One of the key goals of Friends with Dignity is to support children in Domestic and Family Violence affected environments to go on and live happy, healthy and inclusive lives. These scholarships are specifically for children financially impacted by Domestic and Family Violence.
Our Little Friends Scholarship has been established to ensure all children have the ability to either further their education and/or be able to participate in extra-curricular activities that they may not be able to pursue due to the financial impact of Domestic and Family Violence.
Scholarships are awarded nationwide on an “as needs basis” with all valid applications being reviewed and considered.
Scholarships are up to a maximum value of $500 per child.
Categories
Scholarships are provided on an annual basis and are categorised into two groups:
Educational
The Educational Category may include, but is not limited to, school fees, laptops, ipads or other devices required for school, textbooks, stationery requirements, specialised equipment such as art supplies, or hospitality uniforms. It may include costs for excursions, camps, access to academic competitions, or school uniforms (including school shoes).
Extra-Curricular
The Extra-Curricular Category may include, but is not limited to, sporting equipment, sport uniforms, tuition costs, training or transport costs. It may include equipment for music, the arts or to cover the costs of representative teams. It may also be used for sign-up or registration fees for a sporting season, competition, debating, or some element of the arts.
The Application Process
- Applications must be completed and submitted using the online application form by either:
- The Parent or authorised Guardian of the child; or
- A Social Worker, GP, School Principal, Counsellor or other relevant professional authorised by the parent / guardian of the child
- Applications are only open to DFV impacted children between the ages of 5 and 18 years old at the time the application is submitted, and who are in an educational environment (such as a school or home-school).
- All applications must be supported/endorsed by a verifiable Sponsor who endorses the application.
- A Sponsor must:
- be different to the person submitting the application;
- use an email address linked to a verifiable organisation (such as the child’s school, GP clinic or registered support organisation); and
- may be a Social Worker, Case Worker, General Practitioner, School Principal, Counsellor or other relevant professional.
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- Applications must include relevant documents supporting the application (including a DVO/AVO/IVO or similar).
- Invoices / receipts will only be requested once the application has been evaluated and the decision has been made to award a scholarship Note: Unfortunately, the number of applications received generally exceeds the available funding.
- Applications which are incomplete or are not verified by a Sponsor will be excluded from consideration.
- It is the responsibility of the Applicant to ensure that the Sponsor completes their endorsement to validate the application. Friends with Dignity will not follow up on incomplete applications.
- All complete/valid applications will be reviewed by an Evaluation Team comprising of volunteer representatives from Friends with Dignity and some of our key financial sponsors. Please note: This is your opportunity to tell your child’s story. It is only through your application that the Evaluation Team can understand your journey and how being awarded a Little Friends Scholarship would benefit your child. All information received will be treated strictly as confidential.
- All Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application within 4-6 weeks of receipt of the endorsed application.
Key Dates
Applications Open: 16 Nov 2026
Applications Close: 19 Feb 2027*
Applicants Notified of Outcome: asap during the application process
Funding Disbursement: asap during the application process
Note: * Friends with Dignity reserves the right to close the application process early once all available funding has been awarded
Once the Application has been evaluated, if a scholarship is awarded, the Applicant will be requested to provide:
- copies of receipts that are dated no older than eight (8) weeks prior to the Application submission date; and/or
- valid invoices (such as for school fees or a book list yet to be paid for)
Friends with Dignity will confirm the latest date when these receipts / invoices are to be provided.
Remaining funding available for Round 16 of the Little Friends Scholarship Program
Funds will be distributed to the successful Applicants in two ways:
Reimbursement of funds
Friends with Dignity will reimburse funds upon presentation of valid receipts. Receipts must include the date of purchase, details of items purchased, and name of the provider (such as a school or stationery supplier).
If more than one child is successful in the application, it must be clear what items are for which child.
Friends with Dignity will accept receipts for purchases/payments that were made up to eight (8) weeks prior to the Application submission date.
Payment of Invoice (preferred)
Friends with Dignity will pay funds direct to a provider (such as a school or stationery supplier) for the payment of an invoice which must include the child’s name and the provider details (including ABN).
The invoice must also include BPAY, BPoint or BSB/Account details such that Friends with Dignity can make the payment to the provider.
What is the Community Fund?
Friends with Dignity have created the Little Friends Scholarship Community Fund to give the wider community the opportunity to increase our impact with the Little Friends Scholarships.
In each round we are inundated with applications all worthy of approving. However in the past we have only had the financial support to help a few of the children in need of our assistance.
The funds you donate will go directly into the Scholarship fund to increase the amount of children we can help in each round.
Join Us
We invite all Australians to join us in supporting victim-survivors of domestic violence as we work
towards building a nation free from domestic violence.
towards building a nation free from domestic violence.