Prescribed Bodies Corporate (PBC) Capacity Building Grant Funding is available to support PBCs to maximise the economic and social potential of native title through the effective and sustainable management of their land.

The objectives of the PBC Capacity Building Grant are to:

• increase the capacity of PBCs to take advantage of economic opportunities;
• build long-term organisational capacity within PBCs through training and obtaining professional expertise (for example, business or agribusiness consultancies, accountancy or legal services); and
• support effective native title agreement-making.

The outcomes of the PBC Capacity Building Grant are to:

• build capacity of PBCs to maximise the social, cultural and economic aspirations of their native title-holding group; and
• build capacity of PBCs to meet corporate compliance and native title obligations, and promote greater efficiency in land use decision-making.

Grant amount

There is no minimum amount of grant funding, with most grants anticipated to be between $50,000- $750,000, depending on the scope of the grant activity and its complexity. There is no maximum grant amount but grants cannot exceed the amount of available funds

Eligible grant activities can be viewed in Table 1 on pages 12 - 13 of the guidelines document.

Eligibility criteria

Community groups that are not eligible to apply for funding are encouraged to consider partnering with an eligible organisation

Who is eligible for funding?

To be eligible to apply for funding under the PBC Capacity Building grant opportunity you must: 

• be a Registered Native Title Body Corporate (RNTBC), registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth) (the CATSI Act);
• be a Prescribed Body Corporate (PBC), that is registered under the CATSI Act;
• be a joint (consortia) application (see section ‘7.3. Joint Applications’);
• be a recognised Native Title Representative Body/Service Provider (NTRB/SP);
• be a relevant peak body working with PBCs and in the native title sector;
• be a Traditional Owner Corporation (TOC), incorporated for the purposes of representing Traditional Owners recognised under the Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 (Victoria);
• be a Traditional Owner Group Entity (TOGE) established for the purposes of representing traditional owners under an alternative native title settlement agreement; or
• be a third party such as a law firm or interest group who has written authorisation (board resolution or letter from the CEO) of one or more PBCs/RNTBCs intended to benefit from the grant. 

AND

• have an Australian Business Number (ABN) (exemptions may apply in special cases);
• where relevant, be registered for the purposes of GST;
• if an individual, be a permanent resident of Australia; and
• have an account with an Australian financial institution.

AND be one of the following entity types:

• an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the CATSI Act;
• a company incorporated in Australia under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Corporations Act);
• an incorporated association (incorporated under state/territory legislation, commonly have 'Association' or 'Incorporated' or 'Inc' in their legal name);
• an incorporated cooperative (also incorporated under state/territory legislation, commonly have ’Cooperative' in their legal name);
• an organisation established through a specific piece of Commonwealth or state/territory legislation including public benevolent institutions, churches and universities;
• an Australian state or territory government body;
• an Australian local government body;
• an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust;
• a partnership; or
• an individual with an ABN.

The Agency will not accept your application unless you:

• have contacted and consulted with the NIAA Regional Office in your area;
• have rectified any issues of previous non-compliance with existing Commonwealth agreements to the satisfaction of the Commonwealth, or be in the process of rectifying any issues of noncompliance with existing Commonwealth agreements to the satisfaction of the Commonwealth; and
• are financially viable to the Agency’s satisfaction. The application form has questions about financial viability. The Agency may undertake its own enquiries in relation to the applicant’s financial viability.

Who is not eligible to apply for a grant?

You are not eligible to apply for grant funding under the PBC Capacity Building Grant if you are:

• an organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s website on the list of ‘Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme
• a non-corporate Commonwealth entity;
• not one of the mandatory entity types listed in section 4.1;
• an unincorporated association;
• subject to the NIAA’s sole discretion, an overseas resident;
• declared bankrupt or subject to insolvency proceedings – as relevant to the entity type;
• disqualified from managing a corporation under the CATSI Act or the Corporations Act; and/or
• named as currently non-compliant under the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012.

What the grant money cannot be used for

Grant funding cannot be used for a purpose that does not directly contribute to the outcomes of the activity, so cannot generally be used for items such as payment of fines or loans, purchase of gifts, personal debts, or sitting fees.

You cannot use the grant for:

• retrospective funding, for costs incurred prior to be awarded the grant;
• activities that do not clearly align to the identified outcomes and objectives of the PBC Capacity Building Grant;
• purposes that do not directly contribute to the outcomes of the activity, typically including (but not limited to) payment of fines or loans, purchase of gifts, personal debts, or sitting fees;
• costs incurred in the preparation of a grant application or related documentation unless specifically agreed with the Agency;
• activities for which other Commonwealth, state, territory or local government bodies have primary responsibility;
• expenses for which other Commonwealth, state, territory or local government bodies have primary responsibility to provide the source of funding, unless otherwise specifically agreed with the Agency; and,
• funding native title litigation including native title claims or claims for compensation for extinguishment of native title rights and interests. Further detail of activities that are out of scope for funding is included at Appendix 1 of the guidelines.

• Phone: 1800 079 098
• Email: nativetitle@niaa.gov.au