How your application is assessed

Your application must be complete

After the closing date, we’ll check whether your application is eligible and sufficiently complete to assess. If it isn’t, we can’t accept it, and we’ll let you know that. If your application is eligible and complete, we may also contact you or your referees for further information.

Technical committees

We set up a technical committee for each grants program to assess the applications. The members of these committees have knowledge and experience relevant to the applications they’re assessing. Each committee has at least one representative of community groups and at least one representative of industry.

Committee members agree to undertake their duties in an ethical way, with integrity, objectivity and independence. They must also keep all matters concerning applications confidential and declare any potential conflict of interest. Our annual report lists the technical committee members for each program.

Assessment criteria

Each grants program has its own assessment criteria. You can find them in the guidelines for that program. See the individual program page for a link to the guidelines.

The technical committee assesses applications using these criteria and makes recommendations to the Trust. The Trust considers the recommendations and then decides which applicants will receive grants.

How grants are announced

The Minister for the Environment, who chairs the NSW Environmental Trust, will publicly announce successful applicants throughout the year. We also notify successful applicants directly.

Special conditions

You’ll need to meet the general conditions for funding and perhaps also some special conditions. We’ll contact you to discuss any special conditions you need to meet before you can receive your grant.

Payments

If your application is successful you’ll usually receive your first grant payment in the year after you put in the application. For instance, if you applied in 2018 you’d usually receive funding in early 2019.

We’ll monitor the progress of your project. We usually pay grants out in stages, and continuing payments depend on satisfactory progress reports.

Note, even if your application is successful you may not be granted all the funding you asked for.

Progress reports

During your project you’ll have to report on its progress so that we know:

• your project is achieving its intended outcomes
• the grant money is being spent appropriately.

Each grant program page has information about how you need to report.

Signing an agreement

You’ll have to sign an agreement that outlines the funding conditions and includes a payment and reporting schedule. Before you submit an application or an expression of interest you should read the relevant agreement, to be sure that you’re prepared to sign it if your application is successful. We usually can’t change the agreement.

Examples of agreements