Female Founder Grant

This federal program, as the name suggests, is targeted at supporting female founded (majority owned and led by women) start ups who are looking to scale their business into domestic and global markets.

 

Key information:

• Close date 22 April 2021
• Grant amount between $25,000 and $480,000
• The grant amount will be up to 50% of eligible project cost. You are responsible for the remaining eligible project expenditure.
• This is a two-stage application process: Once successful via Expression of Interest, you will then submit the full grant application.

 

Eligibility

• An entity incorporated in Australia, a partnership or sole trader with an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• Your start up will remain majority owned and led by women for the duration of the grant.
• If you are applying for the grant for 50% of the grant (up to 70%), one or more of the following applies:
  • You head office is in regional area.
  • Your business is an Indigenous business or at least one of your founding members is an Indigenous Australian.
  • At least one of your founding members is a person with disability.
  • At least one of your founding members has migrated to Australia as a refugee or humanitarian entrant.

 

Stage Two required documents

If you are successful to proceed to Stage Two, you must provide:

• Evidence to support the other 50% of your funding amount.
• A presentation to support your response to the assessment criteria.
  • PDF/Powerpoint max 10 slides, and/or
  • Video (no longer than 5 minutes)
• Your business financial documents:
  • Profit and Loss
  • Balance Sheet
  • Cash Flow Statement
• A business plan:
  • Revenue model
  • Customer acquisition model
  • Company/management structure
  • Scope
  • Implementation methodology
  • Timeframes
  • Budget
  • Risks
  • How to measure the success of the project
• A trust deed (where applicable)

 

How to apply?

• Set up an online portal account here.
• Submit the application.

 

Assessment Criteria

Each stage of the application consists of its own assessment criteria.  They include questions like how capacity and capability to grow, how the grant will help your business expand, and the impact of the grant on your business. Each question consists a certain number of points (totaling up to 100 points) and will be assessed by an Independent Assessment Committee. If you are successful at Stage One, you will then receive an invite to submit an application for Stage Two. Stage Two requires more detail than Stage One and you will be asked to provide evidence to support your answers. The breakdown of the points is shown here.

 

Successful application

If you are successful at both stages, you will enter into a grant agreement with the Commonwealth. Payment will be made at an agreed schedule and subject to satisfactory reporting and progress on the project

 

Information Session

The free webinar will be hosted on the 31 March 2021 (Wednesday) at 12:30pm AEDT (Brisbane Time 11:30pm). Register here for the session: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/boosting-female-founders-webinar-tickets-146704790979

For more information about guidelines, application forms, and templates, click here.