Foundation North Grants 2026: Amounts, Rules and Data

Grantsights builds grant tools for United States funding only, so nothing here sells you a product: it's a free guide built from Foundation North's own rules and grant records. If a New Zealand version of our tools would help, let us know you're in New Zealand.

Foundation North at a Glance in 2026

Foundation North has 2 main pathways and 3 time-limited funds, all applied for through its online Funding Hub. Here's what was open on 29 October 2026, from the Foundation's funding page (opens in a new tab) and fund pages.

The Foundation operates under the Community Trusts Act 1999, and its trustees (up to 15) are appointed by the Minister of Finance, according to the Foundation North annual report for the year to 31 March 2026. Its net assets were $1.899 billion at that date. That endowment, not lottery or gaming money, pays for every grant, which is why Foundation North has no venue-area rules like the gaming trusts covered in our Four Winds Foundation guide.

Board dates for $200,000 or more. Community Grant requests of $200,000 or more go to the Board of Trustees, and you'll hear within a week of the meeting. The FAQ lists these meetings and submission cut-offs:

So a large request lodged in late October 2026 is aiming at the February 2027 Board, and one that misses early November slips to March.

What 1,247 Foundation North Grants Show

Grantsights analysis of the Foundation's Grants Approved list covers 862 grants worth $71.84 million approved in the 2025/26 financial year (April 2025 to March 2026), plus 385 grants worth $32.20 million approved from April to September 2026. Three findings matter for applicants.

1. Two kinds of funder share one name. Quick Response Grants are numerous and small, while Community Grants and Impact Funding carry the money.

Source: Foundation North Grants Approved list, rounds Q1 to Q4 2025-2026, downloaded 29 October 2026.

Impact Funding is the Foundation's proactive pathway. Its strategic plan describes it as backing prototypes, new ideas, capacity building and system change, and there's no open application form for it. So for most groups, the realistic choice is Quick Response or Community Grant, and those two together paid $38.97 million across 744 grants.

2. The grant sizes cluster at two points. 99 grants were exactly $25,000, the Quick Response ceiling, and 491 of 862 (57%) were $25,000 or less. Above that, the tail is long.

The largest single grant in the period was $5,206,479 of Impact Funding to Te Runanga O Te Rarawa Trustee Limited in the Far North (Q1 2025-2026). Ordinary Community Grants can also be large. For example, Aktive received $1,022,680 in Auckland (Q3 2025-2026) and Habitat for Humanity Northern Region Limited in Whangārei received $1,380,000 (Q2 2026-2027).

3. Northland gets far more than its share of grants suggests. The list records each grantee's location, and Northland's three districts stand out.

Far North, Whangārei and Kaipara together received 209 grants (24%) but $28.36 million (39.5%) of the 2025/26 money. Much of that is Impact Funding: Northland took 56.7% of Impact Funding dollars, but 25.5% of Quick Response and Community Grant dollars. That fits the strategic plan, which names communities of Northland and of South Auckland as priority communities. North Shore groups, by contrast, got 38 grants with the lowest median of any area.

Sectors. Using the list's sector filter, social services led with 268 grants and $21.0 million, followed by environment (83 grants, $13.18 million), arts and culture (203 grants, $10.01 million), marae (30 grants, $9.78 million), education and research (58 grants, $6.54 million), recreation and sport (123 grants, $4.86 million) and health (75 grants, $3.63 million). Arts and sport grants are many but small: the median arts grant was $18,890 and the median sport grant $16,852, against $91,524 for marae.

Recent examples from the list. In Q2 2026-2027, Heart Kids New Zealand Charitable Trust received a $25,000 Quick Response Grant, the Kaitaia Group of Riding for the Disabled Association received $11,100, Hakaru Community Hall & Domain Society in Kaipara received $20,000, and the Auckland Philharmonia Trust received a $120,000 Community Grant. Pananawe Marae, listed under Kaipara, received a $48,678 Community Grant in the same round.

Limits of this data. The list shows approvals only, not applications or declines, so it can't give a success rate, and Foundation North doesn't publish one. Some grants are multi-year totals. Grants with outstanding conditions aren't listed yet. A handful of entries labelled Quick Response Grant exceed $25,000 (5 in 2025/26, up to $75,000), and the list doesn't say why.

Who Can Apply and the Five Eligibility Questions

Foundation North says you're eligible only if you can answer yes to all 5 of its questions:

1. Does your work strongly fit one of the 4 focus areas: Increased Equity (Hāpai te ōritetanga), Social Inclusion (Whakauru mai), Regenerative Environment (Whakahou taiao) or Community Support (Hāpori awhina)?
2. Does your group have a charitable purpose, with no private or individual gain?
3. Does it benefit Auckland or Northland communities?
4. Can you supply recent signed annual accounts, a detailed budget and one letter of support?
5. Have you checked it isn't on the exclusions list?

