NAB Foundation Community Grants

Applications are assessed by the NAB Foundation team and NAB leaders in relevant regions. 

A grant will be assessed on its own merits and final amounts will depend on the nature and needs of the successful applicant. Community grant recipients eligible for impact grants from the $200,000 funding pool will go on a shortlist, and NAB colleagues will vote to decide the recipients.

Applications won’t be accepted for the following: 

• organisations or programs outside Australia
• organisations that don’t have an ABN or those that don’t hold a charitable purpose 
• individual applicants or personal expenses
• programs that don’t align to the categories of the Community Grants program
• activities that may be deemed harmful to the community or the environment
• recurrent costs or continued funding (grants and impact grants are one-off) 
• government entities (with the exception of local government or government-funded facilities such as a school or childcare centre)
• retrospective requests, general fundraising appeals or commercial sponsorships
• business as usual activities, including marketing and fundraising activities
• religious or sectarian education (programs by religion-based organisations that support a non-religious purpose are eligible to apply)
• political support or political organisations
• bequest programs
• foundations that are grant-making bodies.

NAB Foundation recognises that our community investments can contribute to broader global movements, both in our grant-making and partnerships. We therefore will look favourably on applications that align the outcomes of their project, program or initiative with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, opens in new window (SDGs). There is an optional question in the application about alignment to the SDGs.

A charitable purpose (also called a mission or objective) may be the reason an organisation has been set up and the activities implemented towards achieving this purpose. This purpose is usually set out in an organisation's governing documentation. There are 12 charitable purposes set out in the Charities Act 2013 (Cth) (section 12(1)): 

• advancing health
• advancing education
• advancing social or public welfare
• advancing religion
• advancing culture
• promoting reconciliation, mutual respect and tolerance between groups of individuals in Australia
• promoting or protecting human rights
• advancing the security or safety of Australia or the Australian public
• preventing or relieving the suffering of animals
• advancing the natural environment
• other similar purposes ‘beneficial to the general public’ (a general category)
• promoting or opposing a change to any matter established by law, policy or practice in the Commonwealth, a State, a Territory or another country (where that change furthers or opposes one or more of the purposes above).

Projects, programs or initiatives must be focused on one or more of the program’s focus areas.

Some examples include:

• emergency response equipment for community service organisations
• rebuilding or future proofing community infrastructure
• community preparedness tools and training
• mental health and wellbeing programs (including telephone and online services)
• wildlife recovery support in areas impacted by natural disasters
• energy storage solutions, solar panels and batteries to mitigate climate risk and future natural disasters
• reducing communities’ carbon footprint
• strengthening the environment to be more resilient to natural disasters
• temporary infrastructure and housing (small housing)
• community cohesion and resilience programs.

Grants may be available for initiatives such as:

• education
• training
• emergency systems
• preparedness plans
• mental health support
• infrastructure
• equipment
• business resilience
• household resilience
• urban greening
• biodiversity protection
• reducing climate risk and more.

Our grant agreement sets out the terms and conditions of our grants. Grants are only to be used for the purposes for which they are given. In our application form, we ask you to confirm that you’ll be able to enter into our grant agreement. The NAB Foundation reserves the right to accept or reject any applications in its sole discretion.

The NAB Foundation intends to prioritise funding for smaller organisations with an income of $3 million or less per annum, and organisations that receive less than 40% of their annual funding from government. While the NAB Foundation will prioritise funding for smaller organisations, larger organisations can still apply, if they have a local project or initiative that meets local needs, and can demonstrate the funds will be used at that local community level.

We’ll advise you via email if your application isn’t successful. 

We don’t review unsuccessful grant applications. The NAB Foundation has complete and final discretion in relation to awarding a grant and these decisions are final. Due to the high volume of applications, we can’t provide feedback on individual applications.