Working Together: Strengthening family and sexual violence support with multicultural communities

Organisations working with multicultural and faith communities in Victoria, including but not limited to:

• Ethno-specific services and organisations*
• Faith-based organisations that are part of a multicultural community*
• Settlement or multicultural service providers*
• Specialist family violence victim survivor services
• Specialist sexual assault services
• Family violence perpetrator intervention services

Lead partners must be prescribed under Family Violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management Framework (MARAM) and the Family Violence and Child Information Sharing Schemes to deliver case work to multicultural communities or be a family or sexual assault specialist agency.

Information on Information Sharing Entities and MARAM prescribed organisations is available at Information Sharing Entity List.

Additional partners do not need to be MARAM prescribed. For further information see our FAQ document which can be found at the bottom of this webpage.

Your organisation must:

• Have a current Australian Business Number (ABN)
• Be up to date with any accountability reports or final reports for any grant managed by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (please contact Family Safety Victoria if you are unsure if this is applicable to your organisation).

Your organisation must be one of the following entity types:

• Incorporated associations (incorporated under state legislation, commonly have ‘Association’ or ‘Incorporated’ or ‘Inc.’ in their legal name)
• Incorporated cooperatives (also incorporated under state legislation, commonly have ‘Cooperative’ in their legal name)
• A not-for-profit entity registered under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) or the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 (Vic)
• A social enterprise incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001, or
• A Local Government Authority, but only in support of another organisation.

If you are not one of the above organisations or entity types, you are encouraged to partner with an organisation that is.

You are not eligible to apply if you are:

• An individual and/or sole trader
• A for-profit corporate entity
• A Local Government Authority as a lead or independent applicant, or
• An entity that has failed to comply with the terms and conditions of previously awarded grants.

All applications must be submitted by 10am, Monday 18 November.

A separate application is required for the family violence and sexual violence funding streams.

You must submit your application/s through the DFFH Grants Gateway.

You must attach the lead organisation’s most recent Annual Report and financial statement.

You must attach letter/s from your partner organisations confirming their agreement to partner with you. More information on this is provided in the Frequently Asked Questions document which can be found at the bottom of this webpage.

Please note that if the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing currently funds your organisation, other relevant information may be obtained in relation to your current Service Agreement.

All applications to the program will undergo the following review and assessment process:

All aspects of your application will inform the assessment. This includes:

• the project details
• responses to the selection criteria
• the content of mandatory attachments.

We will assess and score all eligible applications against the criteria listed below. Please note there is an additional question for Stream 2: sexual violence, so the weighting breakdown is varied.

During the assessment process, we may contact applicants for additional information, if required.

Stream 1: Family Violence

Stream 2: Sexual Violence

Funding Agreements

If successful, you must enter into a Victorian Common Funding Agreement (VCFA) with the department within 30 days of notification. If you do not accept the funding offer during this period, the department may withdraw the Agreement.

The VCFA outlines:

• the grant’s terms and conditions, including use of funds
• key deliverables and due dates
• reporting requirements.

All funded activities must be completed by 31 December 2027.

Program Requirements

• Any variation to the approved project must be submitted to the department for approval before implementation.
• Anyone aged 18 or older who has unsupervised contact with young people in the program must have a Working with Children Check.
• The grant recipient must have policies and processes in place to meet the Victorian Child Safe Standards. This includes changes that came into effect from 1 July 2022.

Payment of grant funds and reporting requirements

Funded organisations will:

• receive funds on completion of agreed project milestones and deliverables outlined in the VCFA
• complete progress reports, including updates on progress against your project plan and budget
• submit a final report including a project acquittal and evidence of project outcomes at the end of the activities.

Funds must be spent on the project, as described in the VCFA and any unspent funds must be returned to the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

Funding acknowledgement

Successful applicants must acknowledge funding from the Victorian Government. Guidelines will be provided to all successful grant recipients and form part of the VCFA.

Activities to acknowledge Victorian Government support include logo presentation on any activity-related publications, media releases and promotional material. The minister for Prevention of Family Violence must be invited to open any funded activities.

Legal responsibilities

Successful applicants must ensure that any project activity follows relevant legislation, regulations, by-laws and codes. Activities must also meet the requirements of any Commonwealth, state, territory or local authority. It is your responsibility to be aware of laws and protocols that regulate the way you conduct your work.

Insurance requirements

Successful applicants must have public liability insurance of at least $10 million to cover all aspects of your project. The department may ask for proof of insurance that covers the project duration.

If you have any questions about the ‘Working Together’ grant program, please contact Family Safety Victoria’s Inclusion, Equity and Lived Experience team via inclusionandequity@familysafety.vic.gov.au.

For further information, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions document below.