Community Awareness Grants

Applications now open for 2026 DonateLife Community Awareness Grants 

The grants support the DonateLife national program to build support for organ and tissue donation. We want all Australians to talk about organ and tissue donation, register as donors, and discuss the importance of donation with their families. 

There is up to $600,000 (GST exclusive) in funding available for 2 separate grant opportunities:      

  1. Run a local event or activity to support DonateLife Week 2026. 
  1. Develop and implement national marketing or public relations strategies, encouraging registrations for organ and tissue donation. 

Applications close at 4:00 pm AEDT, Monday 15 December 2025. 

Grant opportunity guidelines 

Separate guidelines are available for each grant opportunity. Please ensure you download and read the guidelines before you apply. 

  1. DonateLife Week 2026 event and activity guidelines (793.2KB/MB PDF) 
  1. DonateLife national marketing and PR strategies guidelines (797.38KB/MB PDF) 

The guidelines provide all the information you need to find out: 

  • if you’re eligible to apply 
  • what we want to achieve through the grants 
  • activities that can and cannot be funded 
  • assessment criteria 
  • how to apply. 

After reading the grant guidelines, if you still need more information or have any questions about the grants, please contact grants@donatelife.gov.au by 5:00 pm AEDT, Monday 8 December 2025 and we’ll get in touch. 

Our target audience for both grant opportunities are Australians who support donation, but are unaware of how or why they need to register as organ and tissue donors. Research tells us that 14% of the Australian population (2.8 million people) fit this profile. 

They are busy, active members of their community who need repeated messaging over extended periods of time to prompt them to register. They broadly know what donation is and why it is important, but that’s not enough for them to have registered yet. They are from a diverse range of backgrounds, including culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities and First Nations people.  

Our audience profile factsheet provides more information about the people we are trying to reach. 

Applicants are responsible for determining their eligibility to apply for a grant opportunity. We can’t consider your application if you don’t satisfy all the eligibility criteria.  

To be eligible, you must: 

  • have an Australian Business Number (ABN) 
  • be registered for the purposes of GST 
  • be a permanent resident of Australia 
  • have an account with an Australian financial institution.

You must also be one of the following entity types: 

  • a registered charity or not-for-profit organisation 
  • a company incorporated in Australia 
  • an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust 
  • an incorporated association 
  • a joint (consortia) application with a lead organisation 
  • an Australian local government body 
  • an Australian state or territory government body 
  • an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO) 

You are not eligible to apply for a grant if you are: 

  • an organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s website on the list of ‘Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme’ (www.nationalredress.gov.au) 
  • a Commonwealth, state, territory or local government agency or body (including government business enterprises) 
  • an individual 
  • unincorporated association 
  • overseas resident/organisation 
  • political organisation 
  • a Commonwealth department, agency or body (including government business enterprises) 
  • if you already receive government funding for the same purpose. 

We are looking for community partners who can work with us to:  

  • raise awareness about organ and tissue donation  
  • encourage the target audience to learn more about organ and tissue donation, and to discuss it with their families 
  • educate and inform the Australian community about the importance of registering as an organ and tissue donor on the Australian Organ Donor Register 
  • complement the DonateLife national program and DonateLife Week (and not duplicate existing activities) 

Your grant activity must raise awareness about donation and get more Australians registered as donors by: 

  • delivering a local event or activity (can be face-to-face, online or a mix of both) in support of our largest national awareness activity, DonateLife Week, or 
  • creating impactful marketing or public relations strategies that inspire people to register and tell their family they want to be a donor.  

Your project must follow DonateLife branding and support current communication and education activities. 

You can’t profit from this grant or your project activities. We also can’t give you a grant if you already get government funding for the same purpose. 

You can only use the grant funds for approved costs related to your project. This can include things like running and administration expenses. 

You can’t use the grant for the following: 

  • activities, projects, or resources that are already delivered through the OTA or the DonateLife Network   
  • wages on-costs not directly attributed to the provision of project activities (for example, gift cards for project participants)  
  • purchasing land  
  • major capital expenditure  
  • major construction/capital works  
  • costs incurred in the preparation of a grant application or related documentation  
  • subsidy of general ongoing administration of an organisation such as electricity, phone, and rent   
  • proposed activities outside of Australia 
  • vehicles  
  • overseas travel
  • activities for which other Commonwealth, state, territory or local government bodies have primary responsibility. 

This grant opportunity is an open competitive grant process. The OTA will assess your application against the assessment criteria.  

We review your application against the eligibility criteria as outlined in the grant opportunity guidelines. If eligible, we will then assess your application against the assessment criteria. We will consider how your application:  

  • meets the criteria   
  • compares to other applications   
  • provides value for money 
  • meets the outcomes and objectives of the program.  

If we need clarification or additional information on your application, we will contact you during the assessment process.  

To determine if your application represents value for money, we will consider:  

  • what the grant is meant to achieve – the main goals and expected outcomes 
  • how much funding you're asking for compared to your budget and what you plan to do 
  • where the project will take place and whether that location fits with our priority areas 
  • how well your application shows your project will help achieve the intended outcomes 
  • who your project will reach – especially if it targets important or priority groups. 

To apply, you must complete an application form for your chosen grant opportunity: 

  1. DonateLife Week 2026 event and activity application form (767.94KB Word document) 
  1. DonateLife national marketing and PR strategies application form (768.15KB Word document) 

You can apply for more than one grant opportunity and submit multiple projects. Please ensure you submit one application form per project. 

You must also: 

  • provide all the information requested  
  • address all eligibility criteria and assessment criteria  
  • include all necessary attachments  

In the interest of fairness, we cannot accept applications after this deadline. 

If you find an error in your application after submitting it, you should contact us immediately at grants@donatelife.gov.au.  

If you’re successful, we expect you will be able to enter into a grant agreement by end-February 2026. 

We want all Australians to talk about organ and tissue donation. If you want to be a donor, make sure you tell your family and friends.

Registering is easy and only takes one minute. All you need is your phone, Medicare card and one minute to register.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, your medical history, your lifestyle, what country you’re from or how healthy you are — you can still register as an organ and tissue donor.

The Organ and Tissue Authority acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to elders both past and present.

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