Our Work

Rural Communities Australia Ltd
ACN 165 304 049
ABN 69 165 304 049

Rural Communities Australia Ltd (RCA) is a public company limited by guarantee.  It is a not-for-profit organisation registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) and a registered Australian Tax Office (ATO) Tax Concession Charity (TCC).

Its purposes are:

  1. To support the economic development, social well-being, and environmental integrity of rural communities throughout Australia through participation in community-led projects.
  2. To support the independence and self-sufficiency of governance through which rural communities design and manage their own futures.

We are inspired by the many examples we have seen across Australia of communities dealing with challenges of all kinds by taking charge of their own destinies and using their own capabilities and resources to put their future as a community on a sustainable foundation.  Such communities don’t look to governments for solutions, but to their own knowledge, as well as to their social strengths and physical assets.  Government assistance may come in around them, but only to support what is already being built by local initiative, not as a substitute for it.

Our work is to bring together and share in partnership with Australian rural communities the best that has been done for themselves by rural groups and communities everywhere, and to support local creativity and innovation in every way possible.

As you can see from our Directors list, we are a family organisation, working from the country and supported by volunteers.  Our funding is largely project-centred, and is based on local private donors, Foundations, government and corporate philanthropy.  Our organisational philosophy is to run a lean admininstrative centre, so that as many resources as possible can be placed with the rural communities who are our partners.

Local Business Development

Support for micro-businesses is a powerful, cost-effective way to drive local economic development in rural communities. Microbusinesses are small enterprises of up to about $100,000 in annual turnover, and employing fewer than five people. If proactively…

Environmental Integrity

Rural communities in Australia have traditionally been well aware of the need to look after the land.  Farming families have often seen this in terms of stewardship: the importance of passing on their land on to new generations in a better condition …

Health & Well-Being

Rural communities have the same kinds of health, well-being and social needs as do communities everywhere.  Of course there are special challenges that the fewer economic and social options, based in distance and differential funding, bring to rural …

Local Governance

Rural communities, like communities everywhere, do best when they take charge of their own affairs.  RCA is committed to supporting communities in the development and implementation of self-government structures and processes. Local councils are …