Funding - Government

A significant portion of the Society’s overall income is received from Government sources. Without such funding our ability to continue to provide almost all of our services would be under threat. In order to receive funding from most of these sources the Society must lodge a submission/application every year.

Funding can be either recurrent (i.e. ongoing) or one-off (i.e. for a specific project and or piece of equipment).

A brief overview of our main government funding sources is given below. For more detailed information about these government departments access the relevant links provided.

DECS – MACSWD

The Ministerial Advisory Committee: Students with Disabilities (MACSWD or sometimes MAC for short) is one of three consultative committees to the State Minister forEducation and Children'sServices – currently the Hon. Jane Lomax-Smith.

The role and purpose of the MAC includes, but is not limited to:

Ensuring the equitable, transparent and accountable distribution of Australian Government Non-Government Centres Support Grants (Capital and Recurrent) for supplementary funding to eligible organisations, which support the education and care of children and students with disabilities in early intervention programs, preschools and schools across the three education sectors in South Australia.
Ensuring the equitable, transparent and accountable distribution of State Government supplementary funding to support the education and care of children and students with disabilities across the three education sectors in South Australia.

The Source of the funding at the Federal level is the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST). For the 2005-08 funding quadrennium the grants are provided under the Non-Government Centres Supportelement of theTargeted Programme called Literacy, Numeracy and Special Learning Needs.

Recurrent funding from this source enables the Society to run the Early Intervention service and provide an Education Consultancy service to Kindergartens and Schools.

It should be noted that whilst the Society has been the recipient of recurrent funding for a number of years, future funding always remains contingent upon funds being made available. Further, the level of funding the Society receives is determined by a number of factors including the number of clients we are servicing, the overall allocation of funds made to South Australia and the number of organisations between which the funds need to be dispersed.

A change in the level of funding provided to South Australia for the 2005-08 funding quadrennium left the Society (potentially) facing the unenviable task of cutting back on service provision. Fortunately supplementary funding from ODAC has meant that for now (2007 at least) the status quo will be maintained.

In previous years capital grants from MAC have enabled the Society to undertake landscaping and create the playground area as well as undertake minor capital improvements such as installing the security fence.

For more information about MAC and the DEST Grants process click on the links below:

MACSWD
DEST - Literacy, Numeracy and Special Learning Needs Programme

DFC – ODAC

The Office for Disability and Client Services (ODAC) is a state government department that operates under the umbrella of the Department for Families and Communities (DFC).

ODAC is responsible for planning, policy development, funding and administration of a range of disability services in SA. A further responsibility is to keep the Minister for Disability Services (currently the Hon. Jay Weatherill) advised on issues relating to the development of the sector.

ODAC is a funding source for almost 100 agencies with more than 90% of these agencies being part of the non-government sector.

Funding received from ODAC enables the Society to employ a part time Family Support Worker, fund parts of our Leisure and Recreation program, and fund programs promoting community access (e.g. Life Education) and advocacy.

In 2006 the Society was, along with a number of other Not for Profit organisations, the recipient of one-off funding to implement a Service Excellence Framework.

For more information about the DFC in general and ODAC in particular click on the links below.

Department for Families and Communities
Office for Disability and Client Services

Other Government sources

The Society has applied for, and in some instances received, funding from other Government sources at various times.

Examples include:

Office for Sport and Recreation – a one-off sponsorship grant for Club Slick and a recommendation we submit another funding application in the future to try and obtain recurrent funding through the State-wide Enhancement program.
Arts SA Health Promotion – a grant for Club Slick

New sources of funding are always welcome.