Gold Coast Airport is calling on local community groups to apply for funding under its third annual Community Benefit Fund.

The initiative supports organisations in the areas of health and wellbeing, safety, education, environment and arts and culture.

The Community Benefit Fund is run by Gold Coast Airport’s parent company, Queensland Airports Limited (QAL), which has provided more than $100,000 in funding since the fund’s inception.

Gold Coast Airport Chief Operating Officer Marion Charlton said the Community Benefit Fund supported the airport’s corporate sponsorship program by offering funding opportunities to smaller, community groups.

“In the past we’ve supported organisations like sporting clubs, surf lifesaving clubs, schools and community groups, helping them to deliver projects including community gardens, free education programs, or purchase sporting and first aid equipment,” she said.

“The great thing about the Community Benefit Fund is that the benefit is tangible and widespread, and the organisations are usually run by volunteers operating on minimal funding.

“These groups find it hard to compete for corporate sponsorship, so this is a program specifically designed for them.”

2017 Community Benefit Fund recipient, The Sanctuary Women’s and Children’s Refuge said the funds could not have come at a better time.

“The funds from GCA’s 2017 Community Benefit Fund were very timely. Our funding proposal was for an electronic device to secure our front gate, but the week before the funds were announced, a person delivering equipment to the refuge drove a heavy vehicle through the gates, making them unusable. It turned out that this driver was not insured, and our excess would have been more than it was worth to cover the damage,” The Sanctuary Chief Executive Officer Simone Patterson said.

“After learning of the incident, further generosity from Gold Coast Airport allowed us to not only install an electronic system, but also replace the gates.”

To receive a $1,000 grant, groups need to demonstrate their ability to deliver positive outcomes in at least one of the nominated funding categories.

Applications for this year’s Gold Coast Airport Community Benefit Fund are open from 8 May – 1 June 2018.

For more information and to apply, visit www.goldcoastairport.com.au/corporate/community/community-benefit-fund/.

QAL also runs the Community Benefit Fund at its airports in Townsville, Mount Isa and Longreach.