Environmental and Sustainability Grant in New Zealand

Deadline: 21-Oct-22

Counties Energy is calling for applications for $15,000 worth of environmental grants for the local community.

The Counties Energy Environmental and Sustainability Grant aims to support not-for-profit community organisations or educational providers with projects that protect or enhance the environment in the southern Auckland and northern Waikato regions. This is the second year the company has offered the grant.

Counties Energy is a 100% consumer-owned lines company serving the southern Auckland and northern Waikato region. One of the priorities is to safeguard the region for the future. They invest widely in the core network, and in future technology that will service the community’s needs and give the customers a smarter, more intuitive and sustainable network. Working with the customers, they’re diversifying into emerging technologies, ensuring the network and the community is at the forefront of enhanced, environmentally friendly energy solutions.

They’re leading the charge in developing cutting-edge solutions in distributed generation, batteries and electric vehicle technology to ensure they can power the region now and for future generations.

Objectives

The objective is to provide financial support for environmental improvement projects to educational providers and Not-for-Profit Community Organisations in one of the three categories:
- Waste Reduction
- Habitat Improvement
- Emissions Reduction (Electricity, Gas and Fuel)

Funding Information

Three organisations (in either of the two sectors in the previous section) will be awarded a grant of $5000 each (incl GST where applicable).

Eligibility Criteria

The grant is open to organisations in the following two sectors that reside within the Counties Energy Network area.
Educational Provider:
- Preschools or Kindergartens
- Primary schools
- Intermediate schools
- Secondary schools
- Tertiary providers
Not-for-Profit Community Organisation:
- All

Note: Applications from Not-for-Profit Community Organisations that are not legal entities will also be considered.

Application Criteria

The questions in the following sections are for your guidance only as you develop your application. However, be aware they are a prompt for the type of information the judges are looking for.
- Your Organisation
  - In this section provide a description of your organisation:
    - How long it has been in existence.
    - How this project supports the organisation’s strategy, purpose, or charter.
    - Examples of any completed environmental projects to date, highlighting why the project was initiated and what was achieved.
- Your Project
  - This section is focused on the project and how it will improve the environment.
  - Clearly describe the project objective(s).
  - What is the significance of this environmental project? Describe the current situation.
  - Describe the environmental benefits that will be gained from the project for the immediate and/or wider area.
  - Describe how these environmental benefits will be achieved.
  - Note: Added weight will be given to those applications that can provide verified or measurable outcomes to demonstrate expected or anticipated environmental improvement.
- Financial
  - Please provide a detailed budget showing how the Grant will be spent.