Why health matters
Many young people and their families need support to engage with and navigate the health service system in Victoria. Rural and regional Victorian communities are made particularly vulnerable by the limited availability of services.
There is a high demand for specialised solutions to the complex, multi-faceted challenges faced by children, young people and their families living with chronic and debilitating illness. Raising awareness around key health issues and improving access to health service delivery, along with education in preventative health programs, will be the focus for funding in this program area.
Health priority outcomes
1. Improving mental wellbeing for young people
Young people are facing significant complexity and challenges; we will support services to allow them to achieve improved mental health and wellbeing
2. Assisting young people with disability as they move towards independence
Support for young people to transition successfully into employment and independent living
3. Enhancing local health access
Supporting access to comprehensive health services from an early age, particularly in regional and rural areas
What we are looking for
- Coalitions and projects that support young people to improve their mental health and wellbeing
- Projects that improve supports and outcomes for young people experiencing mental ill health
- Programs that increase access to tools and resources for young people and their families
- Support for young people with disability that enhances their independence and agency
- Programs or projects that put the child and family at the centre of their health and provide the support to navigate the system
Want to apply for a grant?
Step 1:
Check your eligibility
Before you consider applying for a health grant, confirm that you meet these criteria:
- You operate in Victoria and will use the grant for the benefit of Victorians
- You are a Public Benevolent Institution (PBI) organisation (note if you have health promotion charity status you are not eligible)
- OR are a Public Hospital that operates in Victoria and will use the grant for the benefit of Victorians
- Preference given to organisations that are registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC)
- You have an Australian Business Number (ABN)
- Your initiative or project aligns with at least one of the pathways to improving health granting priorities
Step 2:
Drop us a line
Send the WBF granting team a quick email that outlines how your application meets the eligibility criteria and which of the Foundation’s health priority outcomes it meets. Please ensure you include your contact details.
We will call you back to discuss and provide a link to where you can submit your expression of interest.
Step 3:
Prepare and submit your expression of interest by 12 February 2024.
Since we receive many submissions, your expression of interest does not need to include all the details.
We want to see what the need and context are for a project or program as well as the vision for its impact. We allocate a month for this step.
Your expression of interest will be considered by the Trustees, and if successful you will be invited to submit a full application. At this stage we will provide feedback for any more information we need or want to understand better.
Step 4:
Prepare and submit your full application by 16 April 2024.
This application is where we want to see the detail of the project including how your organisation is governed, budget breakdowns, timelines and expected outcomes, as well as how you plan to measure, track and assess the success of your project. We also want to see how lived experience is built into the design delivery and evaluation of your approach.
Don’t worry – we give you one month for this step and are happy to answer any questions you have along the way.
Your full application will be considered by the Trustees, and you will be advised of the outcome by email shortly after the meeting. If you’re unsuccessful we will provide specific feedback to help with future applications if there is any. If you’re successful, we will be in contact with a grant letter requesting an invoice and banking details, which we need you to provide to process a payment.
If you have a multi-year grant from us, we will need to see an acquittal and invoice annually to release payment. We aim to make payments within a month of notifying grantees and future year grants will be released after discussion and review of acquittal form through smartygrants.
We’re happy to hear from you whenever you have something you want us to know and of course if there are any significant changes to the project
FAQs
We are committed to evidence-led initiatives that lead to better outcomes for Victorian children and young people, particularly if they face barriers to engagement. We believe that as a philanthropic funder we best support children experiencing barriers to engagement by funding organisations to prove, scale and grow initiatives and, when established, exiting our relationships. We want to back initiatives that can provide impact at scale with the right support, rather than funding the ongoing delivery of programmatic responses.
Specifically, we fund initiatives in these seven ways:
- Collaborating for greater impact
- Building long-term partnerships
- Supporting capacity building
- Scaling up proven models
- Supporting regional communities to thrive
- Addressing the challenge of youth mental health
- Supporting grass roots community activities
The Foundation has committed to measuring, tracking and reporting publicly on our progress on:
- the UN Sustainable Development Goals
- diversity lenses: gender lens in project design and reporting
- specific project locations: urban, outer urban or remote
- beneficiary groups: Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people, people seeking asylum, culturally and linguistically diverse, people and communities experiencing intergenerational poverty and disadvantage.
In light of our existing commitments, we are not accepting applications for new grants at this time.
We will launch our refocused strategy, with clear guidance for charities in 2025.