Flexible Grants Program

Program purpose

To assist the region to recover after the Central Queensland Bushfires in 2018, a Community Recovery Package was made available and funded by the Commonwealth and State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements under Category C. The package included a Flexible Funding Grants Program. The purpose of the Flexible Funding Grants Program is to fund projects that support local communities to recover from the impacts of the disasters and/or contribute to their future disaster preparedness.

Program status

The program concluded in June 2022.

Administering agency

The Department of Communities led the implementation of the program with administrative support from the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA).

Outcomes achieved:

As part of the DRFA Category C assistance, a total of $6 million was available under the Flexible Funding Grants Program across 2019/20 and 2020/21 for targeted recovery and resilience projects. Funding was split in two stages:

Round 1: approximately $1.8 million

• Small grants (minimum $2,500 up to $20,000)
• Large grants (minimum $20,000 up to $100,000)

Round 2: approximately $4.2 million

• Small grants (minimum $2,500 up to $20,000)
• Large grants (minimum $20,000 up to $100,000)

Following underspends in both Rounds 1 and 2, Round 3 was implemented for approximately $0.9 million.

Funding was provided through flexible grants to non-government organisations, community groups and local governments to implement projects aimed at driving recovery, building awareness and resilience within the disaster affected Local Government Areas (LGAs).

More information

A copy of the full evaluation report is available on the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR) website.

(QRA Reference CM DOC/22/3504)