Capacity Building grant

Train digital mentors to help more people get online

Capacity Builder grant funding applications are open 17 April - 29 May 2023.

$50,000 grant to train and support digital mentors in your community.

Please read the guidelines carefully before applying.

The Capacity Building grant is an opportunity for community organisations to run a train-the-trainer program to support and develop new digital mentors. Round 9 applications closing Monday 29 May 2023.

Digital mentors help people to feel confident and safe online. They support communities to learn digital skills. They are at the heart of community-led digital inclusion programs.

The Capacity Building program is a train-the-trainer initiative to support and develop digital mentors in local communities across Australia. Capacity Builders work with Good Things Foundation to inspire skilled, passionate and friendly digital mentors to help more older people be connected.

The Capacity Building grant and training program is created by Good Things Foundation Australia and available to community organisations in Australia through the Be Connected program.

How does it work?

Organisations successful in being accepted into the Round 9 Capacity Builder program will receive $50K grant funding and a specialist pack of training resources ready to deliver.

Capacity Builders will nominate at least one person as their trainer who will attend a skillshare with Good Things Foundation on how to deliver this training package in their community.

The Capacity Builders use the training package to train 92* digital mentors in their community, then provide 2 hours of follow up coaching support. Capacity Builders have 11 months to complete this work.

The digital mentors that have been trained by Capacity Builders go on to provide digital skills support to older Australians in their community through the Be Connected program.


Grant application documents

Please read our grant guidelines carefully before you apply. They contain critical information that can help you understand eligibility and what you need to do for the grant. The guidelines also include a list of all the grant application questions to help you prepare.

Tip: Download our project plan and budget templates below and fill them in prior to starting your online application.

Catch up on our webinar to find out more

Miss our webinar about the Capacity Building program? Catch up with our on-demand recording of the info session.

Is this program right for you?

The Capacity Building program is your chance to upskill staff and volunteers and support more older Australians to get online. Here's some more info on how it works.

Who can be trained as a digital mentor?

Each Capacity Builder will nominate who they will train as digital mentors as part of their project. The digital mentors they train can be staff members or volunteers.

All trained digital mentors need to be available to provide digital skills support to older Australians through community organisations in the Be Connected Network.

If you do not have enough people you can train in your organisation, consider buddying up with other organisations in your local area and applying together to share the benefits of this project.

Who can apply?

Organisations must be registered as part of the Be Connected Network to be eligible. It's free to register to become a member of the Be Connected Network, and we can support you with more grants, webinars, marketing resources, step-by-step guides and more.

For Round 9 of this program, preference will be given to organisations who have not previously completed a Capacity Building project.

Please read our guidelines and T&Cs carefully to check your eligibility before applying for this grant.

*Reduced numbers for regional and remote areas

If your organisation is delivering your Capacity Building project in regional and remote Australia, you can apply to train and coach half the number of digital mentors. This means in 11 months you will be required to train and provide follow up support to 46 digital mentors, not 92.

Please read the guidelines to see if you are eligible for this specialist contract.



More questions?

If you have more questions about getting involved in our Capacity Building program: Contact us for a chat

More grants:

Start up or expand your Be Connected digital skills program with up to $10,000 in grants available.

Applications open 3 July 2023. $1,000 grants to host an event during Get Online Week (16-22 October 2023).