Environmental Education

The Environmental Education grants program funds projects that develop knowledge and skills in protecting and restoring our environment.

Applications for the 2019 round closed on Monday 22 July 2019.

Purpose

This program supports projects that develop knowledge, skills, commitment to, and ongoing participation in, protecting the environment.

Program proposals are expected to incorporate the following elements:

  • environmental benefit
  • community need
  • collaboration
  • transformative learning leading to behaviour change
  • evaluation and dissemination.

The Environmental Education program underwent an evaluation in 2017/18. A series of recommendations are progressively being incorporated into the program by the Environmental Trust. More information on the evaluation is provided below.

Funding available

Responding to a key recommendation from the 2017/18 program evaluation, from 2019, the Environmental Education Program will be delivered through two funding tiers. Each tier is designed to fund projects with differing scales and complexities.

Funding Tier Total annual allocation for the 2019 round Funding amount per project Project timeframe

2

$1,000,000

from $60,001 to $250,000

3-5 years

1

$1,000,000

up to $60,000

2-3 years

For more information on the funding tiers and the types of activities and outcomes expected for each, please refer to the relevant Tier program guidelines below.

Who can apply?

  • Community organisations
  • Community groups
  • Incorporated associations
  • Incorporated non-profit organisations
  • Local councils
  • Local Land Services
  • NSW Local Aboriginal Land Councils
  • Non-commercial cooperatives
  • Other local government-controlled organisations
  • Regional organisations of councils
  • Registered NSW Aboriginal Corporations
  • State government agencies and/or statutory committees
  • Universities

When can applications be made?

Expressions of interest for the 2019 round have now closed.

The program is now closed to applications.The guidelines below are for interest only.

This practical guide provides information for prospective applicants interested in applying to the Tier 2 funding stream.

Tier 2

Monitoring and evaluating

Successful applicants to the 2019 Tier 2 Environmental Education Grants Program will establish project workplans to show the intended project outcomes, the activities you'll undertake to achieve them, and how you will monitor and evaluate your progress. A workplan template and instructions for filling it in will be provided to successful applicants in early 2020. The Trust's Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting officer and technical experts in the environmental education field will help with you with completing your workplans.

Progress reports and final report

As you move through your project you'll have to submit progress reports. These will outline what you've achieved and what you'll do next.

Progress reports are reviewed by technical experts who can ensure you're on the right track and give you feedback or advice. After your report is reviewed and accepted we'll pay your next grant instalment.

When your project finishes you'll have to submit a final report that says what it has achieved.

We will send you the template for your reports.

Financial reports

You must submit an updated and authorised financial report with all your progress reports. You also need to submit a certified financial report as a part of your final project report.

If you need to rearrange your project's budget, you should apply for a budget variation.

The forms you'll need are on the financial reporting page.

Other documents

You may also have to submit some other documents or evidence. They'll be listed in the grant agreement we send you.

Where to send reports

Email reports and other documents to info@environmentaltrust.nsw.gov.au (50MB limit).

Tier 1

All aspects of planning, monitoring, evaluation and reporting (including expenditure) will be managed through the online Grants Management System.

Instructions for using the Grants Management System are available through:

The program has been awarding grants for over 25 years. In the most recent round, offered in 2017, we:

  • received 117 Expressions of Interest
  • awarded funding to 13 projects totalling $953,373.

2017 Education program project summaries

The Trust has all its contestable grants programs independently evaluated to assess their effectiveness.

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) – Institute for Public Policy & Governance and Institute for Sustainable Futures recently evaluated the Trust’s Environmental Education program. The evaluation examined how the program was delivered, and the projects it funded, from 2010–16.

UTS completed its work in April 2018 and then presented its final report (PDF 3.6MB). The Trust considered and accepted the report in October 2018.

The evaluation concluded that the program was well run and filled a critical niche in the Environmental Education space; however, it also recommended changes to:

  • program design, operating and policy context
  • program governance and customer experience

The Trust developed an administrative response (PDF 356KB) to address these issues.