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Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED Next round open for applications across February 2025 $15,500.25 is available - this amount is to be spread over 12 months and two rounds.

--- help our kids get to sport.

• The Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund subsidises rural travel for individuals and junior teams and clubs aged 5-18 years.
• It helps players, and school and club sports teams who require financial assistance with transport costs so that they can participate in regular sports competitions, particularly those who need to travel a bit further than normal to use facilities or to be able to play against appropriate peers.
• The total annual budget of $15,500.25 for this year is spread across 2 ‘rounds’ (one every 6 months).
• This Fund helps make Ōtorohanga District a supportive and empowering place for our young people to grow.
• Please note! We have made some changes and taken your feedback on board. We have worked with Sport Waikato and are doing a trial for this fund that allows single players and individuals to apply. But these individual players cannot be applying for costs as part of a rep team. In order to check eligibility we may arrange an informal conversation with our Sport Waikato Regional Co-ordinator. All other criteria is the same. If you have any questions- just email us first.

Application Process

Funding will be allocated at a meeting at Council Chambers (17 Maniapoto St) on 16 October 2024. Applicants will be informed of decisions the following week. Remember this is a rolling fund, if you miss this round just apply for the next one in 6 months time. The next funding round after this on will be in February 2025.

If you are successful you are required to complete a CCS Grant Accountability Form . This tells us all about your project and how it went. It’s a good idea to get it done as soon as you finish.

Before you apply for a new project, you must complete the previous one by submitting an accountability form. If you don’t, you won’t be eligible.

Eligibility

Eligibility criteria includes:

• Teams from schools and clubs
• Single/individual players (as long as they are not applying for rep team costs)
• Costs must cover regular local sports competition out of school time
• Include events held at weekends and nights, but excludes inter-school and intra-school competitions run during school hours.
• Team members need to be aged between and including 5-18 years.
• Funding can cover costs such as van hire, petrol, petrol vouchers distributed to parents of the team members.
• Costs to travel across the wider Waikato region. As long as it’s for regular team competition/normal practice and not for annual or rep competitions.
• Any costs need to be factored from November 2024 onward, we cant cover anything before this.

Examples of hypothetical eligible applications;

• Maihiihi District Rural Primary School has three junior hockey teams and they play weekly games in Cambridge on Sunday morning. The school gives parents petrol vouchers to assist with driving their children to games.
• Ōtorohanga College has a senior netball team which has monthly competitions on Thursday night in Hamilton. They use the college van, but need to pay for the petrol.
• Kāwhia School has a junior rugby club which travels to play in Te Kuiti every second Saturday, they pay for a van and petrol.
• A young tennis player from KioKio travels to Te Awamutu for competition every Saturday and needs petrol vouchers.
• Korakonui School has two young rockclimbers who travel to Hamilton every Tuesday night to use the larger indoor wall and compete with peers at their skill level- funds will pay for petrol.

Eligible types of sport It's very wide! Everything from rock-climbing to rugby, BMX to basketball, hockey to horse riding.

What's not covered by the fund?

• Rep teams, or the costs of an individual to play in a rep team
• Rural school or club teams located outside of Ōtorohanga District
• Costs for coaches or officials
• Inter-school or intra-school competition during school hours
• Annual regional or national competitions - ie; events

Hypothetical examples of what is not eligible ;

• A young regional football rep team (of which some members are students in Ōtorohanga District schools) has gotten into a national rep competition to be held in Auckland.
• An individual swimmer who lives in district has been selected to be part of a Waikato Rep team and needs to travel to Hamilton for training and competition.

For full information on the fund, what's eligible and what's not, check out the guideline document .

Completing the application form

All applications must be made online here;

• Complete the form with all necessary information attached.
• Please double check your bank details are current, and all the numbers are correct
• Submit your application before the advertised closing date/time.

Please note: incomplete or late applications may be deemed ineligible and therefore may not be considered for funding.

• You'll be asked to register for Connecting Ōtorohanga (you won't be asked again and can use the same login to apply for other grants and participate in our public consultations and engagements).
• Download the supporting documents in the sidebar of this webpage, and have a look at the timeline.
• Make sure you are somewhere with a good internet connection
• All applications go onto our server which saves them all
• Our grants team will email you to let you know it has been received.
• If you need computer access , help completing the online form, or uploading the supporting information and documentation, head to Ōtorohanga Library where the friendly staff can help you get it all done.

If you have any questions about your application or need to talk about your idea, please email [email protected]

Application form below

• Fund Application

SPORT NZ RURAL TRAVEL FUND APPLICATION FORM

Documents you need to download.

