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City of Melbourne

City of Melbourne Council – Event Partnership Program

  • Applications open:  until 26 May 2023
  • Grants: Depends on Tier Application

This program seeks to offer financial support to free and accessible events that are held within the City of Melbourne municipality.

Key Requirements

The eligible applicants must meet the assessment criteria:

  • Event programming
  • Economic impact and attendance
  • Community involvement
  • Brand and marketing
  • Event calendar alignment
  • Application standard
  • Environmental sustainability

What is eligible for funding?

The eligible events are categorised into tiers and each Tier is categorised by the total investment value (cash and in-kind) and defined by the criteria below:
  • TIER 1: Funding request $100,001
    • At least 100,000 overall attendance
    • Free programming with at least 50,000 attendees.
    • International and/ or national marketing promotion
    • At least $10,000 in ticketing / corporate hospitality
    • Print and digital advertising
    • Branding and signage opportunities
    • Speaking opportunities
    • Formal market research conducted by an external organisation, including at least one Economic Impact Report if a multi-year agreement.
    • Undertaking a carbon footprint assessment
    • Completing a waste audit of the event
    • Remove and identify single-use plastics
    • Must engage with the City of Melbourne based 15 businesses.
    • The acquittal report must be provided within 8 weeks of the event.
  • TIER 2:Funding request $50,001 – $100,000
    • At least 50,000 overall attendance
    • Free programming with at least 25,000 attendees.
    • National exposure in addition to notable local exposure through marketing promotion
    • At least $5,000 in ticketing / corporate hospitality
    • Print and digital advertising
    • Branding and signage opportunities
    • Speaking opportunities
    • Formal market research conducted by an external organisation, including at least one Economic Impact Report if a multi-year agreement.
    • Completing a waste audit of the event
    • Remove and identify single-use plastics
    • Must engage with City of Melbourne based 15 businesses.
    • The acquittal report must be provided within 4 weeks of the event.
  • TIER 3:Funding request $10,000 – $50,000
    • At least  5,000 attendance to free programming of the event.
    • State and/or local marketing promotion.
    • At least $2,500 in ticketing /corporate hospitality or equivalence (if applicable)
    • Branding and signage opportunities
    • Print and digital advertising
    • Speaking opportunities.
    • Market research (such as surveys).
    • Provide an appropriate amount of bins
    • Remove and identify single-use plastics
    • Must engage with City of Melbourne based 10 businesses.
    • The acquittal report must be provided within 4 weeks of the event.
The eligible applicant must submit the following documents:
  • Economic Impact Report.
  • Marketing and Communications Plan.
  • Fully costed budget.

What companies are eligible for funding?

The eligible applicant must be event organisers of new and existing events within the City of Melbourne municipality between 1 January – 31 December 2024.

Is this grant competitive or entitlement based?

Competitive. Your application will be assessed among other applications by a judging panel.

How can I increase my chances of winning this grant?

By engaging an accredited government grants consultant, such as Avant Group.

Competitive grants often require significant business case development and project analysis to support the application, this may include detailed presentations supporting the project’s merit, projected sales, cost-benefit analysis and more.

As part of your engagement with Avant Group, your account manager will assess the required documents and will provide the following as needed to support your grant submission.

Grant application writeup including a detailed presentation illustrating how the grant funding will contribute to your project, how the funding will contribute to the project’s budget, a project milestone plan, delivery timeline, impact on employment if applicable and a breakdown of the management and leadership team for the project

  • Industry analysis presentation
  • Competitor Analysis Presentation
  • Marketing and Sales Analysis Presentation
  • 3-5 year Cashflow Forecast
  • 3-5 year Balance Sheet Forecast
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis of Grant Funding
  • End-to-end grant application including information collating, analysis and application writing
  • CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) cost-benefit analysis
  • Stakeholder relations and Risk Mitigation Plans
  • Any other relevant forecasting that will support your application

How can I get help with my application? Or know if I’m likely to win funding?

Avant Group offers a no-obligation assessment of your eligibility for funding and will assess your likelihood of a successful grant application.