The Regional NSW - Business Case and Strategy Development Fund aims to support local councils, joint organisations of councils, not-for-profit, industry and Aboriginal community groups develop business cases or strategies for projects delivering significant economic or social benefits to regional communities, with a focus on infrastructure. 

The funding will help organisations build their capacity to plan for and deliver projects and regional development initiatives. The program will also help to build a pipeline of investment-ready projects for future funding opportunities. 

The Regional NSW - Business Case and Strategy Development Fund aims to:

• encourage regional collaboration to identify projects and strategies with regional scale and impact

• increase alignment of regional projects and strategies with Regional Economic Development Strategies (REDS) and other relevant regional or NSW Government plans and policies

• build a pipeline of investment-ready economic and priority community projects in regional NSW.

The Regional NSW - Business Case and Strategy Development Fund comes under the $3.3 billion Regional Growth Fund. It’s part of the NSW Government’s ongoing commitment to supporting our regions in practical and effective ways and giving local organisations the resources to deliver exactly what their communities need.  

Available Funding

• Stream One: Regional Significance – up to $19 million available funding.

• Stream Two: Aboriginal Prosperity – up to $5 million available funding.

Eligibility

Stream One: Regional Significance

Applicants must be an incorporated entity and hold an Australian Business Number (ABN), Australian Company Number (ACN) or be registered with NSW Fair Trading under the Associations Incorporation Act 2009 or another Act. Unincorporated organisations are ineligible to apply.
Eligible applicants include:

• local councils or Joint Organisations of Councils

• infrastructure providers such as telecommunication, energy, or water companies

• peak bodies such as business, industry, and community associations

• cooperatives

• tertiary educational institutions

• incorporated not-for-profit organisations.

Stream Two: Aboriginal Prosperity 

Eligible organisations are not-for-profit, incorporated Aboriginal community organisations (i.e. initiated by, controlled and operated by Aboriginal people and/or governed by a board or committee of Aboriginal people).
Eligible applicants include:

• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Corporations registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006

• companies incorporated in Australia under the Corporations Act 2001

• Local Aboriginal Land Councils under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW)

• Incorporated Associations (incorporated under state legislation, and commonly have ‘Association’ or ‘Incorporated’ or ‘Inc’ in their legal name)

• Incorporated Cooperatives (incorporated under state legislation, and commonly have ’Cooperative’ in their legal name).

Key information

• Status: Open

• Grant amount: Applicants are required to submit a quote with their application to develop the business case or strategy from a suitably qualified third party provider. This information will be considered to determine the grant amount for successful applicants.

• Application opened: 29 June 2022

• Application closes: 24 August 2022