The Mercy Foundation Grants to End Homelessness are available for seeding initiatives, services, projects, advocacy and research that will contribute to the goal of ending homelessness by supporting long-term housing, housing first and supportive housing solutions.
Important Dates:
- Expressions of Interest (EOI’s) for the Grants to End Homelessness program will open on 7 October 2025.
- Expressions of Interest are due in by Monday 17 November 2025.
Click here to download the Expression of Interest form for 2025/26 (Fillable PDF)
If you have difficulty filling in the PDF form, access a Word version here.
Please email your form to mfgrants@mercyfoundation.com.au
Project Criteria:
- Projects that focus on ending and preventing women’s homelessness, especially chronic homelessness, are priority areas for the program. We prioritise projects that provide lasting solutions to people’s homelessness.
- Grants range from $5,000 up to $60,000
- Small to medium size organisations with a turnover of less than $3 million are prioritised.
- Applicants must be able to provide measurable outcomes from the initiative. Those outcomes will need to show that the project has contributed to ending or preventing homelessness or contributed substantially to increasing knowledge about the pathways into and out of homelessness.
- Applicants must be a legal entity, such as an incorporated association or company, and not for profit. If not, the applicant will need to be auspiced by an appropriate organisation.
Unfortunately, at this time, the Mercy Foundation is unable to fund services or projects which require recurrent or indefinite funding. Please note that this grants program does not support food programs or short term or crisis responses to homelessness.
If your Expressions of Interest is successful, we will send you an application form for a Grant to End Homelessness. Please note that moving to this next round is no guarantee that the Mercy Foundation will provide a grant for your project.
Grant Payments Schedule: Note that grants over $5,000 will generally receive 25% at the start, 50% following a satisfactory progress report and 25% at the completion of the project. This arrangement can be altered if necessary.
Note that successful grant recipients will be required to provide a copy of their Safeguarding Policy prior to the commencement of funding.
Important Notes
- We recommend that you contact the Mercy Foundation on 02 9911 7390 at least one week before the closing date (ie 10 November) to discuss your project prior to completing this EOI. This will give your project the best chance of success.
- We receive a high volume of applications. It is your responsibility to ensure we have received your EOI. After submitting your EOI, please call our office if you do not receive an email to confirm that we have received your EOI.
- Grants to End Homelessness are only available for projects within Australia.
What is chronic homelessness?
Chronic homelessness is defined as an episode of homelessness lasting 6 months or longer or multiple episodes of homelessness over a 12 month period or more. People who experience chronic homelessness are likely to have ‘complex needs’, which usually means that they have one or more of the following:
- developmental disability
- traumatic brain injury
- serious physical health problems
- history of abuse or trauma
- mental illness
- mental disorder
- psychiatric disability
- addictions.
