Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa — Waikato

Before you apply

No fixed rounds here. Sport Waikato run it as a rolling fund from 1 July to 30 June, so you apply when the project is ready rather than waiting. The assessment panel meets fortnightly on Wednesdays and each round closes the Thursday before — for example the panel met 2, 16 and 30 September and 14, 21 October, then 2 and 16 December in the 2026 cycle.

What they weigh, in their own words: co-funding or in-kind support that shows shared commitment, how the activity continues after the funding ends, clear next steps so tamariki stay active once the funded sessions finish, and how the project responds to local needs using local providers.

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.