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2008 Financial Literacy Grants Announcement

The Commonwealth Bank Foundation has awarded 100 grants of $3,500 to secondary schools across Australia.

This year, we received applications from secondary schools in every state and territory, representing all education sectors.

The recipient schools will use their Financial Literacy Grant to implement programs that will enable students to improve their financial literacy skills. These successful recipients developed programs that demonstrated:

Creative and engaging teaching strategies
Sustainability for students in future years
Integration into the school curriculum
An approach to address and meet particular student needs
Measurable learning outcomes focus

As per the Conditions of Entry, the Commonwealth Bank Foundation, BEA and/or state/territory judging panels will not give individual feedback to schools about their application or why they did not receive a grant. Collective feedback from the 2008 judging panels can be found below.

Judges Comments

As in previous years a wide range of applications for grants were received covering a variety of potential activities/projects for schools and students to implement to improve financial literacy.

Applications which clearly met the stated criteria were largely successful, namely those applications which showed a clear understanding of financial literacy, were sustainable, clearly identified the target audience and through a cross-curricula approach concentrated on developing financial knowledge and skills of the students.

A number of applications were not successful because they

a) Did not address the criteria

b) Demonstrated limited knowledge or understanding of financial literacy

c) Were for purchase of ‘capital items’ eg: whiteboards, digital cameras, coffee machines and computer equipment/programs without detail on how these would assist to improve financial literacy outcomes for students

Successful applications in general were able to show that programs were not for one-off tasks, demonstrated a clear understanding of the financial literacy outcomes being sought and were innovative and challenging.

Applications that supported teachers through providing time release to develop initiatives, for example, research time to design, write and resource programs were favourably received.

A number of submissions again continued to seek support for enterprise/business projects that provided broad skills for students but frequently did not establish any significant link between the enterprise initiative and the financial skills that would be developed. For these reasons they were not successful.

Successful grants were clear, well thought out and provided significant detail on how the grants would be implemented to improve the financial literacy skills of the cohort of students at the school.

Case studies and previous winners

What makes a good Financial Literacy Grant application?

These case studies show some successful previous applications for Financial Literacy Grants. Each of the applications in the booklets highlights a sustainable program that is creative, engaging and linked to outcomes and needs.

For details on all previous recipients, click on the below links:

Financial Literacy Grants frequently asked questions

What is the role of the Commonwealth Bank Foundation?
The Commonwealth Bank Foundation was established in 2003 to encourage developments in education, in particular the financial literacy skills of young Australians. The Foundation is guided by the goal of creating awareness, skill and understanding of a more financially literate community.

What is the Commonwealth Bank Foundation Financial Literacy Grants program?
The Commonwealth Bank Foundation Financial Literacy Grant program is designed to help secondary schools fund initiatives that will develop awareness, skill and understanding of the financial literacy of secondary students.

How long has the program been running?
The program has been offered annually since 2004.

How many grants are awarded?
Each year, the program awards 100 grants of $3,500 each to secondary schools across Australia.

When are applications open?
This year applications for the Commonwealth Bank Foundation Financial Literacy Grants program will be open from 21 July until 17 September 2008.

Who is eligible to apply?
Government, Catholic or Independent secondary schools with students from Years 7 to 12 are eligible to apply. Previous grant winners are also eligible to apply.

Could a cluster of schools apply?
No, we accept applications from individual schools only.

What is the process for submitting an application?
Applications are made via the online application form.

Who judges the applications?
The grants are judged by panels including a representative from a state/territory affiliate of Business Educators Australasia and teaching representatives from each education sector.

If you have a question that is not covered here, please send an email to financialliteracygrants@cba.com.au or call (02) 8572 5611.