Funders and Funding Opportunities

Auckland Council has partnered with Strategic Grants to provide community groups with free access to the Grants Expertise Management System – GEM Local. Strategic Grants supply GEM Local and update the grants information it contains.

By enrolling in GEM Local, community groups are provided with information about relevant grant opportunities, and best practice tools, tips, and training for grant preparation. The aim is to build their capacity and to increase their access to funding.

For more information :
Go to www.gemlocal.co.nz or email gemlocal@strategicgrants.co.nz

Ōrākei Local Board has two grants:

– Ōrākei Local Grant

Round One
Opens: 07 July - 15 August 2025
Decisions Due: 21 November 2025
Activities to Start After: 01 December 2025

Round Two
Opens: 12 January - 20 February 2026
Decisions Due: 16 April 2026
Activities to Start After: 01 May 2026

– Ōrākei Quick Response and Tree Protection Grant

Round One
Opens: 08 September - 03 October 2025
Decisions Due: 11 December 2025
Activities to Start After: 31 December 2025

Round Two
Opens: 30 March - 24 April 2026
Decisions Due: 18 June 2026
Activities to Start After:
01 July 2026

You can find out more here.

In the spirit of our guiding philosophy of Kyosei – living and working together for the common good – over the last 19 years, Canon Oceania has supported over 120 schools, not-for- profits and community groups with over $600,000 in monetary and product support.

This year, the Canon Oceania Grants Program returns to support four more worthy organisations to further their impact. Our 2025 Grants program is now open and closes midnight Sunday 27 July.

For more information: Visit https://www.canon.co.nz/about-canon/community/grants.

We are pleased to announce that the Lottery Community Fund opened for Round 1 on 9 July. Grant requests can be submitted until midnight on Saturday 9 August.

Lottery Community grants are provided for not-for-profit organisations that provide a community or social service that helps to improve people’s lives in communities, iwi and hapū.

If you're a first time applicant, or need a little guidance, you're warmly encouraged to contact a knowledgeable kaitohutohu hapori, community advisor from our Hāpai Hapori Community Operations Team by simply emailing community.matters@dia.govt.nz or leaving a voice mail on 0800 824 824.

We’ve put together a checklist of things to help you to get fund ready:
• Register your organisation and individuals in the online system by creating yourself a RealMe account.
• Update your organisational profile with key information about your group such as your bank account details, GST number and contact information.
• Upload the required documents onto your request form or organisation profile.
• Check your annual financial reports (no older than 18 months) are available online.
• Prepare a budget that shows all income and expenditure for the project or annual operations: 
• Review the 2024/25 committee priorities. Your request will need to demonstrate how your activities align to the committee priorities

We also encourage you to submit requests well in advance of the closing date, so we may check and support your application.

For more information about the funding administered by the Hāpai Hapori Community Operations team at the Department of Internal Affairs or any updates to the Lottery community funding process please visit our website community.matters.govt.nz 

The Regional Historic Heritage Grant is now open for applications until 15 September.

There is also an online grants workshop to learn more about the grant and application process on 5 August.

Find out more through the link below: https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/news/2025/07/regional-historic-heritage-grant-opens/

The Ōrākei Local Board Arts Broker Grants is a small fund designed to respond to local creative arts activities and ventures. We help support community art events, artist workshops, theatrical and musical productions, festivals, public artworks, development opportunities, weekly meet-ups, kapa haka, rangatahi and art projects. Grants generally range from between $500 - $2,500 (sometimes greater for exceptional events). Our aim is to invigorate local arts opportunities for people working and living across the Ōrākei region, enabling access and creating opportunities for anyone engaging with the arts, they may be professional or amateur artists. The arts benefit our communities in many ways; finding ways to think and act collectively, raising awareness of important issues, enabling participation with people from different backgrounds.

You can find out more online.

You can find a list of Auckland Council’s grants on the calendar.

Two regional opportunities for arts funding are currently open for applications:
– Regional Arts and Culture project grants, closing 13 July
– Creative Communities Scheme, closing 17 August

Find out more and apply here