Grants and Funding

Funding and grants are available throughout the year to help your fishing club grow your membership, promote recreational fishing in your local area, assist in operating your club or run events and make fishing better.

On this page, we have detailed funding opportunities that occur throughout the year from Sport and Recreation Victoria and the Victorian Fisheries Authority so you know where to find funding opportunities that may be relevant to your fishing club.

Throughout the year, we send our Fishing Club Supporter members special e-newsletters to inform when funding becomes available and application details.

If your club or association requires any assistance or support with your applications from VRFish, contact: [email protected] or 03 5221 1104.

Sport and Recreation Victoria

VRFish is a recognised state sport and recreation body which means our fishing club and association members are able to apply for funding through Sport and Recreation Victoria programs.

Throughout the year, Sport and Recreation offer a range of grants to support community sport and active recreation organisations across Victoria. Grant programs include:

The Sporting Club Grants Program helps grassroots clubs and organisations address barriers in participation, develop safe and sustainable practices and build social and active local communities. Categories include uniforms and equipment, volunteers and officials, access and engagement, travel and governance.
The Emergency Sporting Equipment Grant Program helps grassroots organisations replace or repair essential sport or first aid equipment that has been lost or destroyed because of unpreventable incidents, including bushfire, flood, significant storm, earthquake, theft, arson, or criminal damage.
The Get Active Kids Voucher Program supports children’s participation in community sport and active recreation activities. Clubs must register to accept vouchers.
The Regional All Abilities Participation Grants support grassroots sport and active recreation clubs and community-based not-for-profit organisations, to enable ongoing, sustainable, and meaningful participation for people with disability in regional Victoria.

View the Sport and Recreation Victoria website for more information on available funding.

Victorian Fisheries Authority

The Victorian Fisheries Authority currently offer two different grant programs that fishing clubs may be eligible to apply for.

Stronger Fishing Club Grants

The Victorian Fisheries Authority’s Stronger Fishing Club Grants program will provide grants of up to $10,000 per club for projects such as:

Fishing tuition for multicultural groups, women, first nations people and all-abilities
Open days at the club
Member training and events involving the public
Guest speaker nights
Upgrades of club IT
Club website development
Clubroom improvements
Equipment that will benefit all members

The last round of grants approved projects for fishing clubs to: upgrade or repair clubrooms, host family fishing events, train members in first aid, upgrade IT and club website, advertise in local media to attract new members, purchase member uniforms, purchase equipment for clubhouse and other items required.

Note: The Stronger Fishing Club Grants Program is only open for a limited time.

Check the Victorian Fisheries Authority Stronger Fishing Club Grants website for more information including when applications are being accepted.

Recreational Fishing Licence Grants Program

Every year, the Victorian Fisheries Authority calls for applications for projects to be funded via the recreational fishing grants program that will improve recreational fishing in Victoria. The recreational fishing grants program disburses recreational fishing licence (RFL) revenue that is held in the RFL Trust Account.

We encourage our fishing club and association members to consider applying for the grants program if they have any ideas for potential projects to improve fishing in their local area.

The Recreational Fishing Grants Program (RFGP) consists of four different types of grants, including:

Small Grants Program that is continually open to fund small projects (for projects up to $5,000 – GST Exclusive).
Intermediate Grants Program that is continually open to applications from angling clubs and associations and not-for-profit community groups (for projects from $5,000 – $50,000 GST Exclusive).
Large Grants Program (for projects from $50,001 to $100,000 – GST Exclusive).
Commissioning Program for large priority projects (generally, in excess of $100,000).

Some examples of projects that could be funded through the program include:

Installing solar lighting at your local jetty
Installing fish cleaning tables at your local boat ramp
Upgrades to make your local jetty all-abilities accessible
Improving access to a publicly accessible fishing spot
Installing in-stream habitat in your local waterway
Riparian works including fencing, planting or stiles
Recreational fishing related education, information and training
Recreational fisheries research
Community events such as fishing club promotion days, come-and-try fishing days, or Gone Fishing Day events
Promotion of participation in fishing, such as increasing female or children’s participation in fishing

The Large Grants Program is annually open for applications from early October until 28 February the following year.

The Small Grants and Intermediate Grants are open to applications year-round.

View the Victorian Fisheries Authority’s Recreational Fishing Grants Program webpage for more information.