Eligible organisations. The who can apply guide (opens in a new tab) lists charitable trusts, incorporated societies, marae, statutory bodies, branches of organisations registered under an Act of Parliament, and companies with charitable status. A limited liability company without charitable status can apply only if it spells out the charitable purpose and separates for-profit from not-for-profit activity. If a project could earn significant revenue beyond fair pay for practitioners and project costs, the Foundation says it's unlikely to be eligible.

Unregistered groups. You can't apply in your own right, but you can apply under a registered umbrella organisation. Both your group and the umbrella must be registered on the Funding Hub, and both supply documents.

The boundary. The region runs from Cape Reinga south to a line from Port Waikato Head along the Waikato and Whangamarino rivers and Mangatangi Stream to Miranda, and includes the Hauraki Gulf islands. A group based elsewhere can be considered only if the work directly benefits the region.

Priority communities. The Foundation prioritises tangata whenua, Pacific peoples, communities of Northland, communities of South Auckland, children and young people, former refugees, new migrants (fewer than five years in New Zealand), Rainbow communities and people living with a disability, plus work on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and climate action. Its funding page says a request has a greater chance if it aligns closely with a focus area and is clearly for, by and with one or more of these communities.

What Foundation North Won't Fund, and Where It Caps Grants

The exclusions and limitations guide (opens in a new tab) is the page most applicants skip, and it's where many requests fail. It lists 8 capped categories and a long list of exclusions.

Caps on specific requests:

Excluded: school facilities, resources, equipment, uniforms, halls, pools and core curriculum delivery; new early childhood centres; tertiary institutions (except one application a year through a university's foundation); academic research; council-maintained sports fields; leaky building repairs; roads and street lighting; facilities owned by government or council-controlled organisations; feasibility studies, consents, quantity surveyor or architectural drawings, and building purchases; core health services, hospitals, hospices, rescue helicopters, fire and ambulance services; retrospective costs, debt repayment, refinancing and endowments; individuals; overseas costs; religious or political objectives; fundraising; and conferences.

Programmes delivered in schools are considered only by exception. You'd need letters of support from the schools, evidence of community need, clear benefit to priority communities rather than to young people generally, and evidence that government funding isn't available. The Foundation applies this even if it has funded the same programme before.

How to Apply, Step by Step, With Real Timelines

The application runs through 7 steps in the Foundation's process, and the full cycle from registration to money in the bank is realistically 3 to 6 months.

1. Register on the Funding Hub (opens in a new tab). Processing takes 1 to 3 working days. Every person needs their own login with a personal email address; a shared address such as funding@ won't work.
2. Complete the organisation profile and request. Every question in the profile and the form must be answered for the request to count as complete.
3. Attach the documents. The documents to submit guide (opens in a new tab) asks for annual accounts no older than 16 months, signed by the Chair, meeting New Zealand's reporting standards (the XRB Tier 4 not-for-profit requirements (opens in a new tab) for small groups) and including a Statement of Service Performance; and a forward budget showing all income sources, including this request. First-time applicants, and anyone without a grant in the last 5 years, also need one letter of support no more than 6 months old.
4. Initial review. Staff check completeness within 3 to 5 working days.
5. Assessment. This takes 2 to 4 months. Assessors ask about focus-area fit, priority communities, community need, other providers, your track record, financial health, risk, evaluation, lead time and other income.
6. Decision. You get an email and a decision letter in the Funding Hub.
7. Payment and reporting. Payment comes within a month of conditions being met, on a fortnightly Monday payment run. An impact report is due when the grant is spent, and you can't get another grant until it's in.

Extra documents in some cases. Building work needs consents lodged or approved, land ownership or lease evidence and a feasibility or condition report. Environmental requests need a council map, land status, a threatened species list and evidence of ecological awareness. Heritage projects need a letter of support from Heritage New Zealand. Accounts don't have to be audited unless your own rules require it, but for requests of $300,000 or more with unaudited accounts the Foundation may ask for more information. One quote per item is enough, and grants exclude GST if you're GST registered.

Events. The Foundation doesn't fund retrospectively and can't process urgent requests, so it asks for event applications at least 6 months before the event date. A March festival needs to be in by September.

Help before you apply. The Funding Support Team is on 0800 272 878, the Foundation pays for an interpreter in any language, and its advisors run AWHI funding sessions; the next listed were 16 November 2026 in Te Tai Tokerau and 18 November 2026 at 50 Ponsonby Road, Auckland.

What Foundation North Doesn't Tell You

The funding pages are clear about rules. The grants list adds context they leave out, and Grantsights checked each point below against the published records.

The Quick Response ceiling is where the action is. 99 of 420 Quick Response Grants in 2025/26 were exactly $25,000, and the median was $11,892. If your project genuinely needs $40,000, a Community Grant is the honest route, but expect the 4-month clock instead of 2 months.

