Deadline: 16-Nov-2025
The Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand offers Top-Up Community Grants to support community-led initiatives that enhance mental wellbeing.
These grants aim to empower local groups to implement projects that promote mental health and wellness within their communities. The funding is designed to assist organisations in delivering activities that encourage positive mental health practices and build stronger, more resilient communities.
Funding ranges from $10,000 to $40,000 per project, with a total of $250,000 available this year, providing significant support for initiatives that aim to make a meaningful impact on mental health in New Zealand communities.
Eligible applicants include community organisations, non-profits, charitable trusts, iwi, hapū, marae, faith-based groups, schools, and informal collectives with a focus on wellbeing. To qualify, projects must directly support at least one of the following communities: Māori, Pasifika, rangatahi (youth), rainbow (LGBTIQ+), disabled individuals, rural communities, or Asian communities. The initiative prioritises projects that are designed and delivered with input from the communities they aim to serve, ensuring cultural relevance and responsiveness to specific needs.
Successful projects should align with the Five Ways to Wellbeing framework and, where appropriate, incorporate culturally relevant models such as Te Whare Tapa Whā or Fonofale. Proposals are expected to demonstrate how they will encourage individuals to adopt regular wellbeing habits and how these practices can be sustained beyond the project’s duration. Additionally, projects should show potential for long-term impact and the ability to engage a broad segment of the community.
If awarded a grant, recipients must agree to meet reporting, evaluation, and promotional requirements. This may include participating in activities to promote the wider Top-Up campaign and providing evidence of meeting agreed-upon milestones. The Mental Health Foundation seeks to support initiatives that contribute to the overall goal of improving mental health and wellbeing across New Zealand’s diverse communities.
Funding can support community-led activities that strengthen connection, resilience, and wellbeing, materials and resources to deliver your kaupapa, project-related overheads capped at 20%, venue hire for community spaces, facilitator or coordinator costs, communications and marketing to reach your community, training or workshops that build long-term wellbeing skills, and evaluation and reporting activities. Your project can also receive co-funding from other sources, as long as all funding streams are clearly documented and coordinated.
For more information, visit Mental Health Foundation.