Whitepaper: Government Grants - A decade of repeating the same mistakes
Each year, around $150 billion in grants is distributed across Australia, yet the most rigorous, independent insights into how well that money is planned, delivered and accounted for remain underused. Across Australian jurisdictions, auditors‑general have examined grants from every angle: governance, risk management, probity, outcomes, data and systems. Their reports form a rich but fragmented evidence base, full of lessons about what goes wrong, what works, and what “good” grantmaking looks like in practice.
Our analysis is guided by four core questions:
- What are the dominant trends in Australian auditors‑general reports on grants over the past 10 years, and how have they evolved over time?
- How do those findings intersect with the contemporary grantmaking frameworks that many funders are already using or considering?
- What practical steps can grantmakers take, within real‑world constraints, to “audit‑proof” (or at least “audit‑ready”) their programs?
- How SmartyGrants can evolve to help address these recurring problems at the source.
We can help
Our Community’s Institute of Grants Management and SmartyGrants teams work with governments, funders and networks around the world to design practical, scalable standardisation frameworks.
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