Social & Recreation Fund
This fund aims to foster strong, sustainable communities and support building capacity in the community.
First-time applicants
Read the information on this page, then register and apply online through our funding portal:
Funding Portal - Apply Online
Check your application status
If you've already applied for funding, you can log in to the funding portal to check the status of your application or add information.
Go to Funding Portal
About this fund
The Social and Recreation Fund supports projects that contribute to our strategic direction and include scope to:
support social entrepreneurialism
prioritise neighbourhood activity
support the strategic planning of sports codes.
A number of key social policies have recently been reviewed, such as the Positive Ageing Policy, the Accessible Wellington Action Plan and Te Mahana (our draft strategy to end homelessness). Local residents and progressive associations can also be supported through this fund.
Past Allocations (113KB PDF)
Fund objective
To foster strong, sustainable communities and support building capacity in the community.
Fund criteria
Your project makes a positive contribution to achieving the Council's Strategic Outcomes
Towards 2040: Smart Capital strategy
People Centred City: Contributes to healthy, vibrant, affordable and resilient communities, with a strong sense of identity and ‘place’ expressed through urban form, openness and accessibility.
Connected City: Supports a city with easy physical and virtual access to regional, national and global networks.
Eco-City: Allows the city to proactively respond to environmental challenges and seize opportunities to grow the green economy.
Dynamic Central City: Supports a central city of creativity, exploration and innovation, helping Wellington to offer the lifestyle, entertainment and amenity of a much bigger city.
Long Term Plan 2012-22 priorities
An inclusive place where talent wants to live
A resilient city
A well managed city
Annual Plan priorities for the relevant year.
The project is Wellington-based and mainly benefits the people of Wellington (exceptions may be made for projects based elsewhere in the region, but which significantly benefit Wellington City residents).
The applicant is a legally constituted community group or organisation
The applicant provides evidence of sound financial management, good employment practice, clear and detailed planning, clear performance measures, and reporting processes.
The applicant outlines how physical accessibility has been built into project development.
The applicant outlines how pricing has been set to ensure access by a wide range of people or by the intended users.
The project should show evidence of community support, collaboration, and building partnerships with other organisations (e.g. social media interest, letters of support from other organisations/leaders).
The applicant must show that the project discernibly improves community wellbeing and adds value to the range of similar types of services in the community.
Māori are often over-represented in many determinants of social deprivation. Outline how the specific needs of Māori have been incorporated into the planning of your project.
Emergent and innovative community projects can be supported through this fund. Applicants that apply under this category will need to demonstrate the transformative nature of the project.
To find out more about these criteria, see the application guide:
Social and Recreation Guide (251KB PDF)
Focus areas
Build capability and capacity within the community
Priority will be given to projects that:
strengthen the local community, address local issues, strengthen and contribute to social wellbeing
support volunteers and foster skill development and training for the community.
Promote personal and community safety
Priority will be given to projects that:
support community activity that enhances Wellington as an International Safe Community
support projects that enhance community safety and/or personal safety.
Physically active communities encouraging health and wellbeing
Priority will be given to projects that:
target communities of interest, including youth and seniors.
support the strategic planning of sports codes.
Youth
Priority will be given to projects that:
involve young people in the development and delivery of the project
help young people gain a better understanding of community, an increased sense of belonging as active citizens and positive contributors to society
promote volunteer opportunities for young people.
Community preparedness
Priority will be given to projects that:
strengthen local neighbourhood connectedness in an ongoing manner
increase community resilience and emergency preparedness locally.
Additional criteria for residents and progressive association applicants
The organisation must:
be registered with Wellington City Council Community Services as a residents/progressive association, contact our Senior Advisor Funding and Relationships on 803 8525
have a committee
meet at least twice a year and keep minutes of these meetings
have an active membership of 10 or more, excluding the committee
keep accurate and detailed accounts
agree to make their accounts and minutes available to Wellington City Council on request.
You will need to be a legal entity (as per the Social and Recreation Fund criteria)
When submitting an application residents and progressive associations should
give a summary of their current membership and how often they hold meetings
provide a copy of minutes from recent meetings.