ANZ, in partnership with the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR), today announced the recipients of the 2025 Seeds of Renewal program.
Now in its 23rd year, Seeds of Renewal is a long-standing partnership between ANZ and FRRR, committed to fostering vibrant, sustainable rural communities and ensuring the ongoing prosperity of regional Australia.
A total of $250,000 in grants has been awarded to 19 not-for-profit and community organisations, supporting locally driven projects that address the unique needs of rural and regional Australia.
Grants of up to $15,000 will fund initiatives across four priority areas: improving access to housing; increasing financial wellbeing; advancing environmental sustainability; or helping communities to thrive.
ANZ Associate Director, Agribusiness Research, Alanna Barrett said: "For more than two decades, Seeds of Renewal has supported rural and regional communities to build resilience and create sustainable futures. These grants enable local organisations to turn ideas into action - delivering initiatives that make a tangible difference for people, businesses and the communities they call home."
FRRR Head of Granting, Jill Karena, said: "The Seeds of Renewal program recognises that even a modest grant can unlock significant impact by amplifying the efforts of local volunteers. We prioritise projects that are deeply rooted in their communities: locally designed, locally driven, and with the potential to grow and create vibrant, resilient and sustainable places to live and work."
Examples of the projects funded this year include:
Improving access to housing
- Yarredi Services - Healing Spaces: Transforming the outdoor area of a crisis accommodation centre into a safe, therapeutic space to support trauma recovery. (Port Lincoln, South Australia)
- Lockington and District Bush Nursing Centre - Essential Threads: Upgrading a laundry facility to increase capacity and better meet the needs of vulnerable residents. (Lockington, Victoria)
Improving environmental sustainability
- Yallambee Aboriginal Culture & Community Advancement Inc. - Wairra Muntu Youth Rangers: Empowering Aboriginal youth to lead environmental action, care for Country, and become leaders in cultural land care. (Mount Isa, Queensland)
- Amaris Wildlife Sanctuary - Room to Roam: Addressing the urgent need for sustainable food and water access for orphaned and injured wildlife. (Tenterden, Western Australia)
Improving financial wellbeing
- Regional Financial Counselling NSW - Growing Financial Futures: Delivering inclusive, strengths-based financial wellbeing workshops and resources for supported workers and young people living with disability in the Mid-Coast region. (Taree, New South Wales)
- Dunn Lewis Youth Development Foundation - Youth Music Network: Supporting young people to develop music skills through improved rehearsal spaces, performance opportunities, and education on managing the financial aspects of performing. (Ulladulla, New South Wales)
Assisting local communities to thrive
- Thamarrurr Youth Indigenous Corporation - Tarangka Wurnangat - "Clean and Strong": Creating economic opportunities and fostering cultural knowledge by delivering bush medicine workshops to produce personalised hygiene products, enabling micro-enterprise opportunities. (Wadeye, Northern Territory)
- Community Learning Euroa Inc. - Voices of Connection: Addressing social isolation, lack of representation, and barriers to inclusion by enhancing an existing podcast training project and featuring it within the community radio program. (Euroa, Victoria)
The full list of the recipients is available on FRRR's website.
About Seeds of Renewal: Over the past 23 years the ANZ Seeds of Renewal program has provided more than $6 million to support around 870 community groups achieve their goals. Administered independently by the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR), the ANZ Seeds of Renewal program offers grants of up to $15,000 to community groups for projects that support environmental sustainability; improve access to housing; or financial wellbeing in regional communities of fewer than 15,000 people.
About FRRR: FRRR (Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal) is the only national foundation specifically focussed on ensuring the social and economic strength of Australia's remote, rural and regional communities. Established in 2000, it has since delivered more than $212 million to more than 15,500 projects. FRRR's unique model of support is more than money - it connects common purposes and investment from government, business and philanthropy with the genuine needs of rural people and places. FRRR's DGR-1 listing and broad charitable remit are key to empowering grassroots organisations to create communities that are vibrant, resilient and sustainable.
