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Community grants

The provision of grants to community organisations is an important way for local governments to support their local communities.

Types of grant

The types of grant programs and activities usually funded by local governments include direct grants or indirect subsidies for the following:

  • These grants are provided to community organisations within the local government boundaries for cultural, sporting, and environment related activities. There are usually very few conditions placed on the grant and little expected in return from the local government.

  • These grants are used by local governments to 'buy' a benefit for the community. Examples include:

    • cultural grants for cultural and academic development e.g. workshops in visual and performing arts, subsidies for gallery exhibitions in council facilities, youth programs, musical equipment artist development programs
    • sporting grants e.g. sporting equipment, support for sport events
    • heritage grants e.g. heritage projects, buildings
    • environmental grants e.g. environmental development, tree planting, weed removal and control
    • festival grants e.g. events including car races, music festivals, religious gatherings.

  • These types of grants are used by local governments to build the capacity of the community e.g. grant-writing programs, maintenance of public halls, plant and equipment purchases, capital upgrades and improvements of community facilities.

Grants policy

In order to allocate grants to community organisations, a local government must adopt a community grants policy consistent with the requirements of sections 194-195 of the Local Government Regulation 2012, and for Brisbane City Council, sections 186-187 of the City of Brisbane Regulation 2012.

The local government must allow the public to inspect the policy at the local government office or on their website. The public must also be able to purchase copies of the policy from the local government.

Visit the community grants policy web page for more information on issues to consider when developing policy.

Reporting requirements

Section 189 of the Local Government Regulation 2012 and section 181 of the City of Brisbane Regulation 2012 require the local government's annual report to contain a summary of its expenditure on grants to community organisations and expenditure from each councillor’s discretionary fund for the year.

Last updated: 09 Nov 2021