Archived Grant Opportunity View - GO3454

The Australian Government is inviting applications through a targeted, non-competitive process to apply to deliver services under the Assistance and Other Compensation for Veterans and Dependants Program – Payments to Ex-Service Organisations (ESOs) sub-program – Building Excellence in Support and Training (BEST) Activity. 

The BEST program (the program) forms part of the Government’s commitment to support the role of ex-service organisation (ESO) pension and welfare practitioners and advocates, who provide advice and assistance to the veteran and defence communities. It also links closely to the Advocacy Training and Development Program (ATDP), which provides the essential skills for claims, advocacy and welfare work.

BEST is intended to assist the veteran and defence communities by providing support and resources to ESO practitioners for pensions, advocacy and/or welfare work. It assists ESOs by providing a contribution to the work of these practitioners. It does not fully fund an organisation.

The objectives of the program are to assist ESOs to:

• improve the quality of claims received by DVA at the primary determining level

• reduce the rate of appeals to the Veterans’ Review Board (VRB) and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT)

• promote the provision of welfare services to the veteran and defence community.

The intended outcomes of the program are to ensure:

• the veteran and defence communities are able to benefit from having better informed ESO practitioners who can ensure claims lodged with DVA are of a high standard and contain all required information to enable timely and quality decisions

• ESO practitioners will assist in improving claims assessment efficiency

• the veteran and defence communities will have access to appropriate compensation and welfare advocacy services.

Applicant types 

ESOs can choose to apply as one of two applicant types:

1. An ESO applying in their own right for funding for their own organisation.

2. An organisation applying for funding as a sponsoring applicant on behalf of one or more ESOs that may or may not be an eligible entity type.

Applying in your own right

To be eligible to apply in your own right, you must be:

• a bona fide ESO

• one of the following eligible entity types:

• Company

• Cooperative

• Corporate State or Territory Entity

• Incorporated Association

• Indigenous Corporation

• Partnership

• Statutory Entity. 

If you are applying as a Trustee on behalf of a Trust, the Trustee must have an eligible entity type as listed above.

Applying as a sponsoring applicant 

Whether or not an ESO meets the eligibility criteria to apply for funding in their own right, another organisation may apply as a sponsor on their behalf. Funding is managed by the sponsoring applicant but any recommended grant amount will be assessed on the basis of the sponsored organisation’s activity as provided in the application. A sponsoring applicant may apply on behalf of more than one ESO.

To be eligible, a sponsoring applicant must be one of the following eligible entity types:

• Company

• Cooperative

• Corporate State or Territory Entity

• Incorporated Association

• Indigenous Corporation

• Partnership

• Statutory Entity.

To apply go to the application form here.