Over the past nearly 40 years the Australian Government has established cultural councils supporting people-to-people links underpinning our key bilateral and regional relationships. Eminent Australian business and community leaders are appointed to the boards, providing a range of expertise and input to Australia’s foreign policy and economic diplomacy goals. Funding for these Foundations, Councils and Institutes and for the Australian Cultural Diplomacy Grants Program is provided through the International Relations Grants Program.
The International Relations Grants Program (IRGP) supports the Government's foreign policies and economic diplomacy interests and projects a positive contemporary image of Australia. IRGP grants support professional, community and institutional linkages between Australia and its partners on contemporary issues of shared interest including business, education, innovation, science, technology, the arts, media and sport.
Grant round dates
The majority of Foundations, Councils and Institutes will notify applicants of 2016-17 grant round outcomes in late July or August 2016. Profiles of successful projects will be added to the ‘Grants at a Glance’ webpage.
The 2017-18 grant rounds are expected to open in February 2017.
Standard grant documentation
Individual application forms for each Foundation, Council and Institute are customised to address the strategic priorities relevant to the individual diplomatic relationship. When a grant round is open, applicants complete an interactive form online via SmartyGrants. These static Word and PDF versions provide an indication of the information required:
The standard draft funding agreement is also customised to the particular grant and country situation.
Grants eligibility
There is considerable competition for grant money and individual grants generally do not exceed $40,000. IRGP grants are managed in accordance with the Commonwealth Grant Rules and Guidelines. Grants are generally not awarded for:
- Capital expenditure including items such as real property, equipment or computer software;
- Activities that are properly the responsibility of other funding bodies or other government agencies (e.g. development assistance projects, trade promotion and academic research);
- Activities that are commercially viable in their own right or which give a commercial advantage to one organisation;
- Conference travel, salaries for research assistants or administrative staff; honorariums or administrative charges levied by the applicant's organisation; or
- Projects already completed.
Given the competition for grants funding, requested travel costs should be reasonable (refer to the ATO website).
Grant recipients
Lists of previous grant recipients.
Grant project summaries are available under the grants tabs of individual FCI pages. Project summaries across the Foundations, Councils and Institutes are also collated here: Grants at a glance.