Community Grant medians are high, so don't undersell a real project. The median Community Grant was $70,000. A $30,000 Community Grant request isn't unusual, but if the work costs $28,000 you may get a faster answer by trimming it to a $25,000 Quick Response request. Don't pad a budget to look bigger: assessors compare it with your accounts.

One grant a year changes the strategy. Approval starts a 12-month stand-down, and you can only have one request in at a time. A common mistake is spending this year's slot on a small equipment request just before a larger operating request is ready. Plan which request is worth your one grant.

Repeat funding happens, but it's spaced out. Of 1,115 organisations in the 18 months of data, 131 received more than one grant, consistent with the 12-month rule rather than automatic renewal.

Demand is rising. The Foundation's 2026 Annual Impact Report says funding requests were at a three-year high in March 2026, while its approvals grew modestly from $68.2 million to $72.0 million. The 2- and 4-month times are targets for complete requests, and the FAQ warns timeframes may shift in busy periods.

The North Shore and Rodney see small, few grants. Areas outside the priority communities still get funded, but at lower medians. If your group serves a well-resourced suburb, show clearly which priority community benefits or expect a tougher assessment.

The building fund is a two-year cycle. Community Building Projects runs every two years. The 2026-27 round's expressions of interest closed on 5 June 2026, and only invited groups could submit full applications by 30 October 2026. If you missed it, the next chance is roughly two years away; meanwhile minor repairs and upgrades can still go in as a Quick Response (up to $25,000) or Community Grant (up to $100,000).

Common Reasons Foundation North Requests Fail

Foundation North doesn't publish decline statistics, but its own pages describe 6 problems that stop or sink a request:

• An incomplete request. Unanswered questions or missing documents mean the request isn't complete, and the 2- or 4-month clock doesn't start.
• Out-of-date accounts. Accounts older than 16 months, unsigned, or missing the Statement of Service Performance won't pass.
• Retrospective or urgent costs. Costs already incurred are excluded, and the Foundation says it can't process urgent requests.
• Weak fit with the focus areas. The assessment's first question is whether the work aligns strongly with a focus area and priority community. "Generally good for the community" is a weak answer.
• Excluded items. School, hospital, building purchase, feasibility study and debt requests fall at the first hurdle.
• Missing impact reports. An unsubmitted report from a past grant blocks any new request.

If you're declined, the FAQ says you can talk to the funding team between 9am and 5pm on weekdays. You can't resubmit the same request, but you can apply for something else straight away.

When Foundation North Is the Wrong Fit

Some groups will do better elsewhere first, and the best route depends on what you're funding:

• Outside Auckland and Northland: in Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough or the Chatham Islands, see our Rātā Foundation grants guide; in Waikato, see our Trust Waikato grants guide.
• Sports equipment, uniforms and travel: Foundation North caps youth uniforms and equipment at $10,000. Class 4 gaming trusts fund a lot of club costs; compare NZCT grants, Pub Charity grants and The Lion Foundation.
• National Lottery money: Lottery Community and other committees are covered in our Lottery Grants Board guide.
• Arts projects and individual artists: Foundation North doesn't fund individuals, so look at Creative New Zealand's funding and support pages (opens in a new tab) and our Creative NZ funding guide.
• Large conservation projects: the DOC Community Fund (opens in a new tab) was closed on 29 October 2026; its 2026 round awarded $9.2 million to 20 groups from 121 applications asking for more than $69 million.
• Checking a funded group: most recipients are registered charities, and their annual returns are on the Charities Register (opens in a new tab), a useful way to see what a similar group spends and who funds it.

Sources Checked

All sources were read or downloaded on 29 October 2026:

• Foundation North, Funding (opens in a new tab): pathways, eligibility questions, process timeline and focus areas
• Foundation North, FAQs (opens in a new tab): decision times, Board dates, reapplying, payments and letters of support
• Foundation North application guides: Who can apply (opens in a new tab), Exclusions and limitations (opens in a new tab), Documents to submit (opens in a new tab), How do we assess? (opens in a new tab) and Policy requirements (opens in a new tab)
• Foundation North, Grants approved (opens in a new tab), rounds Q1 2025-2026 to Q2 2026-2027, with location and sector filters
• Foundation North, Strategic plan (opens in a new tab) (priority communities and boundary) and About the Foundation (opens in a new tab)
• Foundation North fund pages: Te Māhuri o te Taiao (opens in a new tab), Asian Artists' Fund (opens in a new tab) and Community Building Projects (opens in a new tab)
• Foundation North, Annual reports (opens in a new tab): 2026 Annual Impact Report and 2026 Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements (year to 31 March 2026)
• External Reporting Board, Tier 4 not-for-profit reporting requirements (opens in a new tab)
• Department of Conservation, DOC Community Fund (opens in a new tab)
• Creative New Zealand, Funding and support (opens in a new tab)
• Charities Services, Charities Register search (opens in a new tab)