Deliver and report on your funded project

You have 12 months to deliver your funded project. Applicants must also provide a short acquittal report detailing what happened, the impact for young people, learnings, what next for the project, and a statement of project income and expenditure.

Attend Program Catch Ups Online

To ensure that this grant program continues to be responsive to the needs of our regional and rural changemakers, there are several online touchpoints that successful grantees are required to participate in:

• Meet the Cohort Catchup: An informal introduction to fellow grantees. It’s also an opportunity for us to explore if there are opportunities for collective support or capacity building.
• Mid-year check in: This is a one-on-one to explore how your project is progressing, and if there are any ways for us to support you and your project.
• Roundtable Reflections: A casual opportunity to share your work and hear from fellow recipients about their knowledge, insights, wins and challenges. This session also provides a forum to connect and explore commonalities and opportunities for collaboration.

There is great diversity across Backing the Future grants. In past rounds, stronger applicants demonstrated a:

• Genuine connection to or understanding of the rural and regional area/s they’re working in;
• Commitment to elevating youth voices, either through a youth-led project or working alongside young people; and
• Strong motivation to deliver their project.

Feel free to reach out to the FRRR team if you want to discuss whether your idea is eligible.

Unfortunately not. Backing the Future is our grants program specifically for individuals and groups of individuals. VFFF provides grants to organisations by invitation only. If you are  a not-for-profit organisation in rural, remote and regional Australia, FRRR offers a range of different grant programs.

Yes, as long as you are over 18, you are eligible to apply. We’ll ask you to share how you are actively listening to and incorporating the voices of young people into design and delivery.

Sure thing!

Early stage work is work that has been in active development for less than three years. 

It’s up to you! You could spend the grant:

• On research and development for a new idea;
• To pay yourself or others to work on a project;
• To cover project costs e.g. equipment, travel, catering, venue hire.

If you’re unsure, feel free to contact the FRRR team. 

Successful grant applicants are required to undergo a background check. This process is a way to collect information as part of our due diligence process, rather than a test that recipients ‘pass’ or ‘fail’.

As part of this process, you will be required to provide 100 points of ID and some basic details e.g. residential history. If the proposed work involves supporting young people under the age of 18, we will also require you to provide your Working with Children Check (WWCC) number.

FRRR will provide support to recipients throughout this process, including instances where documentation may not be available and/or recipients have concerns about the outcome of the background check process.

Successful applicants can elect to have the $50,000 grant paid in one lump sum to:

• Their individual or business bank account; or
• A nominated not-for-profit organisation that agrees to receive the grant funds in a designated bank account on behalf of the individual. The individual must retain full autonomy over the grant funds for the purpose outlined in the application. In some circumstances, VFFF may require the individual and/or the nominated not-for-profit organisation to provide VFFF with additional information or documentation.

Applicants are encouraged to seek taxation advice regarding their individual circumstances.

VFFF and FRRR are committed to creating an open and honest relationship with our grant recipients. We recognise that flexibility is crucial to supporting Backing the Future recipients to fully explore their ideas, and that plans will develop and change with time. We’ll organise regular check-ins to understand how your work is progressing and how we can support you to overcome challenges and obstacles. Recipients will also be required to provide us with a short video/written report at the end of their grant term.