Organisations can apply for a community economic development grant if they:

• are an eligible community organisation or are under the auspices of an eligible community organisation as defined in the 2.59 Community Grants Policy;
• operate or provide services within the Toowoomba Regional Council area; and
• have an Australian Business Number (ABN).

Who cannot apply:

• individuals
• for-profit companies, trusts and other organisations
• government, semi-government organisations and statutory authorities
• public and private educational institutions (primary, secondary and tertiary including Parents & Citizens and Parents & Friends Associations)
• unions and student guilds
• research foundations and professional associations
• an organisation that has been granted approval for support through a Toowoomba Regional Council funding program for the same project
• recipients who have previously defaulted on the conditions of funding
• an organisation that has not acquitted an overdue TRC funded grant application.

It is mandatory that projects help to achieve the objectives of the Toowoomba Region Economic Development Strategy and Community Growth Action Plans.

Eligible projects will:

• connect local businesses
• encourage business innovation
• build business capacity and skills
• contribute to the ease of doing business
• enable partnerships and collaboration between businesses and/or organisations in the Toowoomba region
• address a local workforce gap
• assist towards planning, professional and application fees in preparing grant applications for larger projects.

Ineligible projects:

Community economic development grants will not fund:

• loan or other debt repayments
• projects already commenced or completed
• recurrent administration and running costs, such as:
  • Regular wages
  • Regular office expenses
• projects with a commercial purpose
• projects already funded by other Toowoomba Regional Council Grant programs
• prize money, trophies, raffle prizes or fundraising.

Community economic development grant applications will be considered against the program philosophy, objectives and outcomes, eligibility criteria and selection criteria. Grants are highly competitive and as such not all applications that meet the criteria will be successful.

Final approval and the level of support will depend on the availability of funds, the number of applications received in the financial year, program priorities and geographical equity. We may give a lower amount than requested and may place terms and conditions on which items may be funded by the grant. Where the support requested is to add to other funding, an interim acknowledgement letter of support may be provided, to be confirmed when and if the other funding is approved.

Applications to the community economic development grant are assessed by a panel that consists of Councillors, Council officers and representatives from two external economic development organisations.