Community Board Discretionary Funds

Before you apply

Four boards, four separate pools, and you must be domiciled in the board area you apply to — Murupara, Rangitāiki, Whakatāne-Ōhope or Tāneatua. Murupara and Tāneatua are heavily Māori communities with their own board and their own pūtea, which is worth knowing rather than assuming everything runs through Whakatāne.

Applications are considered at the next board meeting as they come to hand, so timing is about meeting dates rather than a closing date. As at 14 September 2026, the Tāneatua Community Board Fund is closed while a by-election for that board is under way — check before applying there.

Accountability afterwards means specifying how the grant was spent with receipts, invoices or a signed statement, and reporting the benefit received.

Whakatāne also runs Creative Communities, a Community Matching Fund, the Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund, a climate action fund with Trust Horizon, and a waterways fund. grants@whakatane.govt.nz, 07 306 0500.