Need more help?

Information sessions

To support organisations with the application process, online information sessions will be held to go through the guidelines and for organisations to ask questions about the grants.

For more details, including dates and times, visit the Local Anti-Racism Initiatives Grants Program webpage.

For more information on the Victorian anti-racism strategy 2024-29, visit the strategy webpage.

Contact the department

For more information, help with your application or to check if you have any outstanding final reports related to funding administered by the Victorian Government, email antiracism.strategy@dpc.vic.gov.au.

Please allow up to two days for someone to respond to your request. The inbox is checked Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm.

More information

How to check your Australian Business Number (ABN)

• Visit the Australian Business Register (ABR)

How to check your organisation type

• For incorporated associations, co-operatives or organisations incorporated through other means, go to Consumer Affairs Victoria (www.consumer.vic.gov.au)
• For a Company Limited by Guarantee, go to ASIC Connect
• For registered charities, go to Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC)
• For First Peoples corporations registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006, go to Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC).

Definitions

Anti-racism

The work of actively opposing racism by advocating for changes in political, economic and social life to eliminate structures, policies and practices that cause and perpetuate racial inequality.[1]

Community-controlled organisation

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community control is an act of self-determination. Under Clause 44 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Community-Controlled Organisation delivers services, including land and resource management that builds the strength and empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and people and is:

• incorporated under relevant legislation and not-for-profit
• controlled and operated by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people
• connected to the community, or communities, in which they deliver the services
• governed by a majority Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander governing body.[2]

Cultural safety

An approach to providing services by creating an environment where First Peoples, multicultural and multifaith people can receive care and support without assault, challenge or denial of their identity and experience.[3] This involves learning from and relating respectfully to people from communities to provide culturally appropriate care and support.[4]

Discrimination

Unfair or unequal treatment of a person or group of people because of a personal characteristic that is protected by law. It is against the law to discriminate against a person in areas of public life, including in workplaces, schools, government services and taking part in community activities.

First Peoples

All Traditional Owners of a place (including family and clan groups) and their ancestors. Also, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who live or lived in what we now call Australia in the time before or since the start of colonisation.[5]

In-kind contribution

An in-kind contribution is a contribution of a good or a service to the event other than money, that would normally have a financial value. Some examples include:

• volunteer labour
• donated goods (e.g. event space, equipment or food)
• donated services (e.g. project management or security).

Intersectionality

Intersectionality recognises that people may experience overlapping forms of inequality, discrimination and disadvantage based on a range of attributes. These attributes can include Aboriginality, ethnicity, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, class, socioeconomic status, language, migration status and religion. This shapes peoples’ experiences, opportunities and life outcomes.

An intersectional approach to anti-racism recognises that people who have multiple attributes experience unique forms of racism because disadvantage and discrimination are compounded. It looks at ways to address racism through actions that respond to the needs of people based on the whole person rather than the single attribute of race or ethnicity.

LGBTIQA+

An acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, queer and asexual people.

Lived experience

Personal knowledge gained through direct, firsthand involvement in everyday events rather than through assumptions and constructs from other people, research or media.

Multicultural

A term used to describe people or groups of people who belong to the many cultural, racial and ethnic groups in Victoria.

Multifaith

Used to encompass the vast number of diverse faith groups in Victoria. Faith refers to a group that share their own religion, spirituality and traditions.

Racism

Beliefs, behaviours, systems and structures in a society that cause unfair and unequal distribution in power, resources and opportunities between racial or ethnic groups. Racism includes beliefs, stereotypes, prejudices or discrimination at the personal, institutional and societal levels.

Racism, structural

Racism that is entrenched in a society between institutions and individuals.

Social enterprise

Social enterprises are companies that:

• are led by an economic, social, cultural, or environmental mission consistent with a public or community benefit
• derive a substantial portion of their income from trade
• reinvest the majority of their profit/surplus in the fulfilment of their mission (at least 50%).