The business events grant program: now accepting applications

Applications close: 30 March 2021, 5:00 PM (AEDT)

In September last year, the PM announced $50 million in funding to help restart Australia’s business events industry.

You may be surprised to learn that this was a $36 billion industry that basically evaporated last year when an estimated 95% of business events were either cancelled or postponed. 

Supporting exhibitions, conferences and trade shows is thought to be an excellent way of boosting not just the events industry (made up of venue owners, event managers, A/V companies, etc.) but also domestic travel, hospitality, and tourism businesses, as well as all the myriad industries and vendors represented at the events. 

Here are the ‘priority sectors’ that Austrade are focused on: 

• Mining
• Food and agribusiness
• Oil and gas
• Medical products
• Clean energy
• Plastics and waste recycling
• Defence
• Space
• Enabling digital technologies
• Tourism
• Design
• Fashion
• Media

Given the broad range of sectors mentioned, we thought our clients would benefit from hearing about this!

There is a schedule of specific approved business events to choose from, with hundreds having made the cut. You can view the latest edition (19 February) from Austrade by clicking here. It might be easiest to start by searching for an event that you had already planned on attending just in case it has been approved.

What this means for you: 

If you’re in business and interested in attending, sponsoring, and/or exhibiting at one of the approved events, you can apply for between $10,000 and $250,000 in matched grant funding from the federal government. They will cover up to 50% of your eligible expenditure on the event.

Who is eligible: 

You need to have an ABN and operate as one of the following: sole trader, partnership, company incorporated in Australia, incorporated trustee (on behalf of a trust) or an industry association promoting the products/services of its members. There are some additional criteria listed here.

You need to: have at least $20,000 in eligible expenses, have the written support of your board/CEO and be in a company that aligns with one of the priority sectors listed above. Be sure to check the full details at the link and in the supporting documentation provided there.

What are eligible expenditures:

The activities you can claim include but are not limited to:

• Travel, accommodation, and registration costs (for up to 4 attendees or 10 if exhibiting)
• Promotional collateral prepared specifically for exhibiting at the event (e.g. graphic design, printing, translation, merchandise) 
• Digital content and promotions for event purposes (e.g. digital content for display, social media ads, photography/videography)
• Event and display set up (e.g. building exhibits, equipment hire, prototypes for product demos)
• Contractor costs related to exhibiting (e.g. exhibit designers, promotions staff, interpreters) 
• Other activities (e.g. exhibit space hire, cash sponsorship of event up to $10,000, catering for networking activities held at event) 

There are a range of ineligible expenditures (meaning you won’t receive matched funding for them and will need to foot the bill yourself), including but not limited to: 

• Travel agent costs, private transport, transfers and public transport 
• Employee remuneration (even for those exhibiting at the event who are not contractors) 
• Accounting, audit, insurance and legal costs 

See the full guide to the eligible expenditures here.

What to do next:

If you’re interested in learning more and applying, you can read all the grant documentation at Business.gov.au, by clicking here.

Government grants can be a little tedious to apply for, but since we could probably all use a COVID Safe domestic trip right now – and do our bit to kickstart a range of industries while we’re at it – this one might be worth a close look at! 

If you’re in or aligned with one of the priority sectors listed above, we would encourage you to check out this grant opportunity well before the 30 March deadline. 

Feel free to contact us if you think we might be able to assist you in any way.