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New South Wales beach

NSW Regional Job Creation Fund

The $100 million Regional Job Creation Fund aims to co-fund projects that will create at least five sustainable jobs in regional New South Wales.

Key Requirements

  • Applications open: 13 January 2023
  • Applications close: 26 June 2023
  • Grant amount: Minimum of $100,000 and maximum of $10,000,000. All grants are GST exclusive.
  • Matched Funding: You must fund 50% of the project costs. Co-contributions of less than 50% may be considered in extraneous circumstances.

What is eligible for funding?

Projects that are based in regional NSW and will bring forward or activate regional projects in engine, enabling or emerging engine industries.

Projects based in Greater Sydney, Newcastle or Wollongong Local Government Areas are not eligible.

Eligible industries vary by region, examples of eligible industries include:

• Agriculture
• Forestry
• Manufacturing
• Mining
• Tourism
• Aged Care Services

Retail and restaurants are ineligible.

Examples of eligible project could include:
• replacement, upgrade or adaptation of plant and equipment at an existing regional NSW business
• establishment of an additional production line for an existing regional NSW business
• onshoring of activity currently done overseas to a regional NSW location
• development of new regional tourism experiences and visitor attractions
• relocation of a business operation from out of state to regional NSW

Examples of eligible project costs that grants may be used for includes:
• capital and other expenses directly related to the delivery of eligible projects, including:
• purchase of plant and equipment that needs additional workers to operate
• expanding built infrastructure to enable job creation activities.

Ineligible grants costs include:
• repayment of existing debts or budget deficits
• administrative, operational and maintenance costs not related to the subject project
• ongoing staff wages and salaries
• costs already funded by insurance or other NSW or Australian Government programs
• costs that require recurrent or ongoing funding from the NSW Government.

What companies are eligible for funding?

Applicants can be based internationally, interstate or in either metropolitan or regional NSW.

To be eligible for grant funding, your business must:

• be a business or co-operative
• operating in an ‘engine’ industry, enabling industry or emerging engine industry as described in the relevant Regional Economic Development Strategy, or
• aligned with government strategies including the 20-Year Economic Vision for Regional NSW
• have an Australian Business Number (ABN) and be one of the following:
• a company incorporated in Australia
• a company incorporated by guarantee
• an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
• an incorporated association or co-operative
• a partnership
• a sole trader
• an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and /or Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006.
• be registered for GST
• have at least $20 million public liability insurance

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.