The Social and Recreation Fund supports projects and organisations that contribute to our strategic direction. We prioritise projects which show evidence based need and have positive social impact across one or more of our priorities.
Focus areas and priorities
The Social and Recreation Fund is being redirected to:
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Provide immediate assistance for social and community agencies who are responding to increased demand for services as part of the response to COVID-19.
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Assist social and community agencies who have had to re-frame, redesign or adapt services to meet increased demand during response and into a period of recovery.
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Support social and community agencies who are demonstrating cross-sector collaboration to address increased demand on services.
COVID-19: Recovery priorities
Alongside our priorities for this fund we want to support projects and programmes which respond to increased and emerging needs in Wellington City and must address one or more of the following;
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Harm reduction with a focus on family violence, sexual harm, domestic violence,
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Enhancing food security and access to healthy food,
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Homelessness; projects that support or promote the reduction of rough sleeping,
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Mental health and wellbeing, including drop-in services and other positive and meaningful activities,
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Improved community resilience and wellbeing and promote neighbourhood connections,
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Supporting communities of interest, in particular Māori, Pasifika, seniors, accessibility, LGBTQI+ and young people,
- Enhancing community safety.
We will also consider requests for applications that meet increased demand for advice, support, advocacy and information relating to priorities above.
Applicants will need to meet our funding criteria (below) which include being a legal entity and delivering services that benefit Wellingtonians.
Other focus areas
Building strong resilient communities
Priority will be given to projects that:
- Strengthen the local community, contribute to community wellbeing and deliver local solutions to issues /opportunities
- Support local volunteering and neighbourhood connectedness
- Deliver on outcomes that support Wellington’s Urban Agriculture programme; with particular focus on building sustainable food networks
- Increase local community resilience and emergency preparedness
- Help develop social and community enterprises - profitable business entities meeting community need which in turn create opportunities for communities to participate in their governance.
Promoting community safety and wellbeing
Priority will be given to projects that:
- Enhance community safety and wellbeing
- Encourage a community participatory approach to local neighbourhood safety initiatives
- Assist in supporting the city’s most vulnerable
- Support a Housing First approach to ending street homelessness
A child and youth friendly city
Priority will be given to projects that:
- involve children and young people in their development and delivery.
- help young people gain a better understanding of community, an increased sense of belonging as active citizens and positive contributors to society.
Operational support for residents and progressive associations (maximum of $1000)
Priorities will be given to organisations that:
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Demonstrate a positive and inclusive approach to working with all residents, building connections and neighbourliness
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Communicate regularly with local residents in the area and have an up-to-date online profile
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Have an active membership of 10 or more, excluding the committee, meeting regularly (outside their AGM), keep minutes of these meetings.
When submitting an application residents and progressive associations should:
- give a summary of their current membership and how often they hold meetings
- provide a copy of minutes from recent meetings.
If you have been funded but can't use the fund
If you have already received a grant but are not able to run the project or activity, we won’t be asking for you to return the funds - unless you think that is the best option.
Think about how you might be able to direct the funds to other activities that are aligned with the grant or contribute to well-being, and when you are ready, contact us to discuss these changes.
First-time applicants
Read the information on the page below, then register and apply online through our funding portal.
How to apply online
Check your application status
If you've already applied for funding, you can log in to the funding portal to check the status of your application or add information.
Go to Funding Portal
Fund criteria
- Applications need to make a positive contribution to achieving the Council's strategic outcomes outlined in the Towards 2040: Smart Capital strategy, our Annual Plan and Long Term Plan 2018-2028.
- The project is Wellington-based and mainly benefits the people of Wellington. (exceptions may be made for projects based elsewhere in the region, but which significantly benefit Wellington City residents).
- The applicant is a legally constituted community group or organisation.
- The applicant provides evidence of sound financial management, good employment practice, clear and detailed planning, clear performance measures, and reporting processes.
- The applicant outlines how physical accessibility has been built into project development.
- The applicant outlines how pricing has been set to ensure access by a wide range of people or by the intended users.
- The project should show evidence of community support, collaboration, and building partnerships with other organisations (e.g. social media interest, letters of support from other organisations/leaders).
- The applicant must show that the project discernibly improves community wellbeing and adds value to the range of similar types of services in the community.
- Māori are often over-represented in many determinants of social deprivation. Outline whether and how the specific needs of Māori have been incorporated into the planning of your project.
- Emergent and innovative community projects can be supported through this fund. Applicants that apply under this category will need to demonstrate the transformative nature of the project
Past allocations
Past allocations (333KB PDF)