Partner With Us
Our Country Our Future
Our Country Our Future is the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation’s principal funding program where we work with Indigenous groups across Australia to own and manage land and water interests.
What assistance is available through Our Country Our Future?
What we offer
We offer a wide range of assistance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups seeking support for their projects including:
- direct funding for purchasing, managing and/or developing land or water-related interests
- advice and capability support for property owners including information, knowledge and training to assist with project development and delivery
- facilitation, advocacy and negotiation to develop partnerships, markets and other opportunities
Who we work with
We partner with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups* across the broad diversity of Indigenous Australia:
- from cities to regional and remote areas
- from inland to coastal environments
- across a range of sectors including cultural and eco-tourism, renewables and energy, fisheries and aquaculture, caring for Country, carbon and environmental markets, health and wellbeing, and water-based enterprises and assets, etc.
What do you want to do?
If you want to…
- Purchase a land or water-related interest
- Commence or expand a land or water-based enterprise
- Undertake planning and/or feasibility assessment
- Build or upgrade infrastructure, plant or equipment
- Improve your organisation’s service delivery
- Conduct on-ground management activities to Care for Country (land, water, biodiversity, cultural heritage)
- Enable or improve access to Country with cultural significance
- Maintain, support and revitalise culture
- Develop opportunities for formal and informal training and/or employment
- Address urgent health and safety issues on Country (people, livestock, environment)
…and these activities will lead to Indigenous people:
…we may be able to help.
Are you eligible?
How we prioritise and assess applications
Our Country Our Future is a competitive funding program with a fixed budget. Our prioritisation and assessment criteria ensure we invest in the projects that deliver the highest possible outcomes to Indigenous Australians.
We prioritise projects:
- that provide nations with access to Country (land/water) who previously have had no, or limited, access to their Country
- that support Indigenous leadership in priority sectors (renewables and clean energy, inland water, fisheries and aquaculture, carbon, and environmental markets)
- based on the degree of change they create – the outcomes and opportunities they generate for First Nations peoples and communities.
Projects are also assessed objectively against the assessment criteria (below) and relatively against other project
proposals we receive.
How to apply?
Our Country Our Future is flexible so you can apply anytime. Download a copy of the Program Guidelines for more detailed information about the program.
Our Partners
Download the Returning and managing Country 2022-23 booklet to discover how Indigenous communities benefit from the activities funded by the ILSC.
Contact Us
If you are interested in submitting an application please get in touch with us on a free call to 1800 818 490 to discuss your enquiry.
