All grants differ in their requirements and eligibility criteria. To determine whether you are eligible for a grant, generally you will need to prepare answers to the following:
- What is the structure of your organisation? For instance, are you a company, a partnership, a unit trust etc?
- Does your organisation pay income tax, or are you exempt?
- Has your organisation been established in Australia? For instance, if you are a company, are you incorporated in Australia under the Corporations Act 2001?
- What year was your organisation established?
- Are you part of a group of companies? If yes, what is the level of ownership and where are the other companies located?
- In financial terms, are you in profit, or in loss?
- What was your turnover (income received from sales) in the last financial year?
- Do you wish to recoup costs already spent, or would you like a grant for a project not yet commenced?
- Is there intellectual property (IP) associated with your product or service? If so, what form does it take, e.g. patents, license agreement etc? And do you own the IP, or have effective ownership (such as access to use and exploit the IP)?
- Where will your activities be undertaken?
- Are your activities underpinned by innovation or technical challenge?
- Are you able to contribute to the project, either through cash contributions or the donation of time, materials or effort (in-kind)?
- Are you currently receiving any government grants or funding?
- Do you have financial statements from prior years and a current business plan?
With the above information in mind, you are now ready to identify the right grant for you!