GRANT MAKING POLICY
(Revised May 2017)
Purpose
Nikau Foundation’s vision is to build healthy, resilient, self-sustaining communities and our
grant making policy reflects this. Our mission is to grow generosity and social investment to
strengthen our Wellington communities in line with our values.
The purpose of this document is to determine the Foundation’s policy for the making of grants and
therefore ensure that all appropriate criteria are considered before approval is given.
The intent of this document is to guide potential grantees in their application process and also to
guide, but not restrict, our grant making.
General Criteria
All grants shall be made, in general, for the benefit of the citizens of the Wellington Region.
Grants may be approved for a specific part of the region but an attempt will be made to achieve an
overall geographic balance over time. In addition, some of our funds make grants outside the
region according to the donor’s wishes.
Top Tip: Applications should reflect the impact the grant will make on the region,
particularly where a Head Office located in Wellington is making an application.
Preference will be given to registered charities and not-for-profit organisations, but it is
recognised that there will be occasions where this preference cannot be fulfilled. It will be rare
that grants are approved for payment to individual persons unless through a particular scholarship
fund.
The essence of the community foundation model is that decisions are often based on our Donor’s
wishes. Donors may name a specific organisation to be funded, or a particular subject area they
are passionate about. e.g. Numismatics (coin collecting).
This may explain why some organisations seem to be funded every year, or they
receive larger grants than other organisations. Donor’s wishes will always take priority over
this policy, but where Trustee input is required within these donor wishes, this policy is to be
applied.
Revised August 2016
Specific Criteria
Applications demonstrating the following specific criteria have a better chance of being
successful. These criteria mean that Nikau Foundation is reaching emerging needs in our
community, and assisting organisations on a journey to sustainability including a move away from
a focus on grants income:
 Collaboration and partnerships between organisations with similar goals
 The strategic use of volunteers where appropriate
 Alignment with local or national strategies e.g. if your organisation is working with
the homeless, then are you aligned with the Government’s “Housing First”
programmes?
 Organisations who can demonstrate that they are operating programmes and
adopting strategies with a multi-cultural lens
 Initiatives that will grow capacity in your organisation that will lead to “gamechanging” development for you to deliver more impact, to more beneficiaries in the
region
 Broadening of your fundraising mix to boost income from individuals
 Commitment to ethical fundraising practices through membership of the Fundraising
Institute of New Zealand or Educate Plus. Amongst other important criteria, this
means whoever is carrying out your fundraising (either volunteers, paid staff,
contractor or agency) is not working on commission basis.
 Organisations that have followed the prescribed application process accurately and
have returned the evaluation forms for previous grants before their due date.
What we will fund and size of grants
Community Foundations have more flexibility than many others funders about what we are able
to fund. While we can support the usual programme costs, we are also able to fund:
 Salaries
 Capital expenditure
 Operating costs
 Travel and accommodation
 Fundraising costs
Consider: Can your application articulate what aspects of these budget lines are going to
grow your capacity and/or have a direct impact on the Wellington region?
Revised May 2017
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Unless your organisation is named by a specific donor, we are unlikely to be able to make grants
larger than $10,000. Nikau Foundation hopes to be able to make multi-year commitments and
larger grants as our funds under management grow.
Exclusions
Grants will not be made for the following purposes, unless it is a stated priority of a Donor:

Religious or political causes

Services which directly benefit an individual

Emergency relief, except where a major crisis affects part or all of the greater
Wellington communities

Retrospective projects
Grants Focus:
Nikau Foundation is open to applications from all organisations with a charitable purpose working
within our region. This includes arts, culture and heritage; health and medical research;
education; employment; social services, children and families, environment and conservation,
youth, aged care, etc. At present, few of our funds specifically identify Sports as a priority, but we
would still consider applications from those using sports to build capacity in other areas.
Geographically we have a responsibility to spread our grant-making across the whole region so we
are keen to reach every corner of the Greater Wellington Region.
Despite our wide mandate, the Board has identified the some focus areas for 2017 where we are
looking for innovation:
 Resilience - organisations assisting Wellington’s communities to prepare to “survive, adapt
and thrive” after acute and chronic stresses and shocks.
 Social enterprise loans – NF is interested in organisations that are preparing for, or
running social enterprises to improve their financial sustainability as part of their
fundraising mix. Please note that our budget to make social loans for 2017 has been met.
Conditions of Grants:


All grants made shall be used only for the purpose given and proof of this is required
All recipients will provide an evaluation of grant impact within six months of the grant
being made or in such other timeframe as determined by Nikau. Nikau will advise the
nature of the evaluation required as this varies for different funds.
Revised May 2017
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
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Recipients will recognise the Nikau Foundation and any Donor Fund(s) in your external
communications unless it is agreed that it is not practical to do so. Please visit our
website for a copy of our logo.
Recipients will provide updates and photos of funded projects throughout the year for
marketing purposes
Process:
Applications are made in accordance with the process outlined on the Foundation’s website. The
first step is to apply to Nikau through an Expression of Interest Form, which is available on the
Foundation’s website. Once this initial process is complete, we may request, as a second step, a
meeting or further information.
A shortlist of likely grantees is then submitted to the Grants Committee who will consider, on the
basis of any advice by the General Manager:
 Individual donor wishes or particulars
 The eligibility of any application(s) according to the criteria set out above
 The financial and administrative viability of any applicant(s)
The Grants Committee will then make the final recommendation to the full Board, usually in
August each year. Grants are paid by direct credit into a nominated bank account as soon as the
funds are available. This may vary depending on the fund the grant is coming from but is normally
in September and October each year.
Queries?
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions on 04 381 2224 or
[email protected] or http://www.nikaufoundation.org.nz/contact-us/
Revised May 2017
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