ClubGRANTS NSW 2026: Categories, Rounds and Real Data

Before you go further: Grantsights' own grant-search tools and reports are built for United States funding only, so there's nothing here to buy if you're in NSW. This page is a free guide built from NSW Government rules and the published ClubGRANTS records. If you'd use an Australian version, tell us you're in Australia.

ClubGRANTS by the Numbers

Clubs reported 13,573 ClubGRANTS payments worth $132.0 million in the year to 31 August 2026, from 467 club licences to 7,468 different recipients, according to the ClubsNSW recipient data (Grantsights analysis of the 2025-26 file). That's up from $127.0 million across 14,141 grants in 2024-25. ClubsNSW says the 2025-26 total was more than $47 million above what the guidelines required.

Grantsights analysis of the ClubsNSW ClubGRANTS results files for 2024-25 and 2025-26 (years ending 31 August).

The headline average hides how small most grants are. ClubsNSW quotes an average grant of $9,725 for 2025-26, which matches the file, but the median was $3,000. A handful of very large Category 2 payments to football and golf pull the average up.

Grantsights analysis of the ClubsNSW 2025-26 file. Cash and in-kind combined.

For a community welfare group, the realistic Category 1 ask is $5,000 to $25,000: that band holds 48% of Category 1 grants. Only 26 Category 1 grants reached $100,000.

How the Three ClubGRANTS Categories Work

ClubGRANTS rests on one tax rule. Under the Gaming Machine Tax Act 2001, a registered club gets a rebate of up to 1.85% of its gaming machine profits over $1 million if it spends that money on community development and support, according to the ClubGRANTS Guidelines (May 2026) (opens in a new tab). At least 0.75% must go to Category 1, and no more than 1.1% can count toward Category 2. A separate 0.4% of the same profits is paid into the government's ClubGRANTS Fund for Category 3.

Category 1 is the money most community services should chase. The guidelines list family support, emergency or low-cost housing, counselling, domestic violence services, child care and protection, aged, disability and youth services, veteran welfare, disaster recovery, volunteer emergency services such as surf lifesaving and rural fire brigades, neighbourhood centres, community transport, tenants' services, community health (including mental health, palliative care and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health) and employment programs. Medical research isn't eligible for Category 1.

Category 2 is broader and much more about the club's own world. The Liquor & Gaming NSW ClubGRANTS page (opens in a new tab) says it covers community support not listed under Category 1 and spending on a club's core activities, "for example, sport, returned servicemen's league or veteran welfare, golf course and bowling green maintenance including wages paid to staff." There's no Category 2 application form; you approach the club.

Category 3 works like a normal government grant program, with fixed rounds, scoring and a published success rate. It's covered in its own section below, and it's closer in design to Queensland's Gambling Community Benefit Fund than to Categories 1 and 2.

Who Decides: Local Committees and Individual Clubs

A ClubGRANTS local committee must exist in every local government area where the clubs' combined Category 1 liability is more than $30,000 a year, according to the Liquor & Gaming NSW local committees page (opens in a new tab). The committee brings together the qualifying clubs, the council, the Department of Communities and Justice, a community organisation endorsed by the Office of Responsible Gambling and, where appropriate, the local Aboriginal community. It sets local service priorities and recommends which Category 1 applications to fund.

Clubs still hold the chequebook. Since the 2023-24 tax year, a club must allocate at least 75% of its Category 1 money in line with the committee's recommendations or explain itself to Liquor & Gaming NSW within 45 days. The other 25%, and all of Category 2, is the club's call.

Where you are matters a lot, because the money follows the poker machines. That's the opposite of a province-run scheme such as BC's Community Gaming Grants, where location doesn't change the pot. Liquor & Gaming NSW publishes the minimum Category 1 amount available in each area (0.75% of local clubs' gaming profits over $1 million):

Liquor & Gaming NSW, Category 1 ClubGRANTS available funding by LGA 2022-2025 (opens in a new tab). The figures are the rebate minimum and don't include extra money clubs choose to give.

