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.

Priorities

Committees prioritise community-based organisations delivering services to one or more of the following groups:

• Māori
• 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.

Committee priorities

Each of the 37 Local Distribution Committee (LDCs) develop committee outcomes that reflect their local community’s needs. These are developed through community consultation.

For the priorities of the individual LDCs, follow the link below:
COGS individual LDC priorities

Who can apply

Eligible organisations must have less than $2 million annual operating expenditure for each of the past 2 years to make a funding request to COGS.

Your organisation includes your national or regional office and any branches under the same legal entity.

Unregistered or informal groups

Unregistered or informal groups (non-legal entities) may be eligible to apply for grants under $10,000.

Fundholders

If you are an unregistered or informal group and do not have a bank account or governance structure in place, you may have a group to act as a fundholder on your behalf. To learn more about fundholders click here.

Fundraisers

A fundraiser (someone external to an organisation) can create a request on behalf of the organisation with their approval. A fundraiser cannot accept terms and conditions on behalf of the applicant. As part of the request we need to see:

• the fundraiser is paid at a flat fee or hourly rate which is paid irrespective of the outcome of the grant request, and
• the financial arrangements of a fundraiser and the organisation.

If you are a fundraiser we recommend you have an initial conversation with one of our advisors.
Email: community.matters@dia.govt.nz or call 0800 824 824.

What documents are required

All requests must include:

• Budget including income and expenditure if the request is for projects costs.

You need to make sure your organisational profile in the grants management system information is up to date. The type of information we ask for includes:

• bank account details
• annual financial statements no older than 18 months
• GST information
• legal entity status
• contact details for your organisation.

What we 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.

The average COGS grants is about $3,000.

What we don’t fund

COGS does 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
• requests where there is evidence of a conflict of interest, which has not been disclosed or managed appropriately. (Note: a conflict of interest exists where a person's duties or responsibilities to a grant recipient organisation could be affected by some other interest or duty that the person may have.)
• publishing any material of a technical nature, unless it is consistent with the applicable policies and guidelines produced by the relevant government or government-approved authorities
• capital items: purchases such as land, buildings, renovations, machinery, vehicles or furniture. (Items of office equipment with a unit cost less than $1,000 are not deemed to be capital items.)
• services or activities that promote commercial, political or religious activities, including political advocacy projects, employment or business initiatives and commercial enterprises
• activities or projects specifically intended to generate a profit, though profits are allowed if the purpose is to achieve ongoing sustainability for the project
• services, activities or programmes to be delivered overseas.

How to apply

To find out how to apply for COGS click here.

Important Information

Download the COGS funding application questions here: 2026 COGS request form questions

To watch a short video on COGS funding: Being fund ready for COGS

For the 2025 COGS grants awarded: What COGS grants were made in 2025?

For how to report on your grant: Results Reports