Outcomes

Committees make grants towards funding requests that support outcomes within the Lottery Grants Board's Outcomes Framework click here.

The 11 regional and 1 national Lottery Community committees determine and set their own priority outcomes based on their region's needs each year. Requests are more likely to be funded if they align to the Committee's priority outcomes.

Priorities

Lottery Community prioritises organisations that support the needs of groups named in the Gambling Act 2003:

• Māori
• Pacific people and other ethnic communities
• Older people, women, youth, and people with disabilities
• People facing barriers to participation in society.

Who can apply

Organisations apply to either the national committee or 1 of 11 regional committees.

Apply to the national committee if:

• your group is a national organisation, or
• your project or service has a nationwide benefit, or
• your project or service will benefit 2 or more regions.

Apply to a regional committee if:

• your project or service is entirely within one of the 10 regional boundaries or mostly benefits that region, or
• your group is an independent branch of a national organisation, and the project or service provides benefits within a specific regional boundary.

Which Lottery Community committee should we apply to?

Unregistered or informal groups

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

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 act as a fundholder on your behalf. To learn more about fundholders click here.

Fundraisers

A fundraiser is someone from outside the organisation who supports them to apply for funding. A fundraiser cannot accept terms and conditions for a request.

Requests must show that:

• the fundraiser is paid at a flat fee or hourly rate which is paid irrespective of the outcome of the grant request.
• 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.

Supporting documentation

All requests must include:

• a budget including income and expenditure if the request is for $20,000 or more for any single year
• a quote no older than 6 months old at the closing date if the request is for minor capital works total cost $50,000 or less

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

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

What we fund

Lottery Community committees contribute funding towards:

• ongoing operating costs for existing or expanded services and activities
• projects beyond an organisation's day-to-day operations
• minor capital works projects where the total project cost is $50,000 or less.

Multi-year funding

Multi-year funding is available for up to 3 years. To be eligible for multi-year funding, an organisation must:

• be a legal entity.
• have been established for at least 2 years
• demonstrate a good grant management history
• have evidence of good governance and management systems
• have experience in running a similar service or activity, or project to what you requested funding for.

Second funding requests

• If your organisation applied to the previous Lottery Community funding round (within a year), any other requests that year will be considered lower priority unless there are exceptional circumstances.
• Please contact us to discuss your situation 0800 824 824 or community.matters@dia.govt.nz.

What we don’t fund

Lottery Community committees do not fund:

• items that are listed by the Lottery Grants Board as ineligible for funding: Lottery Grants Board does not fund.
• individuals
• research, including large scale research plans, feasibility studies for capital projects and health research
• capital works where the total project cost is over $50,000 (a capital works project is for the construction, renovation, or maintenance of a building or permanently constructed place)
• requests that fit under the priorities for the Minister’s Discretionary Fund (MDF) and Emergency Disaster Relief (EDRF)
• activities/projects that have been deemed to be lower priority based on the selection of committee priority medium and near horizon outcomes.

How to apply

To find out how to apply for Lottery Community Fund click here.

Important Information

Download the Lottery Community funding application questions here: Lottery Community Funding request questions

What regional committee should we apply to: regional committee boundaries.

For the 2025 Lottery Community grants awarded: What Lottery grants have been made in the past

For how to report on your grant: Results reports