Community funding guide and checklist

If your project meets the eligibility requirements for multiple funds, you can apply using one application form.

If you have more than one project you'd like funding for, you'll need to complete a separate application for each project.

Funding is for the 2026/27 financial year only and cannot support multi-year projects. 

Successful applicants may receive less than the amount requested. 

Funds may be used for:

• Tangible goods (plants, building materials, etc)

• Services (project management, technical advice, education, etc)

• Community engagement (coordination, facilitation, etc)

• Capacity and capability (upskilling, salary, etc)

• Sponsorship/donation (events, awards, etc)

• Other on a case-by-case basis.

• Organisations and/or initiatives that are primarily political in nature

• Any project that will exclusively result in private gain

• Any project that is a legal obligation or condition of a resource consent

• Any project where the work does not align with at least one of our core services

All applicants must complete the online application form.

You may attach additional PDF or Word documents to your application; however, the assessment panel will base their decisions primarily on the information entered directly into the form.

If you require a paper copy of the form, please contact communitygrants@ecan.govt.nz

A detailed project budget is required.

• You must use this template, which includes the total project costs, funding requested, external funding sources and in-kind contributions.
• You must clearly state what components of your project any funding received from Environment Canterbury will be used for.

If applying to more than one fund, clearly indicate whether you are requesting funding for separate project components or asking the funds to consider supporting the same component. Where the requests relate to separate components, show the amount requested from each fund separately in your budget.

Applicants must include details of the project’s location if it takes place at specific locations (that is, GPS coordinates and area maps).

If your application is successful, you will be required to submit a letter with landowner permission if the project is being conducted on land that does not belong to the applicant. It is only mandatory if your application is approved.

If your application is successful, you will be required to submit a Health and Safety plan.

We have information and templates available to assist

This is not required during the application stage, but you are welcome to submit a Health and Safety plan if you have one. It is only mandatory if your application is approved.

A detailed project budget is required.You must:

1. use this budget template (Microsoft Excel, 64.67KB) which includes the total project costs, funding requested, external funding sources and in-kind contributions. 
2. clearly state what components of your project any funding received from Environment Canterbury will be used for.

Where funding is requested from multiple funds, you must clearly show which project costs will be funded by each fund. The same project cost cannot be claimed from more than one Environment Canterbury fund. 

If you do not have access to Microsoft Excel, you can use the free Google Sheets version of the budget template.

Using the Google Sheets budget template

1. Sign in to a Google account. If you do not have one, create a free Google account. You can use a new Gmail address or your existing email address. 
2. Open the Google Sheets budget template. Select Make a copy before entering any information. 
3. Complete your budget. Enter information in the green cells only. Do not change grey cells, alter formulas, or insert or delete rows. If you accidentally change a formula or grey cell, the calculations may not work correctly.. Before submitting, check that the budget shows Ready to submit. 
4. Download your completed budget. Select File → Download → Microsoft Excel (.xlsx). Rename the file to include your organisation or project name, then upload it with your application. 

Need assistance, email communitygrants@ecan.govt.nz

In-kind contributions can be staff time, materials or equipment that contribute specifically to your project. This can be provided by your organisation or by others who are involved in the project. For a contribution to count as in-kind, it must be specifically for the project and not something that would be done anyway. You may want to use volunteer hours as your in-kind contribution. Use this table to convert volunteer hours or other in-kind contributions to a dollar amount:

  Charities Services, Incorporated Society registration, or NZBN number (you will need this if you are applying to the Waitaha  Action to Impact Fund, or the Christchurch and Banks Peninsula Biodiversity Fund)

  Applicant’s contact details

  Information showing your project meets the fund-specific eligibility criteria and aligns with the fund’s priorities 

 Project description and delivery plan

 Completed project budget template - which includes total project costs, funding requested, external funding sources and in-kind contributions 

 Project-specific health and safety plan (if you have one). Please note - this is not required unless you have been granted funding

 A map or grid reference (latitude, longitude) for each location 

 Landowner permission, if the land does not belong to the applicant or requires access approval. Please note- this is not required unless you have been granted funding. 

