Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa — Te Moana a Toi

Before you apply

Sport Bay of Plenty run the kaupapa Māori pathway explicitly, and applications through it are assessed against the five key Māori development criteria of Te Whetū Rehua. Read that framework before writing, because it is the marking schedule.

Your organisation must show one of these: that play, active recreation or sport is its primary purpose, or that it is an important and mandated part of what you do. A budget form is required for anything over $1,000, and a separate form if delivery happens in class time with an outside provider.

There is a kaupapa Māori pathway and it is not a tick box. Sport NZ run it nationally and several regions assess those applications against Te Whetū Rehua, the five key Māori development criteria. If your kaupapa is Māori-led, apply through that pathway rather than the general one.

The requirement most applications fail on: you must show the tamariki and rangatahi actually want it. Not that you think they need it. Sport Canterbury spell out what counts — collated survey results, a photo of a whiteboard brainstorm, a video of young people talking about it. Do that before you write the application, not after.

Ages 5 to 18. Priority goes to those who are less active, including girls and young women, disabled tamariki and rangatahi, and communities with higher deprivation.

Funds delivery — venue or equipment hire, transport to the activity, and wages for delivery staff such as an activity leader or coordinator. Does not fund capital costs like facilities or playgrounds, existing staff salaries, administrative overheads, medals and trophies, or anything to do with professional athletes, academies or representative teams.

You must be a legal entity. A group without one can partner with an entity that is, and the regional trusts recommend exactly that rather than turning people away.

Nationally the fund distributed $64 million across 5,281 projects between July 2020 and June 2024, reaching close to two million participation opportunities. Fourteen Regional Sports Trusts deliver it and each sets its own rounds — apply to the one covering your rohe, not to Sport NZ.