Draft Community Funding and In-kind Support Policy

Background

In 2023 Council endorsed the Community Funding Review which included 34 recommendations. Two key recommendations were to "adopt a Community Funding Policy to guide the way Council provides funding to the community" and to "undertake community engagement on a draft Community Funding Policy to seek feedback from the community before implementing significant structural changes to the community funding program."

What's being proposed?

We have developed this new draft policy to guide how community funding and in-kind support is administered by Council. Community funding includes:

grants,
sponsorships, and
donations.

This policy also creates a process for considering community requests for in-kind support to deliver and/or maintain new or renewed assets on Council land. For example, where community members request to install park furniture, public art, a community garden, memorials, etc.

The purpose of the policy is to ensure Council's funding and in-kind support is consistent, fair, equitable, transparent and supports community leadership as much as possible.

The policy includes:

scope,
principles,
definitions,
roles and responsibilities - including what Council expects of community groups/ recipients, and
an explanation of how funding and in-kind support will be administered.

Following adoption of the policy, all Community Funding programs would:

Have an application form,
Have program guidelines which specify who is eligible and for what sorts of projects, and
Be assessed by a panel or committee against criteria supplied on the application form.

A process would be created for Council to consider requests for in-kind support in a timely manner such as:

Community groups would complete an application form to request in-kind support for a community - initiated project. The application form asks community members to consider the community benefit of the project, budget breakdown, what in-kind support they need, community capacity to manage the project and maintenance considerations.
After considering the application, if approved, Council would draw up a memorandum of understanding with the community group to clarify roles and responsibilities.

We acknowledge that the policy is long so we have developed the following simplified documents to assist your understanding:

How you can get involved:

You are invited to provide your feedback on the draft policy in one of the following ways:

Preferably provide your feedback online here
Come to a face to face session:
- Drop in Session at Echunga Memorial Institute
  2:30pm - 3:30pm
  Tuesday 29 April
- Community Group Forum at Hahndorf Bowling Club
  6pm - 8pm
  Thursday 1 May
  Book here
- Drop in Session at Nairne Soldiers Memorial Hall
  6:30pm - 7:30pm
  Thursday 8 May
- Zoom Webinar
  4:30pm - 5:30pm
  Tuesday 20 May
  Book here
Email: ahill@mountbarker.sa.gov.au
Phone: 8393 6426

Enquiries: Alyssa Hill (Community Grants Officer) ahill@mountbarker.sa.gov.au or 8393 6426.

Consultation closes: 4pm, Monday 9 June 2025.