About Discovery Grants
Discovery Grants are a two-year grant to support testing and developing preventative approaches that support mental health and the conditions for wellbeing with community to learn what works, what doesn't and how it could be scalable, self-making, or sustainable.
Our hope is that through resourcing Discovery partners we will be supporting them to:
Create more and different ways for people’s mental health and wellbeing to be supported that are holistic, person-centred, and compassionate.
Contribute to a shift in the narrative and discourse around mental health to one that is strength-based, informed by community voice, and values lived experience.
Envision, test, and implement new approaches that shift us from response to prevention by addressing the root causes and determinants that contribute to mental ill health and poor wellbeing in communities.
Feedback and Improvements to the Process
Prior to opening this round we gathered feedback from our current Discovery Partners. They encouraged us to keep the two-part application process, noting that EOIs were a lower barrier to accessibility, but suggested more guidance on framing ideas. This year, we provided additional guidance videos, information in application booklets, and continued to be available for one-on-one application support.
Through our conversations we were able to understand more about what the opportunity of Discovery might bring to people’s work, as well as where it may or may not have aligned with their current priorities, stage of the idea, or the context of their work or relationships. We hope these conversations were helpful for those we engaged with to understand more about the Foundation’s intentions in supporting community determined responses and our flexible grant application process as well as to receive support in applying the Discovery process to their idea, organisation and community.
A deeper dive into the types of EOIs received…
Trends and themes
Within the EOIs a few trends and themes stood out:
Community-building within geographically bound metropolitan communities, often centred around community space to be in connection or leveraging existing community/ neighbourhood assets.
Addressing the disconnect between different cultures and existing supports and services, making them culturally relevant and safe.
Exploring grief in various contexts and with different cohorts.
Community groups
We asked those applying to share who their community group was in their own words, which has been synthesised for the purpose of the chart, though we recognise people and communities are more than one thing and for each submission there were usually multiple ways their community was described.
Some of the intersectional experiences noted but not highlighted included people with disabilities, neurodiversity, or specific professions (outside of military and emergency services). Almost 16% of the applications had a focus on young people in addition to their defined community group.
Organisational sector
The EOIs came from a broad range of sectors, reflecting the intersectional nature and social determinants that contribute to mental health and well-being.
Types of responses
To provide an insight into the types of ideas that were shared with us, we have synthesised the ways applicants were hoping to use a Discovery Grant. A high percentage of EOIs looked to expand, iterate, develop or run programs - some pre-existing while others looked to develop something new. The type of idea ‘Surfacing new understandings and approaches’ includes applications aimed at working deeply with a community to understand context.
Format of applications
Most EOIs (48) responded to the guiding questions in written form as part of a proposal alongside additional information. Some (13) responded directly to the guiding questions or applied via video (5), or mixed methods (4). We hope that maintaining an open format to our applications continues to make the process more accessible and provides space for people to share with us in their preferred manner.
Location of Discovery work
Most applications (36) were for metropolitan contexts, with 21 focused on SA-wide efforts and 13 on regional work.
Shortlist insights
The nine shortlisted EOIs were selected based on assessment criteria from the EOI information booklet, with input from multiple assessors and deep deliberation, consideration, and conversation from the whole team. We looked for alignment with the intention and conditions of Discovery and a deep commitment to working with the community. No matter the type of idea, organisational sector, or cohort, the assessment priority was understanding how over the two years and through what is learnt, discovered or developed community will benefit.
The shortlist includes five EOIs with a metropolitan focus, two with a regional focus, and two with statewide supports. The organisational sectors represented are service organisations (3), community groups (3), health (1), health promotion (1), and mental health/wellbeing (1).
The proposed idea types are:
Surfacing new understandings and approaches: 7
Creating new resources and ways of supporting people: 1
Expanding, iterating, or developing a program: 1
The community groups represented in the shortlist are culturally and linguistically diverse, First Nations communities, families, young people with lived experience, and geographic communities.
We valued learning from every one of the EOIs received and gained valuable insight into the current opportunities and priorities for community which will be taken into consideration across all of our work.