Mental Wellbeing of Business Communities Grants Program Round 2

Program overview

The Mental Wellbeing of Business Communities Grants Program Round 2 supports business communities to develop and deliver dedicated programs to improve the mental health and wellbeing of their members.

For this program, a business community is defined as a not-for-profit member-based organisation with the purpose of representing, servicing and advocating for its business members. A business community can be a chamber of commerce, trader group, industry association, business council, networking group or other registered business collective.

There are 45 grants of $15,000 (excl. GST) available to implement a mental wellbeing project for your business community.

Business communities applying for funds must nominate up to 3 representatives to attend a free full-day mental wellbeing training course on one of the following dates:

Tuesday 23 May 2023
Thursday 25 May 2023

If neither of these dates are suitable for your representatives but you still wish to apply, please contact us at wellbeing@business.vic.gov.au. At least one representative must attend the training.

Representatives will also receive up to 5 hours’ free flexible coaching and support to design a community-led mental wellbeing project for their businesses.

Business communities will then submit their community-led mental wellbeing project plan for implementation. We will assess the project plan and pay the $15,000 (excl. GST) grant to deliver the project if the project is accepted and approved.

There will also be a showcase of the successful mental wellbeing projects for business communities to share their experience.

Please read all the information on this page, including the program guidelines and frequently asked questions (FAQs) before applying.

More information

For further assistance, please call the Business Victoria hotline on 13 22 15 during operating hours or email wellbeing@business.vic.gov.au.

See grants and programs for information on other support and resources for businesses.

Program guidelines

Mental Wellbeing of Business Communities Grant Program Round 2 – Program guidelines (PDF 257.8 KB)

Mental Wellbeing of Business Communities Grant Program Round 2 – Program guidelines (DOCX 331.62 KB)

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Read the full list of FAQs.

Applications to the Mental Wellbeing of Business Communities Grants Program Round 2 will close at 11:59pm on Friday 12 May 2023 or when fully subscribed, whichever happens first.

Who can apply for this grant?

To be eligible for this program, the applicant must:

be a local government authority or an organisation that represents a specific group of Victorian businesses or businesses in a defined geographic area
be based in Victoria or be the Victorian chapter of a national organisation
be a not-for-profit organisation
hold a current Australian Business Number (ABN)
be registered with the responsible federal or state regulator.

Unincorporated organisations, and organisations with an ABN registered after 1 January 2022 may be required to have a local council enter into the grant agreement on their behalf. Please confirm with your local council before you apply.

Business communities that received funding under Round 1 of the Mental Wellbeing of Business Communities Grants Program in 2022 can apply, providing they:

are compliant with all obligations under the prior grant agreement, including acquittal of funds and submission of any final report
nominate new representatives to complete the mental wellbeing training course.

Grant recipients under any of the rounds of the Business Chambers and Trader Groups Program are eligible to apply.

Grant amount

Up to 45 grants of $15,000 (excl. GST) are available.

How the program works

Business communities will progress through the program as follows:

Step 1: Apply and nominate up to 3 representatives to attend the free full-day mental wellbeing training course.
Step 2: At least one representative attends the free training course and is also coached to design a community-led mental wellbeing project.
Step 3: Submit the mental wellbeing project plan for assessment. Grant funds will be paid once your plan is accepted.
Step 4: Deliver the community-led mental wellbeing project between June and October 2023,
Step 5: Join the Community of Practice showcase of mental wellbeing projects with other program participants,
Step 6: Submit a final report on the mental wellbeing project by 30 November 2023.

Please refer to the program guidelines for further information.

How the grants must be used

Grant funds must be used to undertake activities that align with program objectives.

Examples of eligible projects include:

supporting and encouraging local business collaboration activities or programs
engaging small businesses to co-design programs to improve mental wellbeing, including promotional activities
activities that will start, build on, or extend work in the business community to promote mental wellbeing of small businesses
setting up mental wellbeing focus working groups
helping to improve small business workplace mental wellbeing, resilience and recovery in a COVID environment.

Grant funding may be used to deliver projects other than these examples, including for outsourced services.

What activities would not be considered for a grant?

The following activities will not be considered for grant funding:

service provision of psychosocial treatments and business mentoring such as those offered by the Victorian Government, including the Partners in Wellbeing Helpline (including wellbeing coaches, financial counselling and business advice)
retrospective support for projects that are already being delivered or are complete, including equipment purchased, contracts entered, or construction started
large scale digital infrastructure projects
projects requiring ongoing funding from the Victorian Government
ongoing operating costs or salary subsidies, except where a salary subsidy provides direct project delivery, management, or administration of the funded project
costs to meet regulatory requirements
purchase of vehicles, land, or buildings.

Key dates

Applications close at 11:59pm on Friday 12 May 2023 unless fully subscribed prior.

The full-day wellbeing training course will take place online with the following two dates for applicants to choose from:

Tuesday 23 May 2023
Thursday 25 May 2023

If the allocated date does not suit your representative(s), please contact us at wellbeing@business.vic.gov.au to discuss an alternative course date.

Projects should be delivered between June and October 2023.

A final report on the project is to be submitted by 30 November 2023.

How to apply

You can apply to the program on the Business Victoria Grants Portal or by following the ‘Apply now’ link at the top and bottom of this page.

You do not need to include your wellbeing project proposal in the application, as this will be developed after completing the mental wellbeing training. For the application, you will only need to nominate the representative(s) to attend the free full-day course.

Please read all the information on this page, including program guidelines and frequently asked questions (FAQs) before submitting your application.