Grantsights analysis of that table found about $33.2 million of minimum Category 1 money across the 84 areas listed for the year to August 2025, and about a quarter of it sat in just three western Sydney areas: Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Cumberland. Dozens of regional areas, from Bourke to Bellingen, fell under the $30,000 line and have no committee at all. If you're in one of them, ClubsNSW says you can apply to a neighbouring committee or club if your service benefits people there, though local applicants usually get preference.

What the ClubGRANTS Site Doesn't Tell You

The ClubGRANTS site sells the program as "one of Australia's largest grant programs." That's true, but five findings from the published records and the government's own review papers should shape how you approach it.

1. Most of the money isn't open to outsiders. Sport took $56.4 million of the $132.0 million in 2025-26 (43%), all of it in Category 2, according to Grantsights analysis of the ClubsNSW file. Another $7.8 million was recorded under "Club Facilities." The 131 Category 2 grants of $100,000 or more took $40.0 million, or 47% of all Category 2 money. Of those 131, 95 were recorded as sport and 16 as club facilities, mostly rugby league, football, golf and sailing. The biggest single entry was $2,050,000 from South Sydney Junior Rugby League Club to the South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League. That's allowed: the guidelines say Category 2 can pay for a club's core activities and even professional sport. But it means the pool a welfare charity can realistically compete for is closer to the $47.7 million in Category 1.

2. Not everything called ClubGRANTS counts as ClubGRANTS. The government's December 2023 review discussion paper said around 60% of Category 1 and 2 grants clubs give each year are accepted for the tax concession, so about 40% are "advertised as ClubGRANTS funds" without being accepted, because clubs give more than the rebate covers or give to ineligible causes. For applicants this cuts both ways: a club may fund you outside the rules, but a club near its rebate limit has no tax reason to say yes.

3. The money lands before 31 August, so the clock runs backwards. Clubs must get funds to successful applicants before 31 August for the spending to count in that tax year. ClubsNSW says applicants generally hear by early August. If you apply in a local round that closes in May, expect money in August or September, not in time for an autumn project.

4. National charities with strong club ties win across dozens of clubs. Learning Links received $1.26 million in Category 1 from 42 clubs in 2025-26, Gotcha4Life Foundation $822,000 from 27 clubs and Youth Off The Streets $815,867 from 31 clubs. Foodbank NSW & ACT got grants from 42 clubs and The Shepherd Centre from 47. In all, 1,020 recipients were funded by more than one club. A small local group is competing with these names for the same Category 1 dollars, which makes local evidence and committee priorities your best bet.

5. A failed acquittal can shut you out. If a club doesn't receive your acquittal or progress report, the guidelines say no further Category 1 funding should be considered except in exceptional circumstances. Any grant over $7,500 needs a formal contract, and in-kind support needs a statutory declaration. Groups that underestimate the reporting load lose more future funding than groups that write weaker applications.

Who Gets Category 1 Money

Category 1 paid 5,064 grants worth $47.7 million to 2,033 different recipients in 2025-26, according to the ClubsNSW recipient data as analysed by Grantsights. Here's where it went by the purpose clubs recorded:

Grantsights analysis of the ClubsNSW 2025-26 file, Category 1 purposes with more than $1 million. Purposes as recorded by clubs.

Small, local groups do get funded, usually at four figures. Specifically, Copper City Men's Shed Cobar Inc received $10,000 from Cobar Bowling & Golf Club, Darlington Rural Fire Brigade received $7,500 from Club Dorsman, Charlestown & District Meals on Wheels received $7,448 from Charlestown Bowling Club, and Women's Shelter Armidale Inc received $2,000 from Armidale City Bowling Club. Neighbourhood centres such as the Chester Hill Neighbourhood Centre ($6,800 from Bankstown Sports Club) appear across Sydney and the regions.

The biggest Category 1 grants went to services with a big local footprint: $500,000 from City of Fairfield RSL Memorial Club to the Oakdene House Foundation for community mental health, $377,500 from Club Blacktown to Kids West Western Sydney Paediatric Fund Raising for family support, and $280,000 from Eastern Suburbs Leagues Club to the Ted Noffs Foundation for counselling.

