VicHealth is a pioneer in health promotion. We work with partners to discover, implement and share solutions to the health problems facing Victorians. We seek a Victoria where everyone enjoys better health and wellbeing.

Our vision is for one million more Victorians with better health and wellbeing by 2023.

We are committed to five strategic imperatives that have the greatest potential to reduce disease burden and bring about the greatest measurable health gains. These are: promoting healthy eating, encouraging regular physical activity, preventing tobacco use, preventing harm from alcohol and improving mental wellbeing.

• VicHealth can only provide funding to incorporated bodies. If you are part of an unincorporated body, you can only receive funding if your application is made under the auspices of another eligible organisation.
• VicHealth can only provide funding for programs that will be delivered in Victoria.
• VicHealth cannot fund an organisation that receives any funding, sponsorship or any other kind of endorsement from any person or organisation involved in or affiliated with the production, manufacture or marketing of tobacco, smoking or tobacco related products, or that endorses, promotes, sponsors or otherwise is affiliated with tobacco, smoking or tobacco related products.
• If your organisation has received VicHealth funding before (and the grant project is complete), VicHealth may need to see and approve records of how you spent VicHealth funding before you can apply for more funding (see Important conditions of funding below).
• Your funding application must meet the specific requirements of the funding opportunity, and must be received on time. Your application and supporting documentation must not contain incomplete or fraudulent information.
• Funding can’t be provided for activities that have already taken place.

Specific eligibility requirements

• Each program has specific eligibility requirements, so it is important that you carefully read the program information and guidelines before starting your application. You can find these eligibility requirements on each funding opportunity’s web page.

Harmful Industry Relationships

• When you submit your application you may be asked to declare Harmful Industry Relationships. The declaration form will be embedded in the relevant funding or procurement documentation forms. More details on this Policy can be found here.

Projects working with children (under 18) funded by VicHealth

Applications that include services delivered to children will require funded organisations to;

• ensure all employees and persons engaged for the project comply with Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 (Vic) and the Worker Screening Act 2020 (Vic),
  • obtain copies of valid Working with Children Check (WWCC) for all employees and persons engaged for the project, that work directly with unsupervised children, and
  • obtain or maintain for the duration of the project, insurance that provides indemnity for liability for Child Abuse.
  • Implement or have Child Safe standards and practices for relevant staff within the organisation.
    
    

Definition of Services to Children

VicHealth’s definition for ‘Services to children’ means services provided by a non-government entity that is responsible for:

1. the supervision of, or
2. authority over, a child or young person under 18 years old. 
3. This includes the provision of care, education, services or activities for children.  

This definition would include the activities of organisations facilitating regular sports training, band or theatre rehearsals, homework clubs, mentoring etc. where a parent, guardian, caregiver, or teacher is not in attendance. 

It does not include one-off activities, nor incidental or ad hoc contact with children.

‘Services to children’ does not apply to funded activities where: 

• Children are supervised. A parent, guardian, or caregiver (or other person with an existing duty of care to the child – eg teacher) retains direct supervision or authority over a child throughout the duration of the services. 
• Ad hoc or incidental contact. Where the services may involve the possibility of ad hoc or incidental contact only (eg maintenance services for a sports or cultural facility that could be used by children).
• One-off activities provided on non-recurrent funding. Short-term event-based activities where unsupervised children may or may not be in attendance but are not under the control of the funded organisation (eg one-day come and try events, audiences at a concert).  

For more information on VicHealth’s commitment to the wellbeing and safety of children and young people can be found here.

• If you need help with your funding application, check the funding opportunity’s web page first. It will have a list of answers to Frequently Asked Questions. The web page will also say who can apply for the funding, what the closing date is and how to contact VicHealth if you have any questions.
• Some funding opportunities offer additional support for applicants, such as workshops or background information. Others simply give you an email contact point.
• If you do have questions, try to ask them well in advance of the closing date, so that VicHealth staff have time to help you.
• VicHealth can’t provide any financial help for you to complete your application. If you spend money on attending workshops, developing material for your application or legal fees, you will need to cover this yourself.
• If you require assistance with your application because of accessibility specific needs, please contact VicHealth as soon as possible.

• If you require translation of application information in other languages, you can let us know by:
  • Calling TIS National on 131 450 and asking them to call VicHealth on (03) 9667 1333
  • Calling us using your preferred interpreter on (03) 9667 1333

• If VicHealth decides to give you funding, you will have to sign a contract with VicHealth. The contract will say what you must and must not do with the money we give you.
• You will have to show VicHealth complete records of how you spend any funding we give you. This is called an acquittal report. We will provide you with a template you can use for this report.
• If you receive VicHealth funding of $100,000 or more, your acquittal report must include an independent auditor’s review of your financial records. You will have to pay for the auditor’s review, so please allow for this cost when applying for funding.
• If you don’t provide a satisfactory acquittal report for your funding, you may not be able to apply for any more VicHealth funding in the future.

Legal responsibilities

• When you submit your application, you guarantee that all information provided in your application is true, complete and not misleading.
• You must make sure that the proposed activity you want VicHealth to fund complies with relevant statutes, regulations, by-laws, mandatory codes and the requirements of any Commonwealth, State, Territory or Local Authority.
• It is your responsibility to be aware of laws and other rules that are relevant to your work. These laws may include, for example, classification and censorship, Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property, privacy issues, employment law, working with children regulations, and laws governing filming in public.

• When you apply for funding, VicHealth collects information about you and your organisation. This information is kept safe and private. 
• We use the information we collect from your funding application in the following ways:

o looking after your application and assessing it
o contacting you about your application
o reporting on the funding program.

• We may sometimes use your contact details to send you information about other VicHealth activities. If you don’t want us to do this, you can let us know at any time. 
• The following laws say how your information must be looked after by VicHealth:

o Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014
o Public Records Act 1973
o Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006
o Health Records Act 2001.

• Further information is available in VicHealth’s Privacy Policy.

• VicHealth is a government-funded agency, so any member of the public can request access to our files. This may include information about funding applications. 
• If anyone requests information from VicHealth that involves your information, the Freedom of Information Act 1982 says that you have the right to comment on this request. The Act also says that certain documents (for example, ones that have your personal information in them) don’t have to be shared. 

• When you create a funding application, you are the copyright holder of anything you write or create for it. You must write the application yourself, without copying anything from another source. 
• If you use anyone else’s writing, pictures, images or names in your application, you must have their permission to use them. You must be able to show us this permission in writing. If the person is a child or has died, you must have the permission of their legal guardian or heir. 
• You must not repeat or reuse an application that you have made before, to VicHealth or to any other body. 
• Your application must not contain anything that could damage VicHealth’s name. 
• If the use of any part of your application infringes anyone else’s rights to copyright or privacy, you will be liable to VicHealth for any action taken against us as a result.
• When you submit a funding application to VicHealth, you grant VicHealth a worldwide, exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable license (including a right to sub-license) to use, reproduce, distribute, adapt, derive, transmit, publish, communicate, display and perform (publicly or otherwise), the application and any application materials for the purpose of evaluating the application. This means that we can use your application in any way that we need to, in order to assess it. 
• If you would like additional information about copyright and intellectual property rights, please visit the Australian Copyright Council website.

• We will email you to let you know the outcome of your application.
• VicHealth will decide which applications to fund and how much money to give them. 
• If your application was successful, you will have to sign a contract with VicHealth before you can receive any money. See Important conditions of funding above.