To be eligible to apply for a grant or sponsorship with the City of Melbourne, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Activities must take place within the City of Melbourne boundary or provide benefits to the City of Melbourne community.
- Applicants must have fully acquitted previous grants or sponsorships and have no outstanding debts to the City of Melbourne.
- Applications must be submitted on time. Late submissions will not be considered.
- Applications must comply with all guidelines, conditions and criteria, including grant and sponsorship category guidelines, conditions and criteria.
- A single project, event, activity or program can only be considered for one grant or sponsorship program/ category.
Events Melbourne-specific eligibility:
- The proposal must show how it meets one or more of the Event Partnership Program’s objectives, as identified in the application form.
- The application must be from a legal entity or auspiced by a legal entity.
- The event must not be financially dependant on any City of Melbourne support.
- The event must occur after the funding decision has been made and with sufficient time to allow sponsorship agreement negotiations and benefits leveraged accordingly.
- The proposal must follow the application process guidelines and meet the required timelines.
Events that are free, or provide a free component to event patrons are looked at more favourably.
Common grant and sponsorship ineligibility
The City of Melbourne will not fund:
- activities, projects, programs and events that have already been funded through other City of Melbourne programs or activities, another grant and sponsorship program, or through an existing funding agreement with the City of Melbourne
- activities, projects, programs and events that have a political purpose, or applications made by political organisations
- City of Melbourne employees
- City of Melbourne owned or run activities, projects, programs, events or activities that are part of the program that are run by external organisations.
Events Melbourne-specific ineligibility
Events Melbourne will not fund:
- individuals
- private functions, lunches or dinners
- events that are entirely tradeshows or conferences
- exhibitions
- prize money, awards and trophy production
- teaching programs and lectures
- ticketed film festivals
- programs that denigrate, exclude or offend parts of the community
- programs that present a hazard to the community
- interstate or overseas travel or accommodation
- commercial theatre or concerts
- incomplete application forms
- events that are wholly dependant on City of Melbourne funding (events must have several revenue streams)
- events not staged within the City of Melbourne’s boundaries.