For all of us who applied to the great-looking Regional Development Australia Fund that closed recently, we are a little worried.

Simon Crean (Minister for Regional Development) has said that he was "delighted" by the response to the program. From Queensland alone there were 120 applications with a total value of $360 million.

Well that is great except that Round One has only $100 million available!!!

That means that even if the program was only open to Queensland, almost one in four applicants would not be funded, not to mention the other six sevenths of Australia!!!

Surely this shows that there is a desperate need in our rural areas for some serious cash for infrastructure.

I wish everyone who applied good luck and please feel free to tell us your results - good or bad by commenting on this blog.

Do you struggle with just where to start with grants? They seem like a great way to achieve the things you want to achieve but when you start reading guidelines and forms, it is all so confusing. FundBase is here to help you through that maze. To begin, you are invited to a FREE webinar on Thursday 26th May 10am-11am. You can participate using a headset and microphone or by phoning in on the telephone (standard STD rates apply) and watching the webinar on your computer. There will be a chance for questions and you are sure to learn a lot. But the catch is that space is limited so you need to book ASAP. Reserve your spot by going to.... https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/143023662 The Password is "money". After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar. There is a plug-in to download to allow thesoftware to work so please login five minutes early. This is an introduction to the world of grants designed for those with limited experience. You will learn how to find the grant that suits you and find out how to prepare for the application. There are lots of secret hints and tips that have been developed from years of personal, practical experience of finding and securing grant funding. Suitable for community groups, businesses and charities seeking grant funding from government, philanthropic and corporate sectors. System Requirements PC-based attendees - Required: Windows?? 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server Macintosh??-based attendees - Required: Mac OS?? X 10.4.11 (Tiger??) or newer See You There!! Visit www.fundbase.com.au now!

2011/12 Sports Leadership Grants for Women

From Northern Hills Pony Club in South Australia, 28-year old horse rider Kirsty Stuart has received a $1000 Sport Leadership Grant (2010-11) to kick-start her career in equestrian coaching by completing an Introductory Coaching Certificate. 'The course will provide me with the skills to effectively deliver information on horse management and general riding skills to students,' Kirsty said. Not only will Kirsty benefit from the professional development, her pony club will also be able to provide a higher level of quality service coaching to young athletes. The Sport Leadership Grants and Scholarships for Women are aimed at providing women in sport with support and access to leadership training and development opportunities to assist in establishing them in the sport industry. Grants and scholarships are available in the following areas: 1. Coaching 2. Officiating 3. Governance 4. Management / Administration 5. Communications / Media / Marketing The grants cover course fees, presenter fees, presenter travel, translator / interpreter fees, participants travel costs and child care (if required). Successful applicants will receive a one-off sport leadership grant of up to $5000 for individuals and up to $10,000 for organisations. The closing date for applications is 29 April 2011. To see more about this grant and to search for others like it from amongst our 2,600 listed grants, search FundBase now and take advantage of our discounted prices. Hurry it is for a short time only to celebrate the new ownerhsip of FundBase.

NSW Schools Go Eco

The students at the Kirrawee Public School are using their $2,500 grant from the Eco Schools Program in 2010 to regenerate some of the school grounds to a more natural state. They are germinating their own seeds and then planting out the seedlings, whilst tabulating and making graphs of their growth patterns. Students get the opportunity to see first hand the reestablishment of the native bushland in their own school grounds and to observe the ecosystem that this creates. The NSW Environmental Trust is calling for applications from Schools for the 2011 round of the Eco Schools Program. The $2,500 grants can help develop environmentally sustainable schools in four broad areas: 1. Broaden students knowledge towards environmental sustainability for them to improve the quality of the school and local environment. 2. To enable project related professional learning for teachers to assist them to assimilate school environmental management projects 3. School development and management through a whole of school approach to sustainable management 4. Environmental concerns and priorities addressed to improve the quality of the local environment Applications close on 20 May 2011 for Schools looking to fund environmental management projects To see more about this grant and to search for others like it from amongst our 2,600 listed grants, search FundBase now and take advantage of our discounted prices. Hurry it is for a short time only to celebrate the new ownerhsip of FundBase.

Do you have a good news story about the Ian Potter Foundation?

Ian Potter Foundation is undoubtedly one of Australia's leading philanthropic foundations and has helped countless people over the years.
I would like to hear from you as to how one of their suite of ten or so grant programs has helped your organisation.
They are a remarkable organisation and the newly reformed Healthy Communities stream looks great and had their first round close in January. Can you tell us if you applied, if so for what and were you successful?

Find grants for you

FundBase has recently changed ownership following a long period of negotiation. So it has been a while since you have received a newsletter from us. Now that the change of ownership is settled you will be seeing some changes at FundBase, so stay tuned and we hope you enjoy the new face of FundBase over the coming months.

Visit www.fundbase.com.au now!

Sustaining Rural Communities Conference

Transforming Regional Australia Conference

5th-6th April 2011

The Crossing Theatre Narrabri NSW

Free Entry

Regional Australia has the opportunity to actively identify and participate in solutions that will transform the future. A critical component of this is empowering people in regional communities.

The second National 'Sustaining Rural Communities' Conference will focus on the solutions to Transforming Regional Australia. This will include identifying those ways in which people in variouscommunities are already addressing these issues, as well as tools, technologies, infrastructure and policy changes that can be used more eff ectively.

The event will enable delegates to put their own ideas and solutions on the table and have them heard well beyond the four walls of the conference. Delegates will be able to network during and after the event with like minded people from regional communities all over Australia. Empowering people in regional communities to actively participate is vital if we are to succeed in transforming the future of Regional Australia.

For more details and to book go to the webpage.