place for living, investment and business – as long as we want it and fight for it.

Have You Applied For The 2014 Westpac Community Grants?

Is your NFP working to improve the lives of disadvantaged Australians?

Could you do with a boost to your funding?

The 2014 Westpac Community Grants might be just what you need.  The grants have been designed for specific purposes.  This is an extract from the Westpac page.

What we do fund:

• Projects that build on a community organisation’s core work
• Running costs, including salaries, to ensure that community organisations can maintain and develop their core work and services.

What we do not fund:

Organisations that do not have a Deductible Gift Recipient Item 1 status with the ATO, or are not auspiced

• Charities that mainly work overseas
• Hospitals, hospices or medical centres
• Medical research, funding for medical equipment or medical treatments
• Rescue services
• Schools, colleges and universities
• Sponsorship or funding towards a marketing appeal or fundraising activities
• Capital projects, appeals and refurbishments
• Projects that support animals or to promote animal welfare
• Programs promoting religion.

The Westpac Foundation has already provided over one million dollars of funding for community grants. These grants have helped over 113 Not for Profits to expand their operations.  That is a very impressive record.

This year there is a total of $530,000 in grant money available to groups who can meet the funding requirements.

If you have never applied for a grant before, take the time to read the documentation on how to apply and check the selection criteria.  Both are found on the information page.

Applications are open until March 31^st and grant recipients will be announced in June. Please visit the Westpac Foundation to discover more about the grants and to make your application.