Funding Eligibility

We accept applications from formally constituted, not-for-profit organisations serving one or more Bay of Plenty communities.

The following entity types are formally constituted organisations:

• Charitable Trust
• Incorporated Society
• Limited Liability Company with Charitable Status

We do not accept applications from individuals or informal organisations.

The work the organisation does needs to align with at least one of our four priority areas.

Organisations will need to provide a budget, verification of their bank account and their last year's financial accounts to be eligible to apply (organisations under one year old do not have to provide financials).

We support operating costs and/or project costs

Operating cost grants are available to support the operating and administration costs of health, social and community development organisations. This may include operating costs for programmes for these types of organisations, and can include salaries or a salary component, plus general overheads of rent, power, phone, and administration costs etc.

Project cost grants are available to assist with funding one-off community projects, events, assets or programmes, within the ability of our Trust funds.

For both operating and project costs, the Trust does not usually support applications in excess of 50% of the total cost (exceptions can be made for the Strategic Partnership Funding). Applicant organisations are encouraged to have the balance in hand (or at least applications filed with other funders) before applying.

Applicable to all grants unless stated otherwise:

a) The Trust will not generally fund Funders;

b) The Trust will not accept:

• Applications from individuals, informal organisations; or for political purposes;
• Applications for travel, accommodation, or uniforms;
• Applications to build endowments (i.e. to build capital bases);
• Applications for the repayment of debt;
• Retrospective applications (i.e. lodged after the event);
• Applications for projects or activities that support the spiritual activity of religious organisations.

The Trust funds organisations that are not conducted for profit, where ownership is not held by an individual and where any surpluses do not accrue to an individual;

The Trust will not usually consider:

• Applications where the funds will be passed on to another organisation or organisations except where they meet the ‘umbrella’ requirements;
• Applications for costs/projects that are deemed to be the primary (over 80% funded) responsibility of local, regional or central government;
• Projects where at least 50% of the funding requirements are not being met by other parties (exceptions for Strategic Partnership funding and for applications that are innovative as determined on a case-by-case basis after discussions with Trust staff);
• More than one application from any organisation within a 12-month period, but flexibility may be allowed for in the following circumstances decided by staff on a case-by-case basis:
• Organisations applying for Quarterly Strategic funding where their application is for a separately identifiable project and/or is clearly innovative outside of general operating costs/business as usual;
• Organisations that have multiple activities or programmes that are clearly distinguishable, or cover more than one BOP sub-region, with separate cost centres and income streams.
• Projects or activities outside of our BayTrust region.

Alignment to BayTrust Priorities

1. BayTrust funds activities within the BayTrust boundaries that align with our priorities.
2. All applicants who do not clearly align with BayTrust’s priorities will be advised to first contact BayTrust staff prior to submitting a grant request. 

Funding Rounds

1. Community Support applications up to $50,000 will be considered monthly;
2. Quarterly Strategic funding applications over $50,000 and less than $250,000 will be considered quarterly;

Multi-year Funding

1. Will be considered on a case-by-case basis; 
2. Payments will be made annually subject to review;
3. Subsequent year’s grants will be paid out on receipt of a satisfactory audit/accountability form, budget for the next financial year and evaluation report (where applicable).

Umbrella Applications

1. The Trust will accept applications from a group acting as an “umbrella” for a collaborative project or an informal or un-constituted organisation, without this affecting the 12-month timing rule for the umbrella organisation. The application will be processed under the name of the umbrella organisation, with accountability for the grant being the responsibility of the umbrella organisation. Organisations are encouraged to contact BayTrust staff if this is the case.

Financial Position

1. The financial position of organisation applying for support must be considered, and a judgement will be made as to the level of cash reserves required.
2. Cash Reserves are defined as the group’s current assets minus current liabilities plus any non-current term deposits/savings (which may include funds held on behalf of the group by another entity) as provided in the group’s latest set of financial statements. Organisations with cash reserves over 12 months will be given lower priority for funding.

Insolvent organisations and organisations with negative cash reserves

1. Due to the risk that any grant may not be used to provide services in the future, but used to cover past losses, BayTrust will generally not provide funding to organisations who are insolvent, that is where their liabilities exceed their assets or where they have negative cash reserves.
2. Organisations applying to the Trust who are in this position will need to demonstrate how they are going to remedy this situation without the use of BayTrust grants before being eligible for funding.

Community Impact

The community impact of organisations applying for support will be considered with those organisations with limited community impact (for example they only benefit a few people in the community) being given lower priority for funding. View Impact scoring here

Financial Statements

All applicants will be required to submit financial statements that comply with the accounting standards applicable to them set by the External Reporting Board (XRB) – the Not-for-Profit Public-Benefit-Entities (NFP PBE) Standards.

Audit or Review of Financial Accounts

While BayTrust does not require an organisation to have their financial accounts audited or reviewed, it does require that organisations comply with both their deed and the Charities Act 2005.

One application per organisation per year

Under certain circumstances organisations may be permitted to have more than one application considered within a 12-month period:

1. Organisations applying to the Quarterly Strategic fund where their application is for a separately identifiable project and is clearly innovative outside of general operating costs/business as usual;
2. Organisations that have multiple activities or programmes that are clearly distinguishable, or cover more than one region, with separate cost centres and income streams.

An organisation considering a further application will need to discuss their case with staff in the first instance.

Accountability of Grants

Organisations that receive grants are asked to verify within twelve months, that the funds have been spent for the purposes specified in the approval;

1. Recipients of grants will also be required to complete an accountability and audit form form. Completion of the form is mandatory, and no further payments will be released until the form has been received;
2. Where the grant is for project costs, copies of invoices for individual items over $5,000 are required ($20,000 for Quarterly Strategic Funding grants);
3. For operating costs evidence from the organisation's accounting system or annual financial statements.