Creating sustainable, enriching change in your community requires but two things; an idea and a little help. Sometimes you have the idea, indeed you are brimming with thousands of them, but that push, that support you need to get your idea off the ground and into the air just isn’t there. Good news guys. Now it is! Look no further than City of Sydney‘s excellent Matching Grants initiative which exists to breathe life into your brilliant ideas.

Here’s how it works. You have an idea with heart, one that will make a real difference to your community and its people. You do your research and rally your troops. You know what you have and what you need, whether it be financial funding, labour or simply space. Go to the Matching Grants website and consult the guidelines to make sure everything is fitting neatly between the lines, show the City of Sydney what you have and they will match it.

What you bring to the party doesn’t necessarily have to be money. It could be materials, supplies or volunteering time. According to project manager Ashley Heath, what Matching Grants will match with doesn’t necessarily have to be money either. ‘‘The best bit about our Matching Grants is we don’t just match cash, we match volunteer time or your ‘community contribution’. This is the time you and your group contribute to the project. It can include volunteer time such as labour you put towards your project, set up and pack down and meeting time to identify, plan and implement projects. We match volunteer time at the rate of $20 per hour and professional services at $75 per hour.”

So go forth and create a change in your community, safe in the knowledge your city has your back!