Applying is now easier with one application form covering all three contestable funds.

• If your project is eligible, you can apply for multiple funds through the same application.

Submit your application online

Email the community grants team

Creating a user profile through our engagement site allows you to: 

• Save your work as you go 
• Have multiple people collaborate on one application 

If you don’t create a profile, you’ll need to complete the form in one go. 

After submitting your application, you’ll receive a confirmation email and a copy for your records.

If you don’t receive confirmation, contact communitygrants@ecan.govt.nz

When we receive your application, we’ll check it for completeness and let you know if any additional information is required. 

If you're unsure which fund suits your project, email communitygrants@ecan.govt.nz — and if we think your application fits better elsewhere, we'll let you know. 

If you have ideas for making the application process easier or have any questions, please email us at communitygrants@ecan.govt.nz

We’ll acknowledge your application when it’s received and request any extra information needed.  

All applicants will be notified of the outcome by January 2027.  

Successful applicants will receive information on next steps, including how and when funding can be accessed. 

The funds are contestable, which means funding is competitive. Community groups, rūnanga, and other organisations apply, and applications are assessed against criteria to decide which projects will receive funding.

Your project must align with the priorities that are spelled out in the specific fund/s that you are applying for. Please see the fund specific webpage/s for more detail.

We will assess whether your application is eligible, based on the fund specific eligibility criteria. All eligible funding applications will then be assessed. A panel of our senior staff will assess applications.

Decision-making for all contestable funds will consider the following high-level criteria:

Applications will be scored based on the criteria above and weighted accordingly, depending on the fund’s purpose (please refer to the fund specific page for more information on this).

A decision panel of senior staff will be convened and the scoring will guide the decision panel in allocating funding.

Funding is released within two months of successful applicants being notified. This timeframe is dependent on how quickly recipients provide their required funding documentation.

• Example: If projects are notified in January 2027, funding should be released no later than March 2027, provided recipients have provided their required documentation.

• If there are risks or hazards associated with your project, you are required to submit a health and safety plan before we can provide any funding – see below for further information.   
• You will sign a funding agreement outlining project deliverables, milestones, and timeframes. 
  • Work that has already been completed, or work started before the funding agreement is signed, will not be funded. 
• Reporting will be required, including how funds were used and what was achieved. Templates and examples are available to support your reporting. 
• Accountability requirements will be proportionate to the size of the grant. 

• We publish a list of successful applicants, their funding amounts, and a brief description of each project on our website and we may cover some projects in quarterly and annual reporting. 

A project specific Health and Safety Plan is required for successful applications. If there are significant risks, our Health and Safety staff must review and approve your plan before funding can be released.

Please note that you will need relevant qualifications (that is, grow safe qualifications, chainsaw operator certificate) relating to your high-risk activities.

Independent risk management contractor Paul Coleman from ‘Think What If’ has developed this webinar to support grant recipients through developing health and safety plans

• Bird flu (high pathogenicity avian influenza, or H5N1) is a highly infectious virus that primarily affects birds. It can affect a wide range of bird species including seabirds, shorebirds, waterfowl, and poultry, and has also been detected in some mammal species. The overall risk to human health remains low.
• New Zealand has now recorded its first detections of H5 bird flu. The first being a single wild seabird (a brown skua) having tested positive in Wellington on Wednesday 15 July 2026. There is currently no evidence of transmission among wild birds in New Zealand, no reports of mass bird deaths, and no detections in poultry. The situation is being closely monitored by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and partner agencies.
• If you see three or more sick or dead wild birds together, do not touch them. Report them to MPI's Exotic Pest and Disease Hotline on 0800 80 99 66
• Please note that some bird-related activities may be affected if HPAI H5N1 is detected in Canterbury and there may be a requirement to submit further risk mitigation information if a project relates directly to birds.

Stay up to date about H5 bird flu.