Māori Development Fund

Before you apply

Read the shape of this before spending time on it. The two investment priorities for 2026/27 are improved productivity of iwi and Māori assets including infrastructure, and increased Māori export revenues. There is a third strand for Māori community resilience. It is co-investment at scale, not a small business grant.

For the asset-productivity and export-growth priorities, Te Puni Kōkiri require a minimum cash co-investment of 50% of the total value of the investment, and their own contribution starts at a minimum of $100,000 — so this isn't a fund to approach for a small top-up. The community resilience strand is framed differently, around building capability rather than a co-investment ratio.

The criterion that rules out most single businesses: benefits must be proportionate to the investment and shared beyond a single entity. A proposal that only lifts one company is unlikely to get through, however good it is.

Two more that catch people. You have to show you cannot self-fund or secure other funding, and that without this the initiative would not proceed or would be materially reduced. And you have to show how it stays viable once Te Puni Kōkiri funding ends — saying you will seek further government funding is explicitly not enough.

Not funded: operational and business-as-usual costs, international travel and accommodation, activities mostly outside New Zealand, purchase of vehicles, buildings, land, businesses or shares, retrospective activities, existing debts, legal advocacy and litigation, alcohol, medical bills, and anything with a political purpose.

Feasibility studies and business cases that make a project investment-ready are fundable, which is often the useful part — it de-risks a big project enough for a bank to look at it.

Talk to the regional office first. Te Puni Kōkiri say plainly that a proposal which misses the criteria, does not use their template, or leaves information out will not proceed at all. Their kaimahi will work through it with you. Six to eight weeks for a decision once a complete proposal is in, and you are told the reasons if declined.

An Investment Committee of senior officials plus two external members advises, and the Deputy Secretary Regions approves. If you send multiple proposals across different offices they get consolidated into one. A Child and Vulnerable Adults Protection Policy is required if the work involves under-18s or vulnerable adults.

Past recipients are published annually on the Te Puni Kōkiri site, which is worth reading before you write — it shows the scale and type of thing that gets funded.