The Australia-Korea Foundation (AKF) seeks to strengthen the Australia-Korea relationship in ways that enhance mutual understanding and people-to-people links.

The objectives of the Australian-Korea Foundation (AKF) are to:

• increase public awareness of Australia in Korea, and of Korea in Australia, and the importance of the bilateral relationship.
• develop partnerships in areas of shared interest in the bilateral, regional and global context.
• increase Australians' capacity to effectively engage with Korea.

Grants available

In 2025-26, up to $780,000 is available for this grant opportunity for both one-year and multi-year (up to three years) grants. Indexation is not applied to multi-year grants.

Grant applications for a minimum of $10,000 to a maximum of $50,000 per year will be considered.

Co-contributions (in-kind-and/or cash) from applicants and other parties strengthen an application and are strongly encouraged.

Key priority areas of the Australia-Korea Foundation:

• Cross cultural collaborations including but not limited to arts, society, history, cultural events and sporting events,
• Technological, scientific and education innovation,
• Trade, agriculture and business collaborations, including increasing Australian business literacy of doing business with Korea and vice versa, and
• Strategic international relations that build linkages and promote public discourse on bilateral, economic and broader geostrategic issues.

Grant eligibility criteria:

To be eligible you must:

• be one of the following entity types:
  • an Australian entity with an Australian Business Number (ABN), Australian Company Number (ACN), or Indigenous Corporation Number (ICN) 
  • an Australian consortium with a lead organisation
  • an Australian registered charity or not-for-profit organisation 
  • an Australian local government body 
  • an Australian State/Territory government body 
  • a corporate Commonwealth entity 
  • an Australian statutory authority 
  • be an Australian or permanent resident of Australia 
  • a citizen or organisation from the Republic of Korea 
  • a well-established organisation in the Republic of Korea with a business purpose to advocate for Australian business, education and/or cultural interests 
• and be willing to provide or develop child protection guidelines for your project if it involves people under the age of 18 years.

Applications from consortia are acceptable, provided you have a lead applicant who is the main driver of the project and is eligible as per the list above.

Individuals who intend the grant to be administered by a university should apply on behalf of the university, i.e. your university is the applicant.

Who is not eligible to apply for a grant?

You are not eligible to apply if you are:

• Not an Australian, a permanent resident of Australia or an Australian organisation and you are not a citizen of, or organisation from, the Republic of Korea 
• A previous applicant who has failed to provide a full and proper acquittal of an earlier IRGP grant.
  • You may provide an interim report with the agreement of the relevant Secretariat where existing grant funding will be expended prior to the commencement of the new grant requested.

What can the grant money be used for?

You must use the grant for the following activities:

• The project outlined within the application.

You can use the grant to pay for costs detailed in your budget and grant agreement, including:

• Economy flights, modest accommodation costs, meals and travel allowances, other transport 
• Communication and translation 
• Venue hire and catering, 
• Advertising and promotion, graphic design, photography and printed material, 
• Production costs, including freight and artists’ wages 
• Only one participant per conference or meeting and only where the participant is a principal speaker and the subject of the conference is of direct relevance to the grant opportunity.

For activities delivered in Australia, applicants are encouraged to consider the use of an Indigenous supplier, if they intend to subcontract any of the services above. A directory of registered Indigenous businesses is available at www.supplynation.org.au. You can only spend grant funds on eligible grant activities as defined in the grant details in your grant agreement.

What the grant money cannot be used for?

You cannot normally use the grant for the following:

• capital expenditure, including purchase of real estate and vehicles 
• purchase of equipment (for example, musical instruments, computers, videos, photographic or printing equipment) 
• the covering of retrospective costs or recurrent funding of activities
• activities which are already commercially viable in their own right 
• activities which will provide commercial advantage to the applicant (e.g. promotion of the applicant’s own business)
• costs incurred in the preparation of a grant application or related documentation 
• subsidy of general ongoing administration of an organisation such as electricity, phone, rent, salaries (including for research assistants or administrative staff), honorariums or administrative charges levied by the applicant's organisation, 
• activities for which other Commonwealth, State, Territory or Local Government bodies have primary responsibility (e.g. academic research, assistance to business, development assistance projects), 
• activities undertaken by primary or high schools, including study tours, where travel by a significant number of students is the principal element of the proposal 
• scholarships to individual students, and 
• completed projects.

The Department do not generally fund travel and accommodation for attendance at conferences or meetings, participation in fieldwork or sporting or other events, unless such activities are considered by the Board to be of direct relevance to its objectives. To be considered, a substantial program should exist in the sidelines or around the conference and there should also be a strong argument for the selection of applicant(s).

Looking to develop child protection guidelines to be eligible for funding? Through the Policy Bank, The Institute of Community Directors Australia (ICDA) has provided a policy template for your guidance. It can be found here.

• Address: PO Box 6060 KINGSTON 2604 ACT
• Phone: (02) 6261 3869
• Email: australia.korea@dfat.gov.au