Survivor Support and Recognition Fund

In June 2024 the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry delivered its final report Whanaketia – Through pain and trauma, from darkness to light. One of the report’s recommendations was for the New Zealand Government to set up a fund for projects that support survivors of abuse in care and their whānau. The fund is administered by Community Operations Hāpai Hapori in partnership with the Crown Response Office (CRO), who will provide additional support and advice

Applications to this fund need to show they will support one or more of the following outcomes:

Local authorities memorialise, remember and honour those who died in care and are buried in unmarked graves in ways that are appropriate for local communities.
Communities gain awareness and understanding of abuse in care through bolstering and promoting existing survivor-focussed organisations and the work being done to honour survivors buried in unmarked graves.
Initiatives led by Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) are funded to continue or expand the important work they do to support survivors.
Survivors are empowered within their own communities to identify the supports and solutions that are meaningful to them.
Additional options for services and support for survivors and their whānau are created that are easily accessible.

The SSRF is non-contestable, which means all organisations who meet the necessary criteria will receive funding.

Each grant application is limited to NZD$50,000.

On this page:

Key dates

The Survivor Support and Recognition Fund opens for grant applications on 19 February 2025 and closes on 30 June 2026 (or when all funding has been allocated, whichever occurs first).

Organisations can only make one funding application to the SSRF before the initial closing date of 30 June 2026.

Who can apply?

This fund is open to applications from:

local government authorities that have unmarked graves relating to former psychiatric hospitals or other former care institutions within their territorial boundaries, and
Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and community groups providing support services to survivors of abuse in care.

Eligibility requirements for NGOs and community groups

To be eligible to apply, NGOs and community groups must:

have their own legal entity status, or
form a non-independent branch of a national organisation that has this status.

They must also be:

based in New Zealand,
supporting New Zealand-based survivors, and
have a clear governance structure.

Types of NGOs and community groups that may apply to the fund could include:

survivor-led advocacy groups, and
peer support networks.

What is legal entity status?

Examples of legal entities include (but are not limited) to the following:

incorporated societies
trusts registered under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957
companies with charitable purposes
local authorities
school boards of trustees, and
Māori trust boards registered under the Māori Trust Boards Act 1955.

Being registered with Charities Services does not automatically make an organisation a legal entity.

Application criteria

Your organisation needs to show it has appropriate governance structures and processes in place to support the size and complexity of the project for which you are seeking funding.

This includes:

2 signatories on all your organisation’s bank accounts,
a current cashbook (or electronic equivalent) that is regularly updated,
a person responsible for keeping the organisation’s financial records,
regular financial reporting to every full meeting of the governing body,
a record for tracking grants from different funding sources,
having submitted any reports due for previously approved grants,
an up-to-date organisation profile in Hāpai Hapori’s online Grants Management System, and
an official bank document showing your organisation’s bank account details (this could be a bank statement, printed deposit slip or bank letter confirming the account name and number).

Eligibility criteria for local authorities

Funding is also available to Local Government Authorities that have unmarked graves relating to:

former psychiatric and psychopaedic sites, or
any other former care institutions in their area.

Examples of eligible projects

Examples of projects that may be considered for funding include:

Direct organisational running costs contributing to a survivor-focused initiative

To receive SSRF funds for these activities, you must provide evidence that they contribute directly towards work done with survivors and no other elements of your organisation’s work.

Costs of materials or equipment directly contributing to a survivor-focused initiative

You must provide evidence that these materials or equipment will contribute directly towards work done with survivors.

Community development project costs

This could include hui, training, planning, travel, evaluation and facilitator fees.

Community projects and events

This could include projects and events that:

encourage participation of survivor communities including their whānau
promote survivor community leadership, and/or
social, economic and cultural equity.

Unmarked graves

Research into unmarked graves.
Memorials – including plaques, reflective spaces and memorials.
Short-term projects to recognise unmarked graves in cemeteries.
Historical projects to mark the history of an institution and those who died while in its care.
Whakawātea or land healing ceremonies.
Other ceremonies or events appropriate for a specific region.

