Gardiner Dairy Foundation, in partnership with the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR), is inviting community organisations in Victorian dairy regions – Gippsland, northern Victoria and south-west Victoria – to apply for grants of up to $5,000.

The annual Gardiner Dairy Foundation Community Grants Program is delivered through FRRR, which has partnered with Gardiner Dairy Foundation for the past 19 years.

Grants are made available to registered not-for-profit groups and can be used for a wide variety of community activities including community arts, health and wellbeing, environment, infrastructure, education, history and much more.

To assist community groups in preparing their grant applications, Gardiner Dairy Foundation and FRRR are running free grant seeker workshops in each of the three Victorian dairy regions. These workshops provide invaluable advice on how to put together a competitive grant application.

In 2021, Gardiner Dairy Foundation will make available a total funding pool of $120,000. Since launching the program with FRRR in 2002, Gardiner Dairy Foundation has distributed almost $2 million to Victorian dairy communities and has supported a total of 471projects.

“I’d like to encourage community leaders to take advantage of these grants, to leverage the money available with other inputs and to continue to improve and enrich their dairy communities. Strong and vibrant dairy communities are vital to a strong dairy industry and vice versa,” said Gardiner Dairy Foundation Chief Executive, Clive Noble.

Meanwhile, Sarah Matthee, Acting CEO of FRRR, said that the grants are designed to give dairy communities the boost they may need to make great things happen.

“Last year was tough for most rural communities, and Victorian dairy communities were no exception. We’ve seen from previous grant recipients that a small grant can open doors for further funding, and it will be great to visit some of last year’s grants recipients to see what kind of opportunities have grown from the funding, and how they have used the grants to help address the needs of their communities,” Matthee said.

“We know that these communities are determined, inspiring and resilient and full of great ideas. That’s why the Gardiner grants are deliberately flexible – to allow local leaders to respond to what’s happening, and address the biggest priorities. In previous years, that’s been anything from community gardens to festivals, small infrastructure to training. I look forward to seeing what this year’s applications bring,” she said.