A stronger, more diverse and independent community sector – Questionnaire

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Guided Questionnaire

This is a questionnaire with 24 free text questions, which are the same as in the issues paper. You do not need to respond to every question, just the questions that are important to you. There is also the opportunity after the questionnaire to upload documents, such as examples or case studies, to demonstrate your experiences. Alternatively, if you do not want to answer any of these questions, you can skip them and upload a written submission by selecting 'no' to the question below.
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1. Area of focus: Giving the sector the voice and respect it deserves through a meaningful working partnership
1.1 What would a partnership between CSOs and the government that achieves outcomes for Australians being supported by the community sector look like?
1.2 How can CSOs and government streamline the sharing of information, particularly through utilising technology to effectively engage, distribute, share, influence and inform in a timely and efficient manner?
1.3 How can government ensure the community sector, including service users, and those not able to access services, have an opportunity to contribute to program design without imposing significant burdens?
2. Area of focus: Providing grants that reflect the real cost of delivering quality services
2.1 What would adequate and flexible funding look like?
2.2 What administrative and overhead costs are not being considered in current grant funding?
2.3 How are rising operational costs impacting the delivery of community services?
2.4 What have been your experiences with and reflections on the supplementation and change to indexation?
2.5 How can CSOs and the department work together to determine where funds are needed most to ensure equitable and responsive distribution of funds?
2.6 How can government streamline reporting requirements, including across multiple grants, to reduce administrative burden on CSOs?
3. Area of focus: Providing longer grant agreement terms
3.1 What length grants are CSOs seeking to provide certainty and stability for ongoing service delivery?
3.2 What timeframes should the government aim for, at a minimum, to provide final outcomes on grant variations/extensions before the current grant ceases?
3.3 What funding flexibility do CSOs require to enable service delivery and innovation?
3.4 What flexibility is required by CSOs in acquittal processes to support and encourage sector innovation?
3.5 How can government improve the variation process, with consideration that CSOs must demonstrate alignment with the grant agreement and provide evidence of value for money outcomes?
4. Area of focus: Ensuring grant funding flows to a greater diversity of CSOs
4.1 How can the government ensure opportunities are available for new and emerging organisations to access funding?
4.2 What programs, supports and information are already available for smaller CSOs to help build capacity of the organisation? Are these working?
4.3 How could larger CSOs support smaller CSOs? What are the barriers to providing this support?
5. Area of focus: Partnering with trusted community organisations with strong local links
5.1 What is your experience with and reflections on place-based funding approaches?
5.2 What innovative approaches could be implemented to ensure the grant funding reaches trusted community organisations with strong local links?
5.3 Which areas do you consider have duplicative funding or gaps you think need to be addressed, and what is the evidence?
5.4 Where there is a community-led change initiative, could shared accountability to community and funders (government) strengthen service delivery?
6. General questions for each focus area
6.1 If any, what are the problems or challenges you think have been overlooked?
6.2 What other solutions or changes could also be considered?
6.3 What does success look like?

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Consultation period

A stronger, more diverse and independent community sector – Questionnaire

Step 1 of 7

Guided Questionnaire

1. Area of focus: Giving the sector the voice and respect it deserves through a meaningful working partnership

2. Area of focus: Providing grants that reflect the real cost of delivering quality services

3. Area of focus: Providing longer grant agreement terms

4. Area of focus: Ensuring grant funding flows to a greater diversity of CSOs

5. Area of focus: Partnering with trusted community organisations with strong local links

6. General questions for each focus area

Upload written submission or other document/s