We're grateful to receive this grant to support our grassroots community work!
You might have noticed us a bit more recently in the mainstream media (click here), in local papers (click here) and with a full-page ad in The West (click here).
We were lucky enough to be a recipient of a grant from the Community Accelerator Fund. It's aimed at helping community groups like ours. The grants can be used for advertising, flyer printing and software. The only conditions on the grant were that our values align with Climate200, the organizers of this fund.
The committee thought long and hard about applying for the grant but eventually decided to apply for a grant of $20,000, which we received. These were our reasons:
1. The CAF fund consists of donations made by many people (around 15.000) all across Australia, of which at least 40% live in rural & regional areas (like ours). The fact that this money has been donated by so many people is very important to us and reflects a community spirit.
2. Our values align with Climate 200's values: a science-based response to the climate crisis; restoring integrity to politics; and advancing respect and safety for women.
3. Lack of action on climate change and lack of integrity in politics have emerged as two of the top-5 issues that came out of our Forrest community consultation. The other 3 are: lack of real representation in Canberra; environmental destruction; cost of living.
3. So far we have been working on a shoestring budget. Most of our costs we (our team) have paid for ourselves. As we progress towards launching our first ever KTC report, candidate selection and launch, and incorporation we simply needed more cash. The full page ad alone cost $10.000.
For us to be eligible for the grant is a big tick of approval. It means that we're strong enough and big enough to support.
Going forward we will be more organised around our fundraising opportunities and if you are in a position to donate any amount , we would be very grateful!