Grants

To be eligible you must be able to demonstrate a link to our grant round purpose.

Who can apply?

• not-for-profit, charitable and voluntary 'community' organisations with a formal legal structure
• academic institutions 
• individuals and/or groups with no formal legal structure
• social enterprises (e.g. Charitable trusts, cooperatives or unions, etc.)

Our grant rounds are aligned with our strategic focus - you can read about our 2020 strategy here. And while we do have listed commercial entities as organisations we fund, we are always open to collaborative opportunities that support our grant purpose. Talk to us if that is the case.

Who and what is excluded?

We don’t usually fund website or app development. For research projects, we have funded overheads in the past, but depending on applications received, these may not be funded in the future.

It may also be helpful to review reports from other initiatives we have funded in the past here.

Alignment with purpose

Applicant has:

• identified how the initiative matches the InternetNZ purpose for this grant round
• outlined engagement within the community relevant to this initiative
• identified how the initiative can help address community goals and objectives

Potential benefit

Applicant has:

• indicated the expected outcomes and intended change to the community
• identified how and to what extent the initiative is addressing community/research needs
• identified the initiative’s ongoing commitments and viability if any
• identified the initiative’s relationship to any other related initiatives in New Zealand or internationally

Likelihood of success

Applicant has:

• shown clearly how the initiative will be implemented
• shown strong evaluation capabilities and planning; or the capacity and willingness to evaluation capabilities 
• outlined their approach and management of any ethical considerations
• provided evidence of commitment and support - ie. of involved or affected groups/communities, co-funding, in-kind support
• described the experience of the people applying, i.e. a successful track record of implementing initiative of this kind
• stated what qualifications they have that are relevant to the requirements of the initiative

Before you apply, read the section on eligibility to learn more. We encourage you to talk to us before submitting an application, especially if this is the first time you or your organisation has applied to us for funding. If you have any questions, get in touch with the Community team at funding@internetnz.net.nz.

The first thing you should do is check the grant purpose, eligibility, assessment criteria and deadlines. Give yourself plenty of time to complete the application.

We use SmartyGrants to administer our grants system so you will need to set up a profile.

We recommend you log into SmartyGrants to preview the application form ahead of time to familiarise yourself with what information you need to provide. You can start your application and save it as you go.

It takes 18 weeks for our grants to be processed. 

Once applications close, our Funding Panel meets to complete stage 1 assessments. Applicants who move onto stage 2 will be notified and asked to provide further detail on their application. We will guide you through this process. 

Our Funding Panel will meet again to assess stage 2 applications and make a final recommendation to our Chief Executive.

InternetNZ has a Funding Panel consisting of up to seven members including stakeholders from the Internet community, and covers skills and diversity as approved by the InternetNZ Council.

If you are the person submitting this application, make sure you’ve spoken to anyone involved in doing the mahi so that you are clear on why it needs doing, when and how it will unfold. 

It’s worth getting input from your colleagues, and seeking advice from others within your community or other researchers. It’s great if you refer to other people's work as evidence, but please reference appropriately and consistently.

In the initial application, we will ask you the total cost of your initiative and your funding request. If you progress onto stage 2 you will need to provide further detail on your budget including any changes.

When writing your application, you need to give enough detail so that we can understand what you are proposing to do and how you will do it - show us that you or your organisation has the capabilities to do this mahi, and it is feasible. 

We want to understand:

• why this work needs to be done,
• why you are the best people to do it,
• what the impact or change will be resulting from this work, and
• how you will measure or evaluate the impact. 

This may sound like a lot to pack in but remember brevity is also important so try to be concise. You can attach documents to support your application ie. CV, references, annual reports.

Check out the grant round budget to understand the total funding pool we have available. Until submissions close we won’t know how many worthy initiatives we will have to choose from. Generally successful applicants are granted between $10k - $35k per initiative.

We recommend you give clear accurate budget information so that we can understand the cost and impact of your intended work. You can look at past grant reports here to get a sense of the funding awarded in past years.

In the past, we have covered staff for project time and overheads. They should be clearly identified in the project budget. 

Our panel may suggest we do not cover overheads in some cases, so it's best to include all relevant information in your budget and see if we ask for further information.

We are happy to support an initiative that has existing or future potential supporters. For example, if our funding can help you get established and attract other funders, we are keen to help so let us know.

All grantee reports from our previous funding rounds can be found in our document library here.

Yes, go for it.

Whether you have had an application approved or declined in the past, is not an issue. We encourage you to have a chat with us before you submit your application so that we can explore whether your initiative sounds like a good fit with this grant round.

Our grant funding and sponsorship differ in a number of ways. We use both funding instruments to further our vision of an Internet that is open, secure and for all New Zealanders. However, our sponsorships have more of a commercial bent, and support growing our membership.

You will also notice we have on demand grants available for initiatives that don’t align with the timeframe or eligibility of a standard grant round. 

You can get a sense of the types of work we fund by exploring past grant reports here, or our sponsorships.

If you are unsure, get in touch with us at funding@internetnz.net.nz.

Our grantees provide a mid and final project report. We work with each grantee to determine what deadline is appropriate for reporting on their initiative. 

These reports go up on our website, so that we can share the learnings, and celebrate the wins.

If you have any questions please get in touch with the Community team at funding@internetnz.net.nz.