Supporting Spontaneous Volunteers Program - FY2023-24 Open Competitive Grant Round

The Supporting Spontaneous Volunteers Program is a $5 million open competitive grant program established in response to the 2022 NSW Flood Inquiry’s recommendation that the NSW Government create a program to support better coordination of community efforts to save life and property during a disaster. The Program is also informed by the NSW Government Review of Emergency Volunteering (2023).

The Program is aimed to support communities and volunteers to be better prepared, supported, coordinated and mobilised to respond to disaster events.

The target group for projects funded under the Program are Informal Volunteers who may operate as individual spontaneous volunteers or as part of an emergent group of people who come together to respond to a particular challenge.

The target End of Program Outcomes include:

• Informal volunteers are equipped to respond and can effectively use equipment and resources.
• Informal volunteers have the capability, knowledge and confidence to support community response efforts.
• Communities and informal volunteers have plans that can be effectively enacted.
• Informal volunteers understand their role and contribution in an emergency response.

The Program is administered by the NSW Reconstruction Authority (the Authority), the lead agency for disaster prevention, preparedness, recovery, and reconstruction in NSW.

SUBMITTING AN APPLICATION

Applicants must submit applications through SmartyGrants and refer to the Supporting Spontaneous Volunteers Program Guidelines. 

When completing your Application, please respond to all mandatory questions and attach all required information.

EVIDENCE REQUIREMENTS

Evidence required to be uploaded to complete this form for the following:

All Eligible Applicants 

1. Minimum one (1) Letter of Support and/or Endorsement (maximum 2). Either Local Emergency Management Committee, Local Council, NSW RFS or NSW SES addressing Applicant’s role in local community relevant to mobilising and managing informal volunteers.

Mandatory Registrations

1. ORIC - must attach a record of current registration.
2. Social Traders - must attach a record of current registration.

ACNC registration is evidenced as current in the ABN Look Up feature of the SmartyGrants Application Form.

For Auspice arrangements

1. A letter of confirmation from the auspicing Eligible Applicant (download Template for mandatory information).

Optional documents

1. Evidence of volunteer management or engagement policy, procedure or equivalent documentation (limit 1 document).
2. Quotes evidencing reasonable costs that are not older than 3 months (maximum 3 documents).

FILE SIZE LIMIT

All files must be a maximum of 5MB each. The upload process is very simple, but requires you to have the documents saved on your computer, or on a storage device.

You need to allow enough time for each file to upload before trying to attach another file.

PROPOSAL AUTHORISATION MANDATORY REQUIREMENT

Before submitting your Application, you must ensure the relevant authorised official or delegate in your organisation has reviewed and approved the submission.

This person’s details must be recorded on the Declaration and Authorisation page of the form.

To seek their authorisation you may choose to enable them access in your SmartyGrants access account or download a copy of the draft form for them to review offline.

GETTING SUPPORT

Full details on program eligibility and merit criteria are provided in the Supporting Spontaneous Volunteers Program Guidelines.

If you require assistance in completing this form, please contact: ssvp@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au

All technical enquiries, such as system access issues, must be referred directly to SmartyGrants technical support line on (03) 9320 6888 and email at: service@smartygrants.com.au

LATE SUBMISSIONS

You must make a submission between the published opening and closing dates. Applications and/or supporting documents submitted after the closing date of 12:00pm AEDT 19 July 2024 may not be considered eligible.

The RA reserves the right to accept late applications on a case-by-case basis. A late Application will only be accepted where the RA is satisfied that the integrity of the process has not been compromised and subject to probity advice.

The Applicant acknowledges and agrees that:

• submission of this Application does not guarantee funding will be granted for any project, and the Authority expressly reserves its right to accept or reject this application at its discretion;
• it must bear the costs of preparing and submitting this application and the Authority does not accept any liability for such costs, whether or not this application is ultimately accepted or rejected; and
• it has read the Guidelines for the Program and has fully informed itself of the relevant program requirements.

Refer also to the Guidelines Section 6 Additional Information.

By submitting this Application Form, the Applicant acknowledges and agrees that:

• if this Application is successful, the relevant details of the project will be made public, including details such as the names of the organisation (Applicant) and any partnering organisation (state government agency or non-government organisation), project title, project description, location, anticipated time for completion and amount awarded;
• the Authority will use reasonable endeavours to ensure that any information received in or in respect of this application which is clearly marked ‘Commercial-in-confidence’ or ‘Confidential’ is treated as confidential, however, such documents will remain subject to the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) (GIPA Act); and
• in some circumstances the Authority may release information contained in this application form and other relevant information in relation to this application in response to a request lodged under the GIPA Act or otherwise as required or permitted by law.

Refer also to the Guidelines Section 6 Additional Information.

By submitting this Application Form, the Applicant acknowledges and agrees that:

• the Authority is required to comply with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) (the Privacy Act) and that any personal information (as defined by the Privacy Act) collected by the Department in relation to the program will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act and its privacy policy (available at: https://www.dpc.nsw.gov.au/privacy);
• the information it provides to the Authority in connection with this application will be collected and stored on a database and will only be used for the purposes for which it was collected (including, where necessary, being disclosed to other Government agencies in connection with the assessment of the merits of an application) or as otherwise permitted by the Privacy Act;
• it has taken steps to ensure that any person whose personal information (as defined by the Privacy Act) is included in this application has consented to the fact that the Authority and other Government agencies may be supplied with that personal information, and has been made aware of the purposes for which it has been collected and may be used;
• the RA may collect personal information that may be stored and used in accordance with the Privacy Collection Notice for this Program.

Refer also to the Guidelines Section 6 Additional Information.

I confirm that I have read and understood the information above, and I have read and understood the Supporting Spontaneous Volunteers Program Guidelines.