Community groups in the Parkes electorate can now apply for up to $750,000 in grants for initiatives that encourage more people to sign up to become organ and tissue donors.

Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton said grants of between $10,000 and $50,000 are available to help drive community awareness about the importance of donation, family discussion and increasing the number of registrations on the Australian Organ Donor Register.

“Organ and tissue donation are life-saving and life-changing for recipients, yet there are still 13 million eligible Australians who have not yet registered their decision on the Australian Organ Donor Register,” Mr Coulton said.

“We know nine out of ten families will agree to organ donation if their loved one is registered and they’ve spoken about it as a family, so these types of grants are crucial in helping us get the message out and ultimately saving the lives of those on the Australian transplant waitlist.”

Applications are invited in one of three categories:

• Broad-reaching national events;
• Media, public relations or digital activities; and
• Research/behavioural change projects or the development of education resources.

Mr Coulton encourages community groups, local businesses and not-for-profit organisations in the Parkes electorate to apply now.

“I hope to see a number of applications from the Parkes electorate, and I encourage everyone to talk to their family and register to be an organ and tissue donor at donatelife.gov.au,” Mr Coulton said.

“The easiest way to increase our donation rate is to get more families talking about donation and registering to be organ and tissue donors.”

Mr Coulton said it was very easy to register as an organ and tissue donor at either donatelife.gov.au or through myGov or the Medicare Express Plus app when downloading your COVID-19 vaccination certificate.

The 2022 Community Awareness Grants are provided by the Organ and Tissue Authority as part of its national Community Awareness and Education Program.

Applications for this round of funding are open until 10am AEDT, Wednesday 17 November 2021. Multi-year funding of up to three years is available for national events applications. Successful applicants will be announced in February 2022.

For more information about the Community Awareness Grants, including the assessment criteria and the application process, visit donatelife.gov.au/grants