The grants program has been running since 2007. In that time, we’ve provided over $100 million to help fund hundreds of projects that make our justice system fairer and more accessible for everyone.
Our grants program is made possible by the Public Purpose Fund, which we manage. Through the PPF we fund Change Grants, which provide funding for individual projects that aim to address issues or gaps limiting people's access to justice, and Strong Foundations Grants which offer flexible and stable funding over 3 to 5 years to eligible community legal centres in Victoria.
Evaluation of our Strong Foundations Grants
Allen and Clarke Consulting evaluated our Strong Foundations funding stream. Its evaluation found that grantees are growing stronger as a direct result of the Strong Foundations grant. It also found that in the context of a constrained funding landscape, the flexibility of this funding is critical.
A strong theme amongst grantees was that the funding enabled them to progress towards realising the strategic objectives of their organisation. The financial resilience afforded by the grants has also enabled grantees to use the funding as a catalyst to secure additional funding and to expand their existing services.
Read the report and recommendations »
Priority themed funding rounds
The Grants Program regularly conducts themed funding rounds that have concentrated support around a particular important legal issue. This has proved a successful strategy contributing to long term systemic and policy changes.
Advancing housing justice: The opportunity for legal services to improve access to housing
This 2024 report explores the legal issues associated with Victoria’s housing crisis, and recommends that the VLSB+C prioritises a new grant round focused on housing justice.
Keeping Women Out of the Justice System
This 2017 priority-funding theme of our grants program responded to rising rates of women’s incarceration in Victoria. Over five years, we provided $5 million to seven innovative projects.
Building on work undertaken as a result of that funding round, in 2024, VLSB+C engaged The Difference Incubator (TDi) to convene a collaborative co-design process to uncover investment opportunities to create more decent employment opportunities for women exiting the justice system.
Health-Justice Partnerships
Health Justice Partnerships (or HJPs) integrate legal assistance as an integral element of the health care team. They require the development of a sophisticated partnership between the legal and health professions and their organisations to jointly address the health and social circumstances which often manifest in the form of legal needs.
In 2014, HJPs were a new way of delivering legal services and we made it a priority to fund more of these projects; allocating $2.6 million across 12 new HJP projects.
Prevention of Violence Against Women
Since 2011, a total of 16 projects have shared in over $3 million of funding to address violence against women. The work that was funded has had collective impact on influencing policy and practice around this important theme.
Other Important Project Outcomes
Links to more reports on the important work by our grantees over the years.
2007-2017, celebrating our first 10 years of impact
Learn about the Grants Program and how it influenced policy and reform and changed lives from 2007-2017 through this 11 page report.
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