Toy Library Grants Program

There are two grants available:

• Existing Toy Library Grants – Existing eligible toy libraries operating in Victoria can apply for a grant of up to $10,000 to replenish their toy and equipment stock, promote the benefits of membership, enhance member experience and accessibility and other one-off costs.
• New Toy Library Establishment Grants – Eligible organisations can apply for a grant of $40,000 to establish a new toy library.

Please note that this is a multi-year grants program with a fixed number of grants available per year. The Department of Education will accept applications for both grants in the second half of 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.

Toy libraries provide families with access to high quality educational toys and equipment, helping to create a rich home learning environment for children. Play-based learning provides opportunities for children to foster imagination and creativity, improve gross and fine motor skills, and foster cognitive and sensory development. Toy library membership ranges from small (catering to 20 families) to large (supporting over 500 families).

Access to toy libraries is important for Victorian families because it can:

• provide children with a diverse range of fun and educational toys 
• help parents to create rich home learning environments that fosters play-based learning 
• provide cost-of-living relief as an alternative to buying new toys
• promote sustainability and Victoria’s circular economy
• act as an important community hub that provides parents and caregivers with access to social and emotional support, and pathways to other community services.

The Victorian Government is providing New Toy Library Establishment Grants of $40,000 for 2 new toy libraries per year, in 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27.

In providing this funding, the New Toy Library Establishment Grants aim to:

• increase the number of toy libraries in Victoria, supporting families with cost-of-living pressures
• support parents and carers to strengthen the home learning environment
• promote the benefits of toy library membership and improved community outcomes
• improve toy library accessibility for families that do not have adequate access.

Grant applications will be managed through an annual competitive Expression of Interest (EOI) process. Applications will be assessed against robust eligibility, assessment and prioritisation criteria.

If an EOI is oversubscribed and exceeds the available grants per year, applications will not roll over to subsequent rounds. Unsuccessful applicants will receive feedback on their application and may reapply in future rounds.

Eligibility

The following not-for-profit organisations operating in Victoria are eligible to apply:

• community service organisations
• local councils
• charities registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission
• existing toy library operators
• Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs)

Assessment criteria

Eligible applicants will have their application assessed as follows:

Prioritisation criteria

This is a competitive expression of interest process that will fund 2 new toy libraries per year for 4 years.

If the New Toy Library Establishment Grants round is oversubscribed, priority will be given (in order) to applications for proposed toy libraries located in:

1. the following growth corridor local government areas: Cardinia, Casey, Hume, Melton, Mitchell, Whittlesea and Wyndham
2. a socio-economic areas of disadvantage (defined by SEIFA)
3. regional or rural areas
4. an area that does not currently have adequate access to a toy library.

What can or cannot be funded?

The New Toy Library Establishment Grant provides a one-off payment. Funding must be expended on the categories outlined in the table below.

Toys and equipment must meet Australian child safety standards and where possible, successful applicants should source toys and equipment from local suppliers and made from sustainable materials. 

What can the grant be used for?

• New educational toys, books, equipment and resources.
• Fit out and fixtures costs including furniture and shelving, signage maintenance/repair works, cleaning fees. In the case of mobile toy library, vehicle and associated costs are included.
• Equipment for the storage, cleaning or maintenance of toys and the toy library.
• Computers, software and equipment for managing toys and member administration (such as Mibase or SELTS toy management system).
• Marketing, website, communications and social media to promote the toy library and build membership.
• Project costs to launch and establish a sustainable toy library operating model. For example: free/subsidised memberships for priority cohorts.
• Project costs to establish the member experience and member accessibility within the toy library.
• One-off operational and administrative expenses incl. consulting and project management expenses.
• One-off costs related to the administration of the grant. For example: expenses incurred for grant coordination and acquittal.
• Other expenses, by written approval from the Department of Education. 

What can the grant not be used for?

• Ongoing operational expenses – staff salaries, utility bills, site acquisition, lease costs, cleaning fees, rent and insurance.
• Reimbursement for toys and equipment purchased prior to grant funding being awarded.

Funding acquittal

As a condition of funding, successful applicants must complete an acquittal.

Organisations that successfully obtain grant funding in 2023-24 will be contacted by the department with information about acquittal requirements and timing. The acquittal process is planned to conclude no later than February 2026.

Successful applicants are advised to keep receipts for purchases made using grant funding and may be required to provide this to the department on request.

