Charitable Grants
 
   

 

   
   
Eligibility and criteria for grants:
These must be for the benefit of the communities within the Hutt Mana area, namely Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt, Porirua, and Johnsonville-Tawa.
Grants must be in accordance with the Trust’s objectives. The criteria and processes by which grant applications are considered are:

Organisations applying:
  • All applicant organisations must be recognised as being non-commercial, not for profit organisations and have no commercial affiliation.
  • Organisations that have been established for less than 12 months must provide an annual budget. Where organisations have been established longer than 12 months, they must provide audited accounts.
  • Each applicant is entitled to one grant only per annum other than in an exceptional circumstance.
  • There must be no conflict of interest existing between the applicant and the provider of the goods or services.
Purpose of grant:
  • The purpose of the grant must be “future focussed” and not retrospective.
  • Expenses must be incurred within New Zealand with the exception of items not available in New Zealand.
  • Operating expenses, such as salaries and wages, will be considered but are rated as a low priority than capital or one-off expenses.
  • Administration expenses have a very low priority rating and will not normally be considered.
  • An application for a grant must not be for a purpose that the New Zealand Government or a local authority is obligated to meet.
  • The purchase of motor vehicles is a low priority and will not normally be considered.
  • Catering and bar expenses will only be considered where special circumstances exist.
Additional Criteria for Sports:
  • Applications must be for the benefit of amateur participants only.
  • Applications must be for the benefit of players – not supporters.
  • Sports clubs should be affiliated to a SPARC recognised national body and preference will be given to those that fulfil this requirement.
  • Only clubs may apply for funding and applications from individual teams will not be considered.
  • Funding for overseas travel will only be considered where the person or group concerned are representing New Zealand and the application is confirmed by the national body.
Additional Criteria for Pre-Schools and Schools:
  • The Trust will not normally fund school expenditure, and will in no case be a substitute for government expenditure.
  • The Trust will consider applications relating to youth activities which are outside of or additional to the day to day school expenditures.

Grant Round Closing on 27 February 2009

  • The applications for the next Community Grant round will close on 27 February 2009. The application form for this purpose is available on the website. (See below)

 

Trust focus areas:
The Trust’s objective is to build a strong and sustainable community and environment.
The Trust’s business plan identifies several priority focus areas for the immediate future:
  • Increasing the sustainability of the voluntary and community sector
  • Enhancing the environment in the area
  • Promoting opportunities for sport, recreation and youth.
These were selected as priorities on the basis of feedback received on consultation of the Trust’s future.

 

Timing of grants:
  • There are two grants rounds each year, with closing dates as follows:
    • 27 February 2009
    • 29 September 2009
  • Applications will be considered monthly outside the above grants rounds.
  • All applications will be considered by the Trust’s five Trustees in the month following the close of applications.

 

Making an Application:
Applications for grants must be on the Trust’s standard form which is available from:
  • Hutt Mana Charitable Trust, PO Box 31-250, Lower Hutt 5040.
  • Emailing secretary@hmct.org.nz
  • Downloading from the Trust website – See links below
Grant Application Form:
Please click here to download Grant Application Form in pdf format.
Please click here to download Grant Application Form in word format

Future Availability of Funds:
It is expected that funds available for distribution to the community in any six month period will total approximately $300,000.

 

Capacity Building:
In addition to the community grants funding, the Trust also has funding reserved for the purpose of capacity building for community organisations. The term capacity building covers a wide range of activities and initiatives which aim to build capacity in the community sector. The Trust welcomes applications for assistance with capacity building initiatives, either inside the formal grants rounds or outside of these periods.
Some examples of the types of initiatives which might be funded as capacity building are:
  • services to assist community groups to link or merge with similar groups;
  • helping organisations to better define and achieve their objectives;
  • assistance to better plan, budget and gain finance;
    • helping an organisation to become more self-sustaining and less dependant on grants.
There are presently many similar community groups each doing similar things. Each is short of money and unable to attract funding or volunteers. The Trust aims to help bring some of these together and build stronger communities. The Trust anticipates allocating up to $100,000 a year towards capacity building initiatives in the community.