Grants Support
We can help local groups with their grant funding in three ways.
Admin & Technical support for applying for a grant in your own name
If you are a legal entity with a bank account you may prefer to apply for grants in your own name, but are new to the process.
We can help you get started:
Explain how to search for Funders, and check their Eligibility criteria to see if your project might fit.
Show you how to get started with online grant application tools.
Show you examples of other grant applications.
Explain how to provide supporting documents such as your Financial statement, a project budget, quotes from suppliers, and letters of support.
Acting as your “umbrella” funder
Some groups are informal – they are not “incorporated” meaning they do not have a legal entity. Sometimes they do not have a bank account. AECN can act as “umbrella” funder for a grant application for a project.
Here is how it works:
You supply us with your project description, budget, and get supplier quotes for the various line items, and letters of support.
Once we agree to act as your “umbrella” funder, and we agree on one or more grant funders:
– We apply as AECN, acting for you.
– We give our bank account details, and our AECN financial statement.
– We pass on your project description, budget, quotes and letters of support.If/when our grant is approved, the money goes into a separate part of our bank account. For each expense:
– You send us each invoice which you approve, that matches part of your budget
– We pay the invoice from the grant money we hold for you.
– We keep you informed of the remaining balance. Unused funds must be refunded after the end of the project.After your project/event is completed, we complete the Accountability Report for the grant funder.
In 2025 we are considering charging a fee of about $200 for each project.
An example was the February 2024 Eastern Bays Sustainable Garden Trail where we acted as “umbrella” funder.
Our AECN Small Grants program
In late 2024 we started our Small Grants program for amounts under $1,000. We have a very simple, streamline process.
Once we learn about your project, and your interest in our Small Grant support:
We personally visit you to learn about you and your project.
We tell you if we think your project is something we can consider supporting.
We return to ask you to sign a 1-page Application with brief details about your grant request.
We discuss the easiest way we might deliver the funds – see examples below.
Our Committee meets monthly to decide on each Small Grant application.
We tell you the decision and deliver the funds, in the way we agreed.
Examples:
For the Meadowbank Community Garden group we bought a $400 gift card at Kings Plant barn for them to buy materials and plants. No accountability reporting is needed.
For the Playday Early Learning Centre, we paid $500 towards their lease costs at their new location in the Ōrākei Baptist Church. No accountability reporting is needed.