The Victorian Government is providing grants of up to $10,000 to support existing toy libraries operating in Victoria to renew their toy and equipment stock, improve their membership offerings, enhance accessibility and pay for a limited range of one-off costs.

An annual Expression of Interest (EOI) process will be administered. If an EOI is oversubscribed and exceeds the available grants per year, compliant but unsuccessful applications in that grant round will roll over to subsequent rounds.

Funding available:

• $10,000 for not-for-profit toy libraries located in high priority growth areas
• $6,000 for not-for-profit toy libraries in all other areas
• $3,000 for Toy Well toy libraries

Eligibility

To be eligible for the grant, a toy library must be:

• a not-for-profit organisation; and
• operating within Victoria; and
• covered by comprehensive insurance through membership with Toy Libraries Australia (TLA) or hold public and products liability insurance with at least $10m in coverage.

Where a toy library organisation operates in more than one location (branch), each branch may apply for a grant. For example, ABC Organisation operates a large toy library that has branches in the Victorian suburbs Yellow, Blue and Orange. All 3 branches, Yellow, Blue and Orange, are eligible to apply for an existing toy library grant. 

Mobile toy libraries will be considered as one toy library regardless of the number of communities they serve.

Assessment criteria

Eligible toy libraries will have their application assessed as follows:

Prioritisation criteria

If the Existing Toy Library Grants round is oversubscribed, priority will be given (in order) to toy libraries that are:

1. located in the following growth corridor local government areas: Cardinia, Casey, Hume, Melton, Mitchell, Whittlesea and Wyndham
2. located in socio-economic areas of disadvantage, as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA)
3. located in regional or rural areas.

What can or cannot be funded?

The Existing Toy Library Grants provide a one-off payment. Funding must be expended on the categories outlined in the table below.

Toys and equipment must meet Australian child safety standards and where possible, successful applicants should source toys and equipment from local suppliers and made from sustainable materials.

What can the grant be used for?

• New educational toys, books, equipment and resources.
• Equipment for the storage, cleaning or maintenance of toys and the toy library.
• Equipment for managing toys or member administration, such as a computer, computer hardware or software.
• One-off costs to improve the member experience and/or member accessibility and/or increase membership size. For example: furniture or equipment to improve accessibility and member experience, subsidised memberships for priority cohorts, website development, advertisement, promotional collateral, and signage.
• One-off costs related to the administration of the grant. For example: expenses incurred for grant coordination and acquittal.

What can the grant not be used for?

• Ongoing operational expenses – staff salaries, utility bills, site acquisition, lease costs, maintenance/repair works, cleaning fees, rent and insurance.
• Reimbursement for toys and equipment purchased prior to grant funding being awarded.

Funding acquittal

As a condition of funding, successful applicants must complete a simple acquittal. Successful applicants will be supported to submit acquittals to the department.

Toy libraries that successfully obtain grant funding in 2023 will be contacted by the department with information about acquittal requirements and timing. The acquittal process is planned to conclude no later than February 2026.

Successful applicants are advised to keep receipts for purchases made using grant funding and may be required to provide this to the department on request.

Additional resources

Information on toy libraries and how to establish a new toy library is available on the Toy Libraries Australia website.

Grant payments

Successful grant applicants will be notified by email and issued a Victorian Common Funding Agreement to complete, sign, and return to the Department of Education for countersigning. Once this agreement is executed, the Department of Education will request an invoice from the organisation to process the grant payment.

Grant expenditure and acquittal

Grant recipients are required to expend their grant funding in line with these guidelines. Grant recipients will be required to:

• provide a status update to the Department of Education detailing their grant funding expenditure 12 months after receiving grant funding
• expend the grant in full within 24 months and provide an acquittal to the Department of Education at the end of this time.

Promotion

Grant recipients may be promoted and featured in relevant Victorian Government communications. As a condition of accepting a grant, the organisation must agree to provide a reasonable amount of additional information to support ongoing promotions and communications if requested by the Department of Education. Grant recipients may also be required to facilitate visits from Government representatives and media.

Information Privacy

The Department of Education is collecting information for the primary purpose of processing and assessing applications for the Toy Library Grants Program. Information collected will be dealt with in accordance with the Public Records Act 1973 and the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014. Information will be securely stored and only accessible by those Department of Education staff involved in the grants process. Applicants can access and amend the information provided upon request. For more information about privacy obligations, please see the Department’s Privacy Policy.