Supporting grain-growing communities
As a grower-owned co-operative, CBH Group and Western Australian growers share a proud history of supporting regional grain-growing communities. This commitment was formalised with the establishment of the CBH Community Investment Fund in 2013.
Since then, we’ve invested over $17 million into a range of projects and organisations that enhance the vitality, development, wellbeing and safety of grain-growing regions, promote the agricultural industry, and strengthen the capacity of future community and industry leaders.
Our new Community Investment Fund Framework
2024 marked the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the Community Investment Fund with the development of a refreshed Framework to guide our investment activities.
Developed in collaboration with growers and communities, the refreshed Framework is underpinned by our co-operative values and reflects our collective dedication to the regions where we all live, work, and play.
Learn more about how the refreshed Framework was developed in this article.
Our vision for the refreshed Community Investment Fund is for thriving, vibrant and sustainable grain-growing communities now and into the future.
The refreshed Framework is supported by five key principles which will help to guide our investment approach:
- A Trusted and Valued Partner – We strive to be a trusted partner in WA's grain-growing communities by maintaining strong governance and evaluation processes.
- Strategic and Proactive – We focus on strategic investments, allowing us to allocate resources effectively and pursue the most impactful opportunities.
- Mutual Value – We are committed to delivering mutual value for growers, communities, and the co-operative, ensuring that our investments benefit all.
- Collaborative – We engage closely with communities, adopting a collaborative approach to understand local needs.
- Focused on Impact – We are focused on creating meaningful impact for grain-growing communities.
Our pillars
Based on your input, we’ve established three pillars with defined outcomes to guide investment, ensuring our support is focused and delivers meaningful outcomes for grain-growing communities.
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Connected and Engaged CommunitiesWe aim to foster strong communities, where people are healthy, and connection to the community and each other is strong.
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Inclusive and Sustainable Grain IndustryWe work to build appreciation for WA’s grain industry, encourage and support careers in the sector, and do out bit to ensure farms and communities are safe.
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Resilient People and RegionsOur support focuses on cultivating strong community leadership, vibrant regional economies, and ensuring access to essential services when needed.
Funding pathways
The Community Investment Fund has four distinct funding pathways, designed to support the diverse funding needs of grain-growing communities. Together, these pathways balance both short-term and long-term needs, as well as support for local grassroots initiatives and larger partnerships that deliver essential services and opportunities across regions. In addition to these pathways, we administer the Harvest Mass Management Scheme Donations on behalf of Main Roads WA.
CBH designs and develops strategic initiatives in collaboration with organisations to create meaningful community impact. These initiatives leverage CBH’s unique ability to support grain-growing communities and ensure long-term, sustainable benefits.
CBH is dedicated to supporting vibrant and sustainable grain-growing communities across Western Australia. Through the CBH Community Investment Fund, we provide support to organisations that share our vision of strengthening the grain industry and ensuring thriving communities for the future.
Grass Roots Community Grants offer financial support to clubs, groups, and organisations to bring events and small-scale infrastructure projects to life. There are two funding rounds each year, opening on 1 February and 1 August. Grants are available for up to $5,000 for events and up to $10,000 for small-scale infrastructure projects.
During times of need, such as natural disasters, including drought, fire, flood, and other crises, CBH may provide Emergency Relief funding in line with our guidelines to support organisations offering critical assistance to grain-growing communities.
In partnership with Main Roads WA, the Harvest Mass Management Scheme (HMMS) was created to reduce the number of overloaded grain trucks arriving at CBH receival sites. During harvest, any forfeited grain from overloaded trucks is sold, with the proceeds donated to charities that support WA grain-growing communities, as nominated by CBH growers and employees.
Our guidelines
In order to meet our Community Investment Fund objectives, it is CBH's policy not to fund the following:
- Organisations in an existing Corporate Partnership with the CBH Group
- Organisations that have received funding from CBH within the past two years, except in exceptional circumstances as determined at CBH's discretion
- Public or government entities except for the following exemptions:
- Schools can apply if they don’t have a P&C
- Shires can apply for infrastructure but not events
- Private or public companies, or projects that are commercial in nature
- Requests from individual persons
- Religious purposes
- Organisations, groups or projects that discriminate based on race, gender, beliefs, class or cultural considerations
- Political organisations or projects that are political in nature
- Administration costs, ongoing operational expenses that create financial dependency on CBH Group, wages or salaries, project management, or advertising and marketing costs
- Travel and accommodation costs for individuals and groups to participate in events including but not limited to camps, excursions, or trips
- Transportation vehicles or maintenance for transportation vehicles (e.g cars, vans, buses, trailers etc.)
- Meals or alcohol
- Prize money
- 100% of the costs of any project
- Projects that are primarily the responsibility of Government (Federal, State or Local), or where the Government could be reasonably expected to provide principal funding
- Applications for fundraising events, individual or team requests aimed at raising funds for a third party, or indirect fundraising activities such as charity golf days, signage, or advertising
- Projects or events that are against the law, hazardous or dangerous and may encourage unsafe behaviour
- Projects or events related to gambling or gambling related activities
- Projects or events related to tobacco, alcohol or drug promotion
- Projects or events that have commenced or been completed (i.e. events or projects cannot commence prior to the closing date or completion of the notification period)