The Northern Beaches Council Discretionary Fund Policy (the Policy) provides the opportunity for the Mayor and Councillors to respond to requests for financial assistance from individuals and community groups, community organisations and small local businesses involved in individual and community projects.

In recent years there has been an increase in the funding allocated to private individual sporting endeavours at events outside the Northern Beaches. This funding is not means-tested, and applicants are not required to demonstrate the public benefit of the funding.

We prepared a new draft Policy which proposed the following amendments to the eligibility criteria:

1. Emphasise funding opportunities for applications that focus on activities that promote the physical, intellectual, creative, safety and/or social welfare of residents of the Northern Beaches and take place in the Northern Beaches
2. Discontinue funding for individuals and teams pursuing private sporting or social endeavours at events outside the Northern Beaches.

We asked for your feedback on the proposed amendments between 5 December 2025 and 1 February 2026 and received 32 submissions.

Feedback overall supported the proposed amendments, although some respondents were not supportive.

Further detail on the outcomes from engagement, including all submissions received, is available in the Community Engagement Report.

We reviewed your submissions and presented a report to Council at the meeting on 17 March 2026.

Council adopted the Policy with the following amendment:

The Northern Beaches Discretionary Fund budget is indexed annually in line with the Consumer Price Index, commeing from the 2026/2027 financial year.

• View Council Report (Item 7.14, p.7)
• View Council Attachments (Item 7.1, p.3)
• View Council Minutes (Item 7.1, p.10)