2026 Summerfield BESS Community Grants Program (CEF)

This round will open at 8:00am 1 October 2026 (AEST) for submissions.

Welcome to the Summerfield BESS Community Grants Program, online grant application.

Details of Program

This Community Grants Program is administered by Community Enterprise Foundation and made possible by the generous support of the Summerfield BESS.

Summerfield BESS Community Grants Program will support projects and initiatives which will benefit communities surrounding the Summerfield area.

Funding Criteria:

Charitable and Not-for-profit Organisations can apply for projects and activities that offer clear public benefit for the community, contributing to at least one of the following areas:

  • Community Diversity: Support for projects that encourage communities to connect and be inclusive of gender, cultures, age groups, nationalities and abilities. This includes events that celebrate culture and traditions, projects that aim to improve multicultural infrastructure, provide support for disadvantaged groups, achieve gender equality, or initiatives that seek to address social isolation and improve access and opportunity for everyone.
  • Sustainability and Environment: Support for projects that seek to build or enhance community sustainability or the local environment, in particular through the use of renewables, the reduction of waste or via protection of the environment. This includes solar panel installation, recycling at events, school education programs, community gardens and environmental preservation programs.
  • Health and Wellbeing: Support for projects that seek to improve the health and wellbeing of the local community. This may include physical or mental health programs, initiatives that aim to improve sports participation and access, sporting facility upgrades and education programs.
  • Community Participation and Pride: Support for projects that encourage greater community participation and/or seek to recognise and celebrate the unique attributes of the region. This includes community volunteering initiatives, playground / public space enhancements, community festivals and events and local heritage preservation.

For more information please visit our Website for more details regarding Summerfield BESS.

For queries about the guidelines, deadlines, or questions in the form, please contact the Foundation Team on 1300 304 541 during business hours or email foundation.mailbox@bendigoadelaide.com.au and quote your submission number.

If you need more help using this form, download the Help Guide for Applicants or check out Applicant Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

Navigating through the form

On every page of the form you will see a Form Navigation panel. This links directly to each page of the form, so you can click a page name to jump directly to the page you want.

You can also click 'Next Page' or 'Previous Page' on the top or bottom of each page to move forward or backward through the form.

Please ensure you save your form as you go.

Saving a draft

Your form will save each time you click ‘Next Page’, ‘Previous Page’, or any page name on the Form Navigation panel.

If you wish to leave a partially completed form, click 'Save and Close' and log out.

You can reopen your draft form and continue where you left off. When you log back in and click on the My Submissions link at the top of the screen, you will find a list of any submissions you have started or submitted. Click the submission number or the arrow icon to expand the list of associated forms, and click on the form name to continue filling it out.

You can also download any form, whether draft or completed, as a PDF. In the ‘My Submissions’ area of your account click on the submission number, then click the red PDF icon beside the form you want to download or, while filling out the form, click on the ‘Download PDF' button located at the top and bottom of the last page (’Review and Submit').

Submitting your form

You will find a Review and Submit page listed at the bottom of the Form Navigation panel. You need to review your form before you can submit it. You will not be able to submit your form until all the required fields are completed and there are no validation errors.

Once you have reviewed your form and corrected any errors you can submit it by clicking on the Submit button at the top or bottom of the screen.

Once you have submitted your form no further editing or uploading of supporting documents is possible.

When you have successfully submitted your form you will see a confirmation page, and you will receive a confirmation email with a copy of your submitted form attached. This will be sent to the email address you use to login, or the owner of the submission if you are collaborating on the form.

If you don't see a confirmation page or receive a confirmation email then you should presume that your form has NOT been submitted.

Hint: also check the email hasn't landed in your spam or junk email folder.

You can return to the My Submissions page of your account to view the submission status of the form.

Attachments

You may need to upload/submit attachments to support your application. This is very simple but requires you to have the documents saved on your computer, or on a storage device.

You need to allow enough time for each file to upload before trying to attach another file. Files can be up to 25MB each; however, we do recommend trying to keep files to a maximum of 5MB – the larger the file, the longer the upload time.

Collaborating on your submission

A number of people can collaborate on a submission as long as

  1. you have created a SmartyFile Organisation and
  2. only one person is working on the form at a time.

Ensure you save as you go.

Session time-out warning

For security reasons, your login session will expire after 20 minutes of inactivity. Saving your form or navigating to another page resets the timer.

You’ll be prompted 90 seconds before your session expires, with the option to extend your session or log out. If you don’t respond to the prompt in time, your form will be automatically saved before your session ends.

Even so, we recommend saving your form regularly – especially when working on longer responses – to avoid losing any work.