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HEY Grants

The Healthy Equal Youth (HEY) Grants are an annual small grant round for LGBTQIA+ projects and initiatives. 

Grants aren’t just provided to LGBTQIA+ based services but are also given to mainstream organisations to support the further breakdown of barriers that exist for LGBTQIA+ young people in all spaces.

Applications for Round 14 of the HEY Grants are closed. We are now in the assessment phase and will contact recipients by October 2024.

The grant categories

  • Youth led projects for LGBTIQA+ young people with innovative projects they know will support their LGBTIQA+ peers. A youth led application must be proposed and led by people who are under 25! (They can get people older than that to proofread and assist them).
  • Social Connectedness projects for services to expand or improve their support for LGBTIQA+ young people, and for targeted projects for LGBTIQA+ young people that will improve their mental health and wellbeing.

The HEY Grants are administered by the HEY Partners.

Who should apply?

Any organisation or project designed to support LGBTQIA+ young people in Victoria is encouraged to apply. Applications from outside of Victoria will not be considered.

HEY actively encourages applications that are led by, and designed for:

  • LGBTQIA+ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people
  • LGBTQIA+ disabled young people, and LGBTQIA+ neurodiverse young people
  • LGBTQIA+ young people of colour, and LGBTQIA+ young people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities
  • LGBTQIA+ community members who are underrepresented in services and programs, such as asexual and aromantic young people, or young people with intersex variations
How do I apply?

Before submitting your application on SmartyGrants, we advise you to prepare some of your responses beforehand so that you can make your application process as smooth as possible.

There are some key questions that you will be asked to respond to as part of your application. Here are some templates you should use as a way to prepare and refine your responses before adding them to your full application on SmartyGrants once submissions open:

Youth Led projects
Social Connectedness projects

Please note, you will need to copy and paste the information you write in these documents onto SmartyGrants for your application to count.

How to use SmartyGrants

  1. Once submissions open, click the link from this webpage which will take you to SmartyGrants.
  2. Here you'll be presented with a page where you can either preview your application or start a submission.
  3. If you start a submission, you'll be presented with a log on screen where you can register.

You can save progress on your application at any time on SmartyGrants. If your application is approved, this is also where you'll be asked to file progress reports once your project has been funded.

 

Read our FAQs

Previous grant recipients

Round 12 of the HEY Grants provided $102,000 to 11 incredible projects and organisations across the state. The grants were selected by a panel of LGBTIQA+ community members who prioritised new applicants to address intersections and gaps in LGBTIQA+ services.

See our previous recipients

Round 13

  • City of Monash

    Monash LGBTIQA+ Group  - $6,770

    The Monash LGBTIQA+ Group will run a twelve-week program engaging LGBTIQA+ secondary school aged young people who live, work, play or are connected to the City of Monash. The program will be co-designed with young people who are a part of the LGBTIQA+ community.
  • headspace Mildura

    headspace Mildura - $10,000

    headspace Mildura will expand their current LGBTQIA+ support to provide opportunities for young queer people and their support system to connect and reduce isolation, as well as facilitate awareness and advocacy. Activities will focus on the expansion of their peer support group and activities, peer mentoring, as well as staff, community, and school education and support.
  • Innovation Youth Centre

    IYC Rainbow Group - $10,000

    IYC will create a support group for LGBTIQA+ young people and allies which aims to provide a safe space for participants to help them build positive social connections, while also enhancing youth participation. The program aims to enhance LGBTIQA+ young people's confidence, wellbeing, self-esteem and positive identity (i.e. gender identity, identity around sexuality).
  • Knox City Council

    Building, Strengthening and Promoting a Resilient LGBTIQA+ Community - $10,000

    Knox City Council’s project involves a series of events featuring workshops, exhibitions and skills development sessions designed by LGBTIQA+ young people with lived experience for LGBTIQA+ young people and the wider community. The aim is to support, give and gain knowledge and skills to LGBTIQA+ young people and in doing so educate families, friends, agencies. 
  • Maroondah City Council

    Empowering Families - $5,000

    Empowering Families initiative will work with Transcend Australia to deliver workshops for parents/carers of transgender or gender diverse young people. Transcend Australia will work with Maroondah's LGBTIQA+ young people to co-design education workshops that will then be promoted for parents and carers to attend.
  • Omni Insight

    Transcending the Narrative - $5,000

    Transcending the Narrative will take rural LGBTIQA+ young people on a journey of writing, re-writing, and transcending their story. Using principles of Narrative Therapy, it will invite 16-25 year olds to engage in in-person workshops, and a podcast that enables young people to exercise agency over their own story. 
  • Our Point 3 Incorporated

    Voices of Us Ripples - $10,000

    The ‘Voices of Us’ project supports and empowers LGBTQIA+ young international students, alumni and allies through in-depth conversations in podcasting, community activity co-lead workshops and youth-led in-language activities. The project aims to foster meaningfully connected relationships, enhance mental wellbeing and enable LGBTIQA+ young people to amplify their voices and activate their strengths. 
  • RMIT Training PTY Ltd

    Rainbow International Students Project - $10,000

    The Rainbow International Students Project is a program designed to help LGBTQIA+ international students make social connections while studying in Melbourne. It involves monthly social meetups and activities and will be facilitated by a young LGBTQIA+ international student who will be employed casually by RMIT Training to manage the program. 
  • The Mental Health Coach

    Rainbow Youth Mental Health Program - $10,000

    The Mental Health Coach will train 50 young LGBTIQA+ people, and 22 event facilitators, in LGBTIQA+ specific Youth Mental Health First Aid, equipping them to provide timely, effective intervention at and around rainbow events. 
  • Victorian Student Representative Council (VicSRC)

    LGBTIQA+ Student Empowerment Project - $10,000

    The ‘LGBTIQA+ Student Empowerment Project’ provides a platform for LGBTIQA+ secondary students to share their education experiences and inform solutions to support their mental health and wellbeing. This project will be led by an LGBTIQA+ student, collaborating with their peers to advocate for their needs and improve LGBTIQA+ student wellbeing. 
  • YMCA

    Pride Tribe - $10,000

    The YES Youth Hub will partner with incredible local organisations and engage local LGBTQIA+ young people to identify, design and deliver three amazing events over the course of the year (one per term) to compliment the delivery of YMCA’s Bass Coast ‘Youth Pride Prom’ in Term 1. 
  • So Let's Affirm You

    SLAY Project - $10,000

    The SLAY project is for trans young people along the Geelong, surf coast, Bellarine and Melbourne region. Gender affirming kits will be supplied with affirming garments, resources, books and more. Supplying these kits will affirm gender identify, improve mental health and reduce isolation of trans youth in the rural areas targeted, as well as fostering community connection and building awareness of LGBTIQA+ inclusive services.