What we don’t fund

The Survivor Support and Recognition Fund is not able to consider applications from:

individual survivors, or
fundraisers whose purpose is to distribute money to others.

The fund is also unable to consider funding applications for:

projects that duplicate existing services (unless the request demonstrates there is a good reason for both services to exist),
debt repayment or debt servicing,
international travel,
reimbursement of past transactions or for completed work,
capital items such as land, buildings or renovations (with the exception of unmarked graves projects),
exhuming and bringing tūpāpaku home from unmarked graves, or
services, activities or programmes to be delivered overseas.

Where can individual survivors get support?

While the SSRF is not open to applications from individual survivors, a list of support services for survivors is available at Support available | Crown response to the Abuse in Care Inquiry.

How to apply if you are an NGO or community group

All applications from NGOs or community groups must be made through the online Grants Management System (GCMS):

What supporting documents you need to provide

Grant applications will only be accepted for consideration if they are complete, and all the required supporting documents have been provided.

All funding requests must include a budget. The type of budget you need to provide depends on what your request is for.

Operational costs - all the ongoing costs of running an organisation.
Project costs - costs related to a specific, one-off project.

The budget must cover your organisation’s financial year.

You also need to have up-to-date financial information uploaded to your organisation’s profile in GCMS. This includes financial statements no older than 18 months at the time of application.

Further information about budgets and financial reporting requirements can be found at the links below:

Signatory requirements

The person making the application on behalf of your organisation and all other signatories to the application and financial statements must:

be aged 18 years or over,
have the authority to act and/or to sign on behalf of the organisation,
not be an un-discharged bankrupt or participating in the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s No Asset Procedure,
have a daytime contact telephone number and be contactable during normal business hours, and
affirm that they do not have and are not aware of any conflict of interest arising with respect to the application.

If an application does not meet the signatory requirements it may:

be deemed incomplete and/or
any grant approved/paid may be required to be either written back or repaid.

Updating your organisation profile in GCMS

Updates to your organisation profile can only be made by a GCMS profile secretary.

If your organisation wants to change its listed profile secretary, you will need to:

email community.matters@dia.govt.nz with the names of the people your organisation wants to add/remove, and
attach evidence.

This evidence could include:

a signed letter from your organisation’s chairperson confirming the name of the person and authorising them to act as profile secretary, or
a signed letter from 2 trustees of your organisation confirming the name of the person and authorising them to act as profile secretary, or
a motion in your organisation’s meeting minutes (this is an action that is proposed and then agreed or affirmed) confirming the name of the person and authorising them to act as profile secretary.

How to apply if you are a local authority

Funding requests for projects relating to unmarked graves can only be created by Hāpai Hapori administrators.

This means eligible local authorities need to:

email SSRF@dia.govt.nz, then
wait for confirmation that a request has been created before logging into GCMS.

Once the funding request has been created by an administrator it will be added to your organisation’s list of saved drafts in the online grants management system.

If you need help submitting your grant application

If you need:

help with logging in to the Grants Management System,
help creating your organisation profile, or
advisory support,

please get in contact with us directly.

You can either:

email SSRF@dia.govt.nz, or
call us on 0800 824 824 (Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm).

Timeframe

Once your application has been successfully submitted through the online Grants Management System you will receive an email to confirm this.

If any questions have not been completed, or if any supporting documentation has not been provided, an advisor will follow up with you once we have reviewed the application.

Groups will be notified of the outcome of their funding request within 2 months of submitting a fully completed application.

If your application is successful

Successful grant recipients will be required to submit a report detailing:

how the grant funding was spent
how it contributed to the agreed outcome, and
how the survivor community benefited from the project.

If an organisation fails to submit a satisfactory report within the given timeframe, it may result in:

the Department making an application to have the organisation’s grant funding returned, and/or
no further grants being approved.

All grants may be subject to an audit by the Department.