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About our grants program

Helping people access justice

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Our grants program has been running since 2007.

In that time, we've provided nearly $60 million to help fund hundreds of projects that make our justice system fairer and more accessible for everyone.

Learn more about what this means and why we do it.

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Creating positive change

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We have a strategy in place to maximise the impact of our grants program.

Our strategy focuses on three goals:

  • Accessible legal services
  • Holistic and diversionary responses
  • Fairer laws and processes

We are committed to improving access to justice for Victorians through targeted funding that helps meet these goals.

With the right support, we believe community and legal organisations can drive and deliver this change.

Read our strategy

Making the system better

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Our vision is of a justice system that:

  • enables people to exercise their rights
  • addresses systemic injustices through policy reform
  • implements evidence-based, holistic responses
  • works to divert people away from the justice system.

Our grants program has an important role to play in making this happen.

Understanding our approach

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Our grants program is made possible by the Public Purpose Fund, which we manage. The fund allows us to allocate money for the program and use it to help: 

  • improve the administration of laws
  • increase access to justice
  • improve legal services
  • pilot innovations
  • inform and educate the community about legal services.

Supporting the sector

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Through our grants program, we fund and partner with organisations to:

  • support initiatives that address systemic disadvantage
  • develop holistic responses to legal need
  • implement and demonstrate the effectiveness of early intervention models
  • achieve positive change by targeting areas of concern
  • respond to emerging issues or trends.

Funding the work

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Organisations apply to us for grants in annual rounds. Depending on their needs, we may offer them:

  • strategic support to identify priorities, support collaboration and build capacity
  • project funding that may span multiple years
  • general funding for organisations that share our priorities.
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