How to Apply for Category 1 and 2

ClubGRANTS has no single statewide form or deadline, and that's the first thing that trips up new applicants. The ClubsNSW How to apply page (opens in a new tab) sets out four steps, and the guidelines add the rest:

1. Check you fit. Your project should deliver community welfare or social services, community development, community health or employment help, or be community or professional sport. Name a specific purpose: ClubsNSW says general, non-specific requests aren't appropriate.
2. Pick the category. If your work helps people on low incomes or facing disadvantage, aim for Category 1. Sport, veterans' activities, culture and statewide services usually fit Category 2.
3. Find your local round. Use the Find Your Local Grant Round search by suburb or club name. If your area doesn't appear, ClubsNSW says it isn't online and you should contact the local club or council. Some clubs run their own process outside ClubGRANTS Online.
4. Apply through ClubGRANTS Online where the local round accepts it, or the club's own form. Category 2 requests go straight to individual clubs, most of which take them year-round.

The guidelines (section 5.2) say Category 1 applications open on 1 February and close on 31 May, while ClubsNSW says each local committee sets its own dates. Treat the 1 February to 31 May window as the usual season and check your local committee's actual dates in the search.

Two rules that catch government-funded services. As a general rule, the guidelines say preference shouldn't go to projects an existing government program can readily fund. ClubsNSW says that's meant to stop clubs paying for core government responsibilities, not to exclude services with some public money, so a project with a one-off grant or partial government funding is generally fine. Schools are generally ineligible for Category 1, though a P&C running an extra program for disadvantaged students may qualify.

New for 2025-26: statewide services. Since May 2026, section 2.2.4 of the guidelines lets clubs fund charities that deliver Category 1-type services statewide under Category 2, according to a Liquor & Gaming NSW update of 19 May 2026 (opens in a new tab). The charity must be registered with the ACNC and serve at least 10 local government areas, including at least one regional one. A club can put no more than 20% of its Category 2 spending into this, and needs Liquor & Gaming NSW approval first. It applies to spending from 1 September 2025.

Who shouldn't bother: individuals, political parties and candidates, industry bodies, and projects that are mainly gambling counselling (barred since February 2012 except under old contracts). Businesses aren't formally excluded, but ClubsNSW says the focus is not-for-profits and local community groups.

ClubGRANTS Category 3: Infrastructure Grants for 2026-27

Category 3 is the only part of ClubGRANTS you apply to the government for, and it has $12.75 million to give across two rounds in 2026-27, according to the Category 3 program guide from the Office of Responsible Gambling (opens in a new tab) (the file name says 2025-26, but the document is the 2026-27 guide). Round 1 ran from 27 July to 17 August 2026 and is closed. Round 2 opens on Monday 1 February 2027 and closes at 11.59pm AEDT on Monday 22 February 2027.

Office of Responsible Gambling, Clubgrants Category 3 Infrastructure Grants FAQs (opens in a new tab). The overall success rate since 2022-23 is 12%.

The odds are the story here. In the April 2026 sport and recreation round, 22 of 424 applications were approved, according to the sport and recreation recipients list (opens in a new tab). Grantsights analysis of those 22 grants found $4.20 million approved and a median of $197,500, from $50,000 for sports field lighting at Keirle Park (Northern Beaches Council) to $300,000 grants for Byron Shire Council's Byron Bay Pool facilities, Forbes Rugby Union Club's lighting and Morpeth Bulls Junior Rugby League Club's irrigation. In the October 2025 sport round, 25 of 216 applications succeeded, so a quieter round roughly doubled the odds.

