auDA awards $750,000 to community projects
Building on two decades of community impact, auDA has today awarded $750,000 in funding to 15 community projects that promote digital inclusion through the 2025 auDA Community Grant Program.
Since its first funding round in 2006 the Program has supported 200 projects and awarded $5.85 million in funding.
This year, auDA increased funding to $50,000 for each project, from $40,000, extending our support for community projects and enabling recipient organisations to deliver greater benefits for Australians. The Program funds projects across five key cohorts:
- Rural, regional and remote Australians
- Australians living with a disability
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Older Australians (65 years+)
- Young Australians (12-24 years).
Chair of auDA’s Public Benefit Program Committee Sandra Davey said, “This year’s Community Grant projects show how digital technology can be used in practical, meaningful ways to support Australians through the internet. I want to acknowledge the teams behind these projects and the impact they are having in strengthening digital inclusion across our communities.”
auDA CEO Dr Bruce Tonkin said, “Congratulations to the 15 recipients of auDA’s 2025 Community Grant Program. We’re pleased to support a broad range of meaningful initiatives, including digital health, Indigenous data sovereignty, online youth mentoring, and several projects with a focus on sustainability. We look forward to seeing the projects’ impact in action.”
The 2025 auDA Community Grant Program projects are:
- AI for All? AI use and guidelines for neurodivergent individuals, Curtin University and La Trobe University
- Building Indigenous Data Capability: From Deficit Data to Indigenous Data Sovereignty, Land on Heart Foundation Limited
- Building Supervisor Skills to Support Young People Thrive at Work, Social Ventures Australia Limited
- Canberra Community Data Hub, Hands Across Canberra Limited
- Community tools for navigating digital health services and online prescribing, Adelaide University (formerly University of South Australia)
- The Connectivity Code: Unlocking Digital Access Through Community Innovation, James Cook University
- Embedding strategic intelligence in operations to scale effective outreach, Thread Together
- Exploring AI: Understanding the Risks and Opportunities for Art Centres, Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation Limited
- Indigenous Living Archives on Country - Community Archiving Toolkit, University of Technology Sydney
- Landcare Knowledge Exchange: Digital Library & Training Series, Landcare Tasmania Inc
- Raise Digital – Empowering Young Carers through online Mentoring, The Trustee for Raise Foundation
- Remote OpShop Project - Digital Pathways Program, Circulanation
- Unlocking the internet for people with communication disability: Accessible evaluation of the CommuniKey web browser extension, The University of Queensland
- Wangaratta Digital Hub, Pangerang Community Hub Inc.
- Wubul Dandi Digital Inclusion Expansion, Cape York Solutions.
The recipients of auDA’s 2025 Community Grant Program were announced last night at an event at the Melbourne Museum to recognise the successful projects.
ENDS
Note to media
Projects for auDA’s 2025 Community Grant Program are set out below.
Project name | Project outline | Beneficiary groups and locations | Organisation |
AI for All? AI use and guidelines for neurodivergent individuals | Co-design guidelines for safe, inclusive and ethical AI use by neurodivergent people | Australians living with disability National | Curtin University and La Trobe University |
Building Indigenous Data Capability: From Deficit Data to Indigenous Data Sovereignty. | Culturally safe, free and on-demand data and digital skills training to support Indigenous data sovereignty | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples; Rural, regional and remote Australians. National | Land on Heart Foundation Limited |
Building Supervisor Skills to Support Young People Thrive at Work | Co-design accessible online training modules for supervisors to build their support skills to help young people stay in, and thrive, at work. | Young Australians (18-24 years); Rural, regional and remote Australians. Tasmania | Social Ventures Australia Limited |
Canberra Community Data Hub | Create a publicly available digital platform for Canberra’s community organisations that combines official statistics, government data, and local insights to support trust and visibility for charities as they deliver impact. | Older Australians (65 years+); Young Australians (12-24 years); Australians living with disability; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Australian Capital Territory | Hands Across Canberra Ltd |
Community tools for navigating digital health services and online prescribing | Develop community resources to support under-served Australians to confidently navigate online prescribing services and access safe, high-quality and inclusive digital healthcare. | Young Australians (12-24 years); Rural, regional and remote Australians. South Australia, New South Wales | Adelaide University (formerly University of South Australia) |
Embedding strategic intelligence in operations to scale effective outreach | Grow the geographic and demographic reach of Thread Together’s purpose-built AI for identifying charity partners and community needs to ensure vital clothing support for those in need. | Rural, regional and remote Australians; Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples; Young Australians (12-24 years). National | Thread Together Limited |
Exploring AI: Understanding the Risks and Opportunities for Art Centres | Culturally safe, practical training to Indigenous art centres on AI, digital rights, data privacy and Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property. | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples; Rural, regional and remote Australians. National | Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation Limited |
Indigenous Living Archives on Country - Community Archiving Toolkit | Create a toolkit to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in preserving and managing their cultural archives and records. | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people. National | University of Technology Sydney |
Landcare Knowledge Exchange: Digital Library & Training Series | Develop a secure, searchable digital library to safeguard environmental knowledge and train community in its use to ensure future generations can learn from past efforts while building digital skills in regional communities. | Older Australians (65 years+); Rural, regional and remote Australians; Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples. Tasmania | Landcare Tasmania Inc |
Raise Digital – Empowering Young Carers through online Mentoring | A pilot program for a purpose-built online youth mentoring program to promote digital inclusion and support young Australian carers to access mental health support and social connection | Young Australians (12-24 years); Rural, regional and remote Australians. South Australia | The Trustee for Raise Foundation |
Remote OpShop Project - Digital Pathways Program | A program to develop digital capability and participation for First Nations women running community op shops in remote communities. | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples; Rural, regional and remote Australians. Western Australia, Northern Territory | Circulanation Ltd |
The Connectivity Code: Unlocking Digital Access Through Community Innovation | Train local champions in navigating connectivity options, understanding technologies and providers, and troubleshooting access issues so they can support their communities in accessing and using internet services. | Australians living with disability; Rural, regional and remote Australians; Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples. Queensland | James Cook University |
Unlocking the internet for people with communication disability: Accessible evaluation of the CommuniKey web browser extension. | Evaluate the CommuniKey web browser extension’s effectiveness in improving website accessibility for people with aphasia and develop accessible usability testing protocols and guidelines | Older Australians (65 years+); Australians living with disability; Rural, regional and remote Australians. National | The University of Queensland |
Wangaratta Digital Hub | Re-establish the Wangaratta Digital Hub to be accessible, inclusive and innovative in bridging the digital divide via a blended model of one-on-one support, themed workshops and a mobile outreach program. | Older Australians (65 years+); Australians living with disability; Rural, regional and remote Australians. Victoria | Pangerang Community Hub Inc. |
Wubul Dandi Digital Inclusion Expansion | Expand the Wubul Dandi health management program to include digital features that enable participants to engage with their health data in an accessible digital format that promotes positive health outcomes. | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples; Rural, regional and remote Australians. Queensland | Cape York Solutions Limited |
Pictured: auDA Public Benefit Program Committee Chair Sandra Davey with grant recipients.