Round Two of the Regional Development Australia Fund open
09-November-2011
Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton is encouraging all Not-for-Profit organisations in the Parkes electorate to apply for Round Two of the Regional Development Australia Fund (RDAF).
The Government will provide $200 million towards projects which address regional issues and priorities, support regional communities and deliver both short and long-term community and economic benefits for local communities. Grants of between $500,000 and $15 million are available to eligible applicants.
Eligible applicants are required to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for their project to their local RDA committee by COB on Thursday, 1 December 2011. Following review of these EOIs against five criteria, RDA committees will select the three highest priority and viable projects to proceed to full application.
Successful recipients of Round One of the RDAF were announced in September this year. Mr Coulton expressed his disappointment that no grants were awarded to any of the Parkes electorate projects that were submitted in Round One.
“The outcome of Round One of the Regional Development Australia Fund was very disappointing,” Mr Coulton stated. “As I stated before you could not get more regional than the Parkes Electorate, and yet funding was not forthcoming to any of the strong applications that were put forward.”
“The RDAF has not been without its problems. Round One saw a clear majority of funding allocated to Labor held seats, with eight of the nine grants awarded in NSW going to a Government held seat. Also the merit of some of the “regional” projects could be debated.”
“It has now come to my attention that for Round Two, Not-for-Profit organisations must have a minimum annual income of $1.5 million in order to apply under this round. This was not part of the criteria under Round One of the fund and under the matched funding requirements, it will be difficult for many communities to meet the guidelines.”
“Despite this however, I would strongly encourage all Not-for-Profit organisations in the Parkes electorate to submit applications to their RDA board,” Mr Coulton stated. “I would be more than willing to assist local organisations in anyway.”
MORE INFORMATION
Full details and application forms can be found here: Regional Development Australia Fund (RDAF).