Community Organisation Grants Scheme in New Zealand

Deadline: 14-May-25

The Community Matters is accepting applications for the Community Organisation Grants Scheme (COGS) to provide grants to non-profit organisations delivering community-based social services that contribute to achieving locally determined outcomes.

Priorities

• COGS committees prioritise community-based organisations delivering services to one or more of these priority sectors:
  • Maori
  • women
  • Pacific communities
  • other ethnic communities
  • older people
  • rurally isolated people
  • people with disabilities
  • families
  • youth and children
  • unemployed people
  • community-based organisations with limited access to other government funding.

What they fund?

• COGS provides grants to non-profit community groups and organisations delivering community-based social services, projects and events. Grants are one-off contributions for:
  • the running or operational costs of organisations that provide community-based social services
  • community development costs, such as hui, training, planning, evaluation and facilitator fees
  • community projects or event costs that:
    • encourage participation in communities
    • promote community leadership
    • promote social, economic and cultural equity.

Outcomes

• Organisations requesting COGS grants need to show how their community-based services or projects will contribute to:
  • encouraging participation in communities
  • promoting community leadership
  • developing community capability
  • promoting social, economic and cultural equity, or
  • reducing the downstream social and economic costs to communities and government.

Who can apply?

• Your organisation must have less than $2 million annual operating expenditure for each of the past two years to make a request to COGS.
• Your organisation includes your national or regional office and any branches under the same legal entity.

Ineligibility Criteria

• COGS do not fund:
  • individuals
  • fundraisers, including professional or commercial fundraisers whose purpose is to distribute money to others
  • services that duplicate existing services, unless the request demonstrates there is a good reason for both services to exist
  • services or activities that have already been delivered or have taken place prior to the closing date
  • debt repayment or debt servicing
  • reimbursement of past transactions or for completed work
  • social functions, except if for cultural reasons, the event brings people together in order to achieve other significant community benefits or outcomes
  • alcohol and similar substances, such as kava

For more information, visit Community Matters.