In response to the challenges communities are facing due to the COVID-19 virus, we have simplified our usual funding process for the next 6 months. Our key focus is to enable those communities most impacted to get funding more quickly and easily. This unprecedented situation is resulting in different and immediate needs for communities in this new environment. We’ve listened to both grant seekers and grantees to help inform us in making these changes to our current funding. This fund will have a strong equity focus, and priority will be given to organisations supporting whānau and community wellbeing, particularly for those most impacted by direct and indirect consequences of COVID-19.

What this means for Grantees (who need to change their plans since receiving a grant from WCT)

  • We will not ask you to return your funding. All grants can be converted to general operating expenses if needed (i.e. not necessarily what you got the grant for)
  • We ask you to let us know about changes – for our information and to enable us to understand the community needs/challenges in this time. Please contact us by email in the first instance.

What this means for Grant Seekers

  • One simplified application form
  • Granting on a monthly basis (no deadlines)
  • Up to $10,000 for a quick turnaround
    • Requests of over $10,000 (up to a maximum of $50,000) will be considered for special circumstances where there is significant community need – please note that these will take up to several more weeks to process.

The total budget of this fund is $1.5m, to be distributed between now and September 2020. This fund is to keep our grant seeker organisations going now, not for work/events planned for after September 2020. You can still apply for projects that would usually sit within one of our usual funding streams (Quick Response, Community Grants and/or LIFT); the difference is that all applications will go through one simplified application form making it easier for you to apply. In October we hope to change back to our normal 3 funding streams.

Criteria & Exclusions

The same exclusions apply as usual; however, we have streamlined our assessment criteria to:

  • Immediate Community Need: Support communities that are struggling in this new COVID-19 context; this could include immediate needs such as housing, food, safety, and other practical needs
  • Changed Service Delivery: Support community connection, engagement, and social inclusion in response to community need in the COVID-19 outbreak; this may include virtual delivery of services or programmes
  • Capacity/Capability: Support organizations around capacity and capability to work in news ways. This may include resources to facilitate working remotely, addressing changing workforce needs, professional development.  

Read more and Apply Online

FAQs

We’ve tried our best to anticipate your questions; and there are some that we will be able to answer later, once we’ve better established the immediate and longer-term community needs. Please read our FAQs specifically about our funding in this period and email us if you have a question that isn’t addressed here.