Crown funded schemes » Community Matters

Ministers of the Crown have overall responsibility for Crown funded schemes and report to the Cabinet as appropriate. The Department of Internal Affairs receives an annual appropriation for grants for each fund from the Crown. Each fund was established to achieve specific Crown purposes and objectives.

Funds are distributed on the recommendations or decisions of independent panels, steering groups or committees.

The level of funding available in each appropriation is determined annually by the Crown.

The Department of Internal Affairs administers the funds on behalf of the Crown.

Ngā Hua / Outcomes

The Crown aims to maximise the community benefits of Crown grants by focusing grant decision making on outcomes.

Outcomes are all the changes, benefits, learning and effects that happen – or start to happen – as a result of activities, projects or services in communities.

The Crown’s key funding objectives and request criteria are designed to ensure that Crown grants will achieve the specific Crown purposes and objectives they were established for.

Ngā kaupapa matua / Priorities

Crown grant requests must align with the priorities of the Crown funds. These funds are:

Relevant eligibility for Crown funded schemes

Requestors must follow legal and financial compliance measures
Have employment policies and practices (if applicable)
Have a conflict of interest policy for governance, management and staff
Requestors must have in place governance, management structures, and financial results requirements, relative to the size and complexity of the project
Requestors must have the capability to successfully complete the project for which funding is sought and achieve the outcomes within the agreed funding or partnership period
Requestor must be GST registered (if applicable)
Requestor organisations must have the following set of financial control systems in place:
- a person responsible for keeping the financial records of the organisation and two signatories to all bank accounts
- a regularly maintained and current cashbook or electronic equivalent, with the grant and expenditure of grant fully recorded
- production of annual accounts, which show the grant as a separate entry
- regularly maintained tax records and P.A.Y.E record (if applicable)
- regular financial reporting to every full meeting of the governing body
Requestor organisations must be able to provide their latest end of year financial accounts, at the time of submitting a request. The financial accounts must be in line with the new financial reporting standards and in line with their constitution. The organisation must also provide:
- a declaration attesting to the accuracy of the financial update, signed by two people with the authority to sign on behalf of the organisation
Requestors must have legal entity status if applying for over $10,000

Ngā kaupapa kāore e tautokona ā-pūtea / What we don't fund

The Crown excludes some types of activities from receiving funding. In general, applications that are not funded are those:

for grants to fund ongoing projects, programmes or services, with the exception of COGS and DEUNIF
for individuals
to fund the inappropriate duplication of existing projects, programmes or services
made retrospectively for projects or parts of projects that have been completed
for reimbursing past transactions and completed work
for debt repayment or debt servicing
applications that are specifically intended to generate profit, noting that projects are often expected to generate an income in order to achieve ongoing sustainability for the project. Profit earning are those projects that are specifically intended to generate a profit, except in the case of reinvestment and/or where there is unintended or indirect profit. A project may generate a profit or surplus, but this must be reinvested in the project to meet the ongoing costs of the project and thereby contribute to its sustainability. Any anticipated profit or surplus must be accounted for in the project budget and be shown as contributing to the project in the future.
applications for purposes that are of a party political nature
applications from fundraisers, including commercial or professional fundraisers whose purpose is to distribute money to others
where there is evidence of a conflict of interest related to the project, which, in the opinion of the decision makers, has not been disclosed or managed satisfactorily.