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 can be found at the link below:
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:
Multi-year funding not available this financial year
There will be no multi-year funding available from this fund for the 2023/24 financial year.
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 three years, for:
- ongoing operating costs for existing or expanded services and activities
- projects beyond an organisation’s day-to-day operations
- helping to top-up an organisation’s existing funding
- 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 priorities of the Lottery Minister's Disctretionary Fund are:
- overseas travel (including attending international, web-based events and conferences remotely)
- 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)
- Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Te ao Māori training
- one-off learning and development projects where two or more community organisations benefit.
What supporting documents you will need
The only supporting document required for a Lottery Community grant request is a budget, and that your organisation meets financial reporting requirements. Information about these can be found here. Your grant request will be considered incomplete if you don’t provide this information by the closing date for the funding round, and will not be considered for funding.
If your request is for minor capital works, you will also need two quotes for building or renovation costs.
If your request is approved, you may use the grant for any costs in your budget, except for:
- any item that is not eligible
- any cost that is excluded when the grant is approved.
There is more detailed information about budgets 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.