Examples of who can apply:

• Hapū, iwi, marae, Māori organisations

• Primary and intermediate schools/kura

• Secondary schools/wharekura

• Tertiary education/whare wānanga

• Charitable trusts

• Regional or local councils

• Incorporated societies

• For-profit businesses/commercial organisations and social enterprises

Examples of who cannot apply:

• National organisations who already receive Partnership Investment from Sport New Zealand Ihi Aotearoa

• Government agencies and their regional branches (e.g. Ministry of Health, Oranga Tamariki)

• Early learning services

• Professional or semi-professional sports teams and organisations

• Individuals

​​​​​​​If you want to apply but do not have legal status, we recommend you consider partnering with a qualifying (legal) entity.

This is an activation fund to help cover programme or service delivery costs. This includes costs of:

• Programme or project delivery (e.g. venue or equipment hire, transport to event)
• Equipment (as part of a programme or project)
• Officials, where these are required for the delivery
• Delivery staff wages (e.g. activity leader, coordinator).

The fund does not cover:

• Costs of retrospective programmes or events (those already completed or held)

• Costs associated with representative teams (including uniforms, travel or accommodation), academies, professional athletes or pro sports teams

• Capital infrastructure (for example, facility development or playgrounds)

• Administration and ongoing costs (for example, rent, internet or power)

• Wages or annual salaries of existing funded staff or staff not involved in the planning or delivering of the project or programme

• Medals, prizes, giveaways and spot prizes.

Please be aware your application must be for a programme or project up to 12 months (i.e. you cannot apply for costs past a one-year delivery period).

The major funding round will be open from Tuesday, July 1 until Thursday, July 31, 2025. Following this, two Fast Fund rounds will be conducted in November 2025 and February 2026. 

Sport Canterbury has a total of $1,493,613 in funds available:

• The major funding round is for applications up to $30,000
• The fast fund is for applications up to $10,000.