General Purpose Distribution/Short Stay Holiday Distribution Fund FAQs
1. Who is eligible for a grant?
To be eligible for our General Purpose Distribution or Short Stay Holiday grants you must:
- Live with any of the following:
- An acquired brain injury
- A degenerative neurological condition
- A physical disability which meets the grant eligibility criteria*
- Be on low income (disability support pension or equivalent)
- Live in South Australia
*Why do only certain types of physical disability meet the eligibility criteria?
The funds for all of the Julia Farr Trust Fund programs were originally connected to Julia Farr Services. This means, the grants are limited to supporting the types of disabilities experienced by the former residents of Julia Farr Services. JFA Purple Orange is legally required to ensure grants are distributed to individuals who live with a physical disability that meets the eligibility criteria.
The nature of eligible physical disabilities is limited to:
- A physical disability that impacts your mobility so that you have day-to-day support needs, for example for personal care, mobility aids (such as a wheelchair) or supports or assistive technology in your home. This will be a lifelong physical disability either from birth, early childhood or resulting from an accident or certain types of illnesses.
Because of the restrictions on the use of the funds, the following disabilities are not eligible: disability caused by chronic health conditions, age-related conditions, intellectual disability, mental illness or autism.
2. Do I have to be an NDIS participant to be eligible?
No. When making decisions on grants, we consider the role of government or public funds – including the NDIS – in paying for the item or service.
We know that there are many people living with disability who do not receive NDIS services. You do not have to be an NDIS participant to apply for our grants.
3. What do you fund?
Our General Purpose Distribution grants fund:
- Personal or household items or
- Temporary or short-term services when other funding is not available or
- Activities that enhance quality of life.
Previous grants have funded domestic appliances and computer equipment, for example. The maximum grant size for this fund is $3000.
Our Short Stay Holiday grants fund:
- Holiday travel costs
- Holiday accommodation in mainstream facilities
- Entry, excursion and event fees for tourist attractions.
The maximum grant size for this fund is $1000.
4. What don't you fund?
We do not fund the following:
- Medical items
- Items or services that should be covered by government funding, such as NDIS
- Daily living costs such as food, drinks and household bills
- Gambling
- Alcohol or other drugs
- Luxury items
- Fixed items in the home that you will not take with you if you move house
- Vehicle purchase and maintenance
- Legal fees
- Retrospective costs
- The costs of support workers, friends and family members that are travelling with you (for the holiday fund)
- Activities that are not inclusive within mainstream communities, such as group holidays for people living with disability
- Items costing more than $3000, unless you can demonstrate that you can cover the additional cost from elsewhere
5. The application requires me to submit two quotes. What quotes are acceptable?
Please send us two quotes per item. Your quotes can be from two different providers, or you can have quotes from one provider for two different models, or two different options. For example you might have different accommodation options with the same hotel, or you might have quotes for two different models of oven.
6. Do I have to find the cheapest option?
No - you can apply for your preferred item. You can apply for a grant for a good quality item – it doesn’t have to be the cheapest, but we won’t fund luxury items.
7. What happens if the cost of the item I want to purchase is more than $3000?
If the item you want to purchase costs more than the maximum value of the grant ($3000 for our General Purpose Distribution Fund), you will need to demonstrate that you have secured funds from another source to pay the difference.
8. Can I apply for more than one grant?
You can apply for more than one grant, but we will only award one grant per person, per financial year from the General Purpose Distribution or Short Stay Holiday fund. If you apply for more than one grant at a time, we will ask you to identify your preference.
9. I’ve received a grant from you before, can I apply again?
You can receive one grant per person, per financial year from the General Purpose Distribution or Short Stay Holiday funds. If you have already received funding from one of these funds in this financial year, a second application will not be funded. You will need to wait until the next financial year (which will start on 1 July) before you will be eligible for another grant.
10. How are decisions on grant applications made?
Our team will review your application to make sure it is complete and that you are eligible for funding. If we decide that you are eligible, we will send your application to our Trust Funds Committee. Our committee members are all people living with disability.
Our committee will review all eligible applications against the funds available. The committee will consider a range of factors, such as whether the application will support your life chances and meaningful inclusion in the community.
It is a competitive process and we may not be able to fund all eligible applications.
11. When will I hear the outcome of my application?
Our Trust Funds Committee meets every two to three months. If your application is eligible, we will send it to the next available committee meeting for decision making. You should expect your application to take anything up to 4 months to process, depending on the timing of your application and our committee meetings.
12. How is the grant paid?
If you are awarded a grant, we will ask you to supply us with your bank details and we will pay the grant directly into your bank account.
13. What are the reporting requirements if I am awarded a grant?
You will be asked to sign a grant agreement when you are awarded the grant and to provide us with your bank details for grant payment. We will pay the grant direct into your bank account. We require you to send us receipts for your purchases within 90 days of signing your grant agreement.
14. What happens if I end up spending more than the amount you give me?
You can spend more than your grant amount, but you will have to fund the extra cost yourself, or from another funder.
15. What happens if I spend less than the grant amount?
We will review the difference between the amount we have paid you in grant and the amount you have spent, according to the receipts you send us. If you have spent less than the grant amount, we may ask you to return the unspent funds to us, so that we can use them to support another person.
16. Where else can I apply for funding?
There are other organisations providing grants to people living with disability in South Australia. They have their own grant funding rules, and in some cases you may not be able to apply directly – you may need to be referred by a support worker or a health worker.
Other funders include:
Good Shepherd (loans)
Joseph Seridis Trust Fund