Eligibility rules that sink applications come straight from the Category 3 sport and recreation page (opens in a new tab) and FAQs:

• Development approval first. You need an approved DA, or a council letter confirming exemption, before you apply. A lodged DA isn't enough.
• No 2025-26 Category 3 grant. Organisations funded in 2025-26 can't apply in 2026-27.
• One application per organisation per round, across all four streams. Asking for an amount outside $50,000 to $300,000 makes you ineligible.
• Councils must cash-match the amount they request, and only councils can apply for infrastructure they own and manage. A community group on council land needs a lease or licence showing it operates and maintains the facility.
• No work started before a decision, no ongoing running costs, and the facility must be open to the public most of the time.
• No late material. Support letters, quotes and approvals can't be added after closing, and letters from MPs or government staff aren't counted as community support.

Assessors score merit, engagement, viability and budget, then apply a priority framework favouring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, culturally and linguistically diverse, disadvantaged, and regional and remote communities. The Minister makes the final call and doesn't have to follow the assessment report, but must publish written reasons; the rationales for rounds back to August 2023 are on the sport and recreation page. There are no appeals. Results take about three to four months, and projects must be finished within two years.

One more tip from the Office's own FAQs: AI-written answers aren't banned, but you must declare them, and the assessment teams report that AI-drafted responses "are often generic." Write the community-need sections yourself, with your own attendance, booking and survey numbers.

Timeline: A Realistic ClubGRANTS Year

ClubGRANTS runs on the gaming machine tax year, 1 September to 31 August, and the calendar below brings together the dates in the guidelines, the ClubsNSW FAQs and the Category 3 guide:

Other NSW and Australian Funding to Try Next

ClubGRANTS works best as one stream among several. These are worth checking alongside it:

• NSW Government grants. The NSW Grants and Funding finder (opens in a new tab) lists open state programs, including the Category 3 streams. Our guide to small business grants in NSW covers what's open for businesses and sole traders, who can't get ClubGRANTS.
• Arts and culture. Category 2 can fund non-profit cultural activities, but federal arts funding is a separate route; see our Creative Australia grants guide.
• If you work across the border. Queensland's gaming-funded program is run by the state with set rounds and a $35,000 cap; our Gambling Community Benefit Fund guide explains it.
• Lottery-funded models. The UK funds community groups through national lotteries instead; our guides to the National Lottery Community Fund and People's Postcode Lottery grants show the contrast.

Where to Go Next

If you run a welfare, health or community service, find your local committee's round in the ClubGRANTS search now and line up your evidence before the February to May season; build a relationship with two or three local clubs, because they decide. If you need $50,000 or more for a building, field or facility, get your DA or exemption letter sorted now so you can apply to Category 3 Round 2 between 1 and 22 February 2027, and be honest with your board that the success rate is around one in eight. Questions about Category 3 go to the Office of Responsible Gambling on (02) 9995 0992; questions about ClubGRANTS Online go to ClubASSIST on 1300 730 001.

Sources Checked

All pages read and files downloaded on 29 October 2026.

• Liquor & Gaming NSW, ClubGRANTS Guidelines, May 2026 (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• Liquor & Gaming NSW, ClubGRANTS overview (opens in a new tab), ClubGRANTS FAQs (opens in a new tab) and ClubGRANTS local committees (opens in a new tab)
• Liquor & Gaming NSW, ClubGRANTS resources (opens in a new tab), including the Category 1 available funding by LGA 2022-2025 (PDF) and the Review of the ClubGRANTS Scheme discussion paper (December 2023, PDF)
• Liquor & Gaming NSW, Statewide services now eligible for ClubGRANTS (19 May 2026) (opens in a new tab)
• Office of Responsible Gambling, Clubgrants Category 3 Fund (opens in a new tab), Infrastructure Grants: sport and recreation (opens in a new tab), its recipients list and the Infrastructure Grants FAQs (opens in a new tab)
• Office of Responsible Gambling, Clubgrants Category 3 Infrastructure Grants Program Guide 2026-27 (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• ClubsNSW, ClubGRANTS How to apply (opens in a new tab), Help and FAQs (opens in a new tab), 2026 ClubGRANTS Recipients (opens in a new tab) (2025-26 CSV) and 2025 ClubGRANTS Recipients (opens in a new tab) (2024-25 file and 2025 Contribution Report)