What’s in the 2025-26 Victorian state budget for your grantseeking organisation?

Treasurer Jaclyn Symes handed down her first state budget on Monday, May 20, 2025. The budget focuses on early intervention, health access, education equity, First Nations self-determination, environmental resilience, economic development, regulatory reform, and enabling infrastructure for housing and jobs.

Here are some of the funding highlights for not-for-profits and community organisations:

• $150 million for a Victorian Investment Fund, including a $50 million regional stream
• $84 million for regional and rural ambulance services
• $80 million to support victim survivors of family and sexual violence, including one-on-one case management to help people navigate services and rebuild their lives
• $50 million package for a new $100 round of the Power Saving Bonus
• $35 million to programs providing advice and support to small and medium-sized businesses to boost exports
• $35 million in mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people
• $27 million for sexual assault support services
• $25 million to empower Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) to support and advocate for First Nations children and young people in the child protection and family services system
• $25 million for suicide prevention programs, including:
  • $19 million for LGBTIQA+ people with:
    
    • $15 million to support trans and gender diverse young people
    • $1.5 million for regional communities
    • $1 million to enable the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to continue its work to eliminate conversion practices
• $24 million for specialised family violence legal services
• $22 million to address the over-representation of First Nations people in the justice system, including a new self-determined grants program to support Aboriginal Victorians on remand and on bail
• $18 million to pilot Aboriginal Community Controlled vocational education and training models
• $17 million for our Landcare and Coastcare volunteer programs
• $15 million to continue the Improvement and Inclusion streams of the Building Blocks program
• $14 million for child protection and family services workforce
• $11 million for Victoria’s regional tourism boards and visitor economy partnerships
• $9 million to double the Community Food Relief Program, which provides grants to support frontline organisations
• $5.3 million for ACCOs to establish and operate kindergartens and other early childhood services
• $5.4 million to extend the Aboriginal Community Infrastructure Program for building or upgrading community infrastructure
• Continued funding for the Local Sports Infrastructure Fund (LSIF)
• Continued funding of the Get Active Kids voucher program

It’s not yet clear how or when some of this funding will be distributed via grants, but we’ll be keeping a close eye out for announcements relevant to Funding Centre subscribers.

In the meantime, log in to your Funding Centre account to sign up for alerts to be among the first to know where the money is flowing, to search for grants, and to manage your grant applications using the dashboard tool.