Train young digital mentors to help more people get online. This targeted Capacity building grant will fund 8 organisations with $52,500 to complete this training.
Grants are open from 3 February to 7 March.
This special targeted round is open from 3 February to 7 March 2025.
Digital mentors help people to feel confident and safe online. They support communities to learn digital skills. They are at the heart of community-led digital inclusion programs.
The Capacity Building program is a train-the-trainer initiative to support and develop digital mentors in local communities across Australia.
This Young Digital Mentor Capacity Builders will be focused on inspiring skilled, passionate and friendly 16 to 21 years old digital mentors to help more older people be connected.
The Capacity Building grant and training program is created by Good Things and available to eight community organisations in Australia through the Be Connected program.
Organisations successful in being accepted into the Capacity Builder program will receive $52,500 grant funding and a specialist pack of training resources ready to deliver.
Capacity Builders will nominate at least one person as their trainer who will attend a skillshare with Good Things on how to deliver this training package in their community.
The Capacity Builders use the training package to upskill young digital mentors (16 to 21 years old) in their community, then provide 2 hours of follow up coaching support. Capacity Builders have 12 months to complete this work.
The digital mentors that have been trained by Capacity Builders go on to provide digital skills support to older Australians in their community through the Be Connected program.
Good Things recognises the value and importance of bringing generations together through intergenerational programs, fostering meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships between older adults and younger individuals.
The objectives of the program are to:
The aim of the Young Digital Mentor program is to enable organisations to engage young people (aged 16 to 21) from schools, youth agencies or other youth programs to take on the role of Digital Mentor within the Be Connected network.
The Capacity Building program is your chance to upskill young staff and volunteers so they can support older Australians to be connected.
Your organisation will need to be able to train the required number of 16-21 year old young people willing to be digital mentors (50 or 100 people). You will need to make sure that your newly trained digital mentors are able to practice their skills immediately and start supporting others through the Be Connected program.
You also need to have previous experience delivering a training program and engaging young people (16-21 years old).
As this is a Be Connected funded program, your trained digital mentors will need to support over 50’s to improve their digital skills.
Please read our guidelines and T&Cs carefully to check your eligibility before applying for this grant.
Digital mentors are the people helping others to learn.
Teaching people digital skills makes sure they have the tools and knowledge needed to do essential activities like connect with loved ones, bank online and avoid scams.
The good news is digital mentors don’t have to be tech experts. They just need to friendly, motivating and willing to help.
Each Capacity Builder will nominate who they will train as digital mentors as part of their project. The digital mentors they train can be staff members or volunteers. For this targeted round, they have to be 16 to 21 years old.
All trained digital mentors need to be available to provide digital skills support to older Australians through community organisations in our network as part of the Be Connected program.
If you do not have enough people you can train in your organisation, consider buddying up with other organisations in your local area and applying together to share the benefits of this project. We have found that organisations in this program are more successful when they already have an established group of volunteers or staff members to train, rather than starting to recruit everyone from scratch.
Organisations must be registered as part of our network to be eligible. It’s free to register to become a member, and we can support you with more grants, webinars, marketing resources, step-by-step guides and more.
You also need an ABN number and public liability insurance, have acquitted any previous grants awarded by Good Things, complete your grant application, including a viable project plan and budget, and demonstrate experience working with young mentors.
Read the full Guidelines and contract to check all these grant details.
If you have any questions, contact us to have a one on one chat about this grant and how it may work for your organisation.
Please carefully read our grant guidelines and contract before applying for these Young Mentors Capacity Builder Grant on my.goodthings.org
They contain critical information that can help you understand eligibility and what you need to do for the grant. The guidelines also include a list of all the grant application questions to help you prepare.
We also have templates and how-to videos available to help you apply for this grant.
See this video where community organisations across Australia and our Network share their experiences with intergenerational digital skills programs, highlighting their benefits, effectiveness and social impact.
Read more about this approach and our partner experiences here.
Keep in the loop with news, grant announcements, events and updates in our Good Things newsletter and learn how to get involved in closing the digital divide.
