City of Melbourne Small Business Grants (Australia)

City of Melbourne Small Business Grants (Australia)

​​​​​​​​​​​​The Small Business Grants Program supports new businesses to get started within the City of Melbourne​ and existing businesses to expand and grow.​

The funding will support small businesses looking to:​

Enhance the City of Melbourne’s reputation for innovation, creativity and diversity

Strengthen our local economy’s resilience by demonstrating a unique point-of-difference, sound business model and long-term financial viability

Create employment and investment opportunities.

This round will also have a special focus on small businesses that enhance the city’s vitality by increasing the occupancy rate of shopfronts across the municipality.

Are you eligible?

​To be eligible for a Small Business Grants Program you must:

Be located within or committed to relocate promptly (within three months of receiveing the grant) to the City of Melbourne municipality

Have a valid Australian Business Number (ABN)

Have less than 20 full-time or equivalent employees at the time of applying

Be an Australian registered business, sole trader, company, business cooperative or partnership and provide documented evidence of its legal structure

Be able to provide evidence of appropriate business insurances

Have no outstanding acquittals or debts to the City of Melbourne

Demonstrate financial viability as evidenced by relevant financial information

**Shopfront occupancy stream ONLY: provide evidence of a commercial lease (for a minimum length of 12 months)​ if relocating to City of Melbourne or moving to a larger premises within City of Melbourne.

Key objectives

The program for this round are to:

Encourage the establishment and growth of small businesses that:

Enhance the City of Melbourne’s reputation for business innovation, creativity, diversity, inclusiveness and environmental sustainability
strengthen and diversify the local economy’s resilience by demonstrating a unique point-of-difference, sound business model and long-term financial viability

Generate employment and investment opportunities

Enhance the city’s vitality by increasing the occupancy rate of shopfronts** across the municipality.

What we will fund

Before submitting a grant application, it is important to understand the types of activities and initiatives we fund and those we do not.

We fund expenditure items that are directly related to the delivery of the proposed activity including capital Improvement, website development or enhancements, IT or specialised equipment and other items

where its clearly demonstrated there is significant need to set up or expand the business.

What we won’t fund​​​​

Operational expenses which are ongoing costs to run the business, such as rent utilities, legal costs, marketing, wages and personal expenses. Expenditure items incurred prior to the date the business submitted an application. Applications that do not meet the eligibility or assessment criteria.

Assessment process

Applications are scored against the following criteria:

Business plan, workforce and experience

Impact and benefits to the City of Melbourne
financial viability.

City of Melbourne completes a due diligence process to all applications to ensure all eligibility criteria are met.

Applications are individually assessed by a panel including senior management from City of Melbourne which will consider the diversity of applications as a set.

Canvassing or lobbying of Councillors, employees of City of Melbourne or assessment panel members in relation to any funding application is prohibited. No further consideration will be given to an application submitted by an applicant who has canvassed or lobbied City of Melbourne staff, Councillors or assessors in relation to their application.

Successful applicants are prohibited to lobby Councillors or City of Melbourne staff when seeking additional benefits in the sponsorship agreement.

Other grants and funding options

There are a range of other grants and funding options available to businesses. We recommend you do an online search for new funding opportunities in addition to visiting the following websites:

Business Victoria publishes a comprehensive list of grants, vouchers and assistance programs available to businesses in Victoria from the State government.

Business.gov.au has a grant finder which publishes grants and funding opportunities from all levels of government.

How to Apply

For more information and job application details, see; City of Melbourne Small Business Grants (Australia)

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