Applications for Mannifera's 2025 Signature Grant Round will open on 28 January 2025.

Since our inception in 2019, we’ve delivered over $4 million in grants to our partners across Australia, and created a space for funders and advocates to connect, learn from each other and collaborate. 

Signature Grants support the core operations of organisations and initiatives to progress advocacy efforts strongly aligned with our focus areas, supported activities and priorities. These grants support advocacy to get off the ground, build capacity and accelerate progress. 

Focus areas

Building Fair Tax and Economic Systems: We support partners working to reform economic systems driving inequality, including our tax and social security system.

Improving Quality Public Debate: We support partners exposing where vested interests influence public policy, protecting the right for civil society to advocate, advancing political education, and promoting information and media environments that serve the public interest.

Fostering Inclusive Political Participation: We support work that fosters political participation, increases fairness in political representation, and creates greater transparency in political donations and campaign expenditure.

Ensuring Accountable and Open Government: We support work focused on building strong integrity systems that hold Ministers, decision makers and government institutions to account and that protect whistleblowers.

Activities we support 

Mannifera supports the following activities in pursuit of short term progress and longer term transformative change across our focus areas. 

1. Legislative or regulatory reform through ‘inside tracks’ of persuasion and influence, and/or external public campaigning  
2. Building the capacity of coalitions and movements to support long-term change; 
3. Encouraging healthy and inclusive public debate and political participation; 
4. Building journalism and media models that advance facts and the public interest;
5. Research that strengthens advocacy and public education campaigns;
6. Strategic litigation;
7. Piloting new and different approaches.

Funding available

Mannifera provides core funding for organisations or initiatives, and has typically delivered grants ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 to between 8-10 organisations or initiatives as part of the Signature Grant round.

Priorities

In this call for proposals, Mannifera will be prioritising projects that:

• Are national in scope with consideration of geographic areas overlooked by philanthropy;
• Are collaborative in nature, demonstrating established partnerships;
• Align strategically with existing partners supported by Mannifera;
• Informed by the perspectives of those directly affected by the issue being addressed;
• Require first or early funding to unlock further philanthropic support. 

Eligibility

• We fund registered charities, ideally with DGR1 status, however can consider those with Tax  Concessions status.
• We fund organisations that are non-partisan both in principle and practice (i.e. unaligned to any one political party and effectively work across party lines).
• We don’t fund service delivery, or contribute to general fundraising appeals.

Assessment of proposals

Mannifera will assess funding proposals in the following ways:

• Alignment with our focus areas, supported activities and priorities; 
• A well-reasoned theory of change;
• Opportunity for short-term progress towards longer-term systemic change;
• The right team or coalition of partners to undertake the work.

How to Apply

Mannifera invites eligible organisations to submit proposals that align with our criteria and priorities.

• Apply via the Australian Communities Foundation Grants Portal by using this link. If your organisation is not already registered with the Australian Communities Foundation, you will first need to register.
• Once you are in the Grants Portal, if the application does not display automatically, click the "Apply" button and use the access code: MANNI2025.
• Fill out the required information in the online application form. You can save and revisit your proposal.

APPLY HERE 

Timeline

• Applications open: 9am Tuesday 28 January 2025
• Submission deadline: 5pm Friday 21 February 2025 
• Review and shortlisting: end of March 2025 (all applicants will be notified of results)
• Grant decisions on shortlisted proposals: early May 2025
• Grant payments: from mid-end of May 2025 onwards

For questions or technical assistance please reach out info@mannifera.org.au