Community grant approval rate is up in Whittlesea, with a huge number of grants handed out in the second quarter of 2023-24.
After 27 per cent of grants were approved in the last quarter, a council spokesperson said it was pleasing to announce the jump in approval rate to 47 per cent.
They said the increase was due to a set focus on increasing awareness of grants in the community, and running community information workshops.
“Our approval rate however for the small and large grant categories remains lower, primarily due to a lack of necessary information in the applications,” the council said.
“Work is continuing to help the community better understand the eligibility criteria and continue to increase the quality of applications.”
Last year, the council adopted a new set of community grant guidelines, aimed at simplifying the application process and allowing more grants to be accepted.
Administrator Christian Zahra said the new community grants scheme and guidelines are a big improvement.
“We’ve got an increasing, rapidly increasing approval rate for people who do make the effort to participate in the grants scheme, and we’ve got every reason to think that will continue to increase over time,” he said.
A total of $401,927 worth of grants was approved throughout the second quarter, with $271,116 of that going toward 73 senior citizens’ clubs.
