Ngā Hua / Outcomes
A Lottery Community committee looks at the outcomes of your project or services and how they will benefit your community and help:
- support volunteers
- help people to help themselves
- promote community wellbeing
- promote community or cultural identity
- support vulnerable people
- help people feel that they belong and can take part in their community.
Each Lottery Community committee determines the outcomes and priorities it wants to achieve from the investment of the grant money available in its area.
Ngā kaupapa matua / Priorities
Lottery Community funds organisations that support the needs of:
- Māori, whānau, hapū and iwi
- Pacific people and other ethnic communities
- older people, women, youth and people with disabilities.
The priorities for Lottery Community are projects, activities, resources or services that focus on:
- parents/families/whānau
- children and youth development
- enhancing the quality of life of older people in the community
- preventing violence
- new migrants/refugees
- people with a long-term/significant disability or illness
- people who are considered to be at risk or disadvantaged
- improving people’s knowledge and use of digital technology.
Individual Lottery Community Committees have their own Committee priorities. These will be updated in due course.
Individual Lottery Community fund priorities
Second funding requests are low priority
If your organisation received funding from the previous Lottery Community funding round (within a year) then any requests made in the next funding round will be considered low priority unless there are exceptional circumstances for making your request.
If you wish to make a second funding request because of exceptional circumstances, contact an advisor at: community.matters@dia.govt.nz
Important dates for Lottery Community
The next opening and closing dates for Lottery Community requests and the Committee decision meeting date are listed at the link below:
Ngā kaupapa ka tautokona ā-pūtea / What we fund
Lottery Community grants may be one-off contributions or multi-year grant investments for up to 2 years, for:
- ongoing operating costs for existing or expanded services and activities
- projects beyond an organisation’s day-to-day operations
- minor capital works projects where the total project cost is $50,000 or less.
Ngā kaupapa kāore e tautokona ā-pūtea / What we don't fund
In addition to what may not be funded by any Lottery committee, Lottery Community does not fund:
- individuals
- research, including: large scale research plans, feasibility studies for capital projects and health research
- major capital works where the total project cost is over $50,000
- food for food banks
- alcohol and similar substances, for example kava
The Lottery Community Committee does not fund requests that fit the priorities of the Lottery Minister's Discretionary Fund
The Lottery Minister's Discretionary Fund provides funding for one-off projects.
The priorities of the Lottery Minister’s Discretionary Fund are:
- volunteer firefighting and emergency ambulance services projects
- animal welfare projects
- learning and development projects:
- financial planning and/or good governance training (with an emphasis on support for children’s organisations).
What supporting documents you will need
Budgets: Budgets will not be required for funding requests under $20,000. Any requests $20,000 or more will require a budget. More information on the type of budget you need to provide and budget templates can be found here.
Bank account verification documentation: An official bank document clearly showing your organisation’s name and bank account number is necessary, such as a deposit slip or current bank statement. The bank account name must match the name of the organisation applying for funding.
Quote (if applicable): If your request is for minor capital works for $50,000 or less, you will need to provide one quote for building or renovation costs.
Financial statements: If you do not provide complete financial information, your funding request may be considered incomplete. More information on the type of financial statements you need to provide can be found here.
Organisations also need to check that the information on your community organisation profile is up-to-date at the time you submit your grant request. You can find more information on what an organisation needs to apply for funding here.
To request a grant for over $10,000, or for a multi-year grant request, your organisation must be a legal entity. For more information, see What is a legal entity?
Multi-year funding: To be eligible for multi-year funding community organisations need to meet general Lottery criteria plus specific multi-year funding criteria. An organisation must:
- be a legal entity
- have been established for at least two years
- demonstrate a good grant management history
- have evidence of good governance and management systems
- have experience in running a similar service/activity or project for which funding is requested.
Unregistered or informal groups
There may be a pathway for your group to access funding. Please email us for advisory support at community.matters@dia.govt.nz.