TIMELINE OF GRANTS PROCESS

• APPLICATION WINDOW OPENS 01 February 2024
• APPLICATION WINDOW CLOSES 29 February 2024
• STAFF PROCESS ALL APPLICATIONS 01 February → 15 March 2024
• GRANTS COMMITEE READS ALL APPLICATIONS 01 April → 16 April 2024
• GRANTS COMMITTEE MEETING TO DELIBERATE AND SELECT SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS 17 April 2024

Te pūtea hāereere a Sport NZ

Sport nz rural travel fund.

Apply for funding

Getting involved in regular sport competitions is always a challenge for people living in rural communities. The Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund is:

• designed to help subsidise rural travel for junior teams
• targeted at young people aged between 5-19 years to assist school and club sports teams to participate in local sporting competitions.

Funding rounds

There's 2 funding rounds each year for winter and summer sports codes.

• Winter codes close the last Friday in April at 5pm.
• Summer codes close the 2nd Friday in November at 5pm.

Applications will only be considered from rural areas - this excludes Gisborne city.

Assessment criteria

The grant provides assistance for travel costs related to local regular sports competition for junior teams (5-19 year-olds)

The fund is not available for travelling to regional or national events.

School sports teams and sports clubs are defined as:

• a school sports team participating in regular local sport competition in the weekends, which excludes inter-school and intra-school competitions played during school time
• a sports club team participating in organised, regular sport competition through club membership outside of school time.

Selection process

Applications are considered by a local committee made up of Council staff and a Sports Gisborne Tairāwhiti representative who have an understanding of the challenges rural sports teams have.

How do organisations apply for funding?

Complete the application form or pick one up from our customer service centres.

Application form and guidelines

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Information to be provided with your application

Provide the following with your completed application form:

• a balance sheet from your organisation such as a financial statement
• a bank deposit slip  (in case your application is approved)
• evidence of your endorsement from your local affiliated club/school (if required)

Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

Find it, pay it, apply and subscribe

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Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund

The Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund's purpose is to provide quality sport opportunities and experiences for tamariki (children aged 5-11) and rangatahi (young people aged 12-18). Funding is to subsidise travel for rural junior sports teams aged between 5-18 years, removing the barrier of travel cost so they can compete in regular sporting competition, outside of school time.

The Selwyn Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund is not currently accepting applications.

Eligible teams

Applications for funding from the Rural Travel Fund can be made by rural sport club teams and rural school club teams within the Selwyn district, with members aged between 5 and 18 years, who require financial assistance with transport costs so that they can participate in local sporting competitions and events.

Eligible Travel

• A rural sports club team will be eligible for funding if it is participating in an organised, regular sports competition through club membership outside of school time.
• A rural school club team will be eligible for funding if it is participating in a regular local sports competition out of school time, which excludes interschool and intra-school competitions run during school time.
• Please note: Funding will not be provided for, and may not be used for, the purpose of travel to regional or national sports competitions.

To send your application or for more information on the fund, please email: [email protected]

• Application Form [PDF, 118 KB]
• Guidelines [PDF, 292 KB]
• Travel Calculations Spreadsheet [XLSX, 38 KB] (requires MS Excel)
• How to use Travel Calculations Spreadsheet [PDF, 537 KB]
• Accountability Report [PDF, 78 KB]

Questions and Answers

• Who can apply for funding? Sport club teams and school club teams within the Selwyn district, who have members aged between 5 and 18 years, and who meet the Rural Travel Fund eligibility criteria.
• Can individuals apply for funding? No, all applications must come from rural sport club teams or rural school teams. Funding will not be provided to individual players, coaches, or officials.
• Our team has applied for funding to help pay for travel expenses to get to National Champs. Are we eligible? No, you are not. Funding is only available for travel to regular, local competition. For example, Saturday morning or weeknight games.
• Can we get funding for our school team for a one off or annual inter school competition? No, funding is only available for travel to regular, local competition.

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Sport NZ Rural Travel fund

The Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund is designed to help subsidise rural travel for junior teams aged between 5-19 years. It helps school and club sports teams participate in local sporting competitions.

The grant application opens on Monday 4 March 2024 and closes on Friday 5 April 2024.

Who can apply

Application for the Rural Travel Fund is open to rural sports clubs and rural school teams with young people aged between 5–19 years who require subsidies to assist with transport expenses to local sporting competitions.

Applications must be for local competitions or events, and be made by sports clubs and school-based teams. Individuals are not eligible to apply. Funding is not provided for the purpose of travel to regional or national events.

Criteria for considering Rural Travel Fund applications

School club teams and sports club teams are defined as:

'a school club team participating in regular local sport competition in weekends, which excludes inter-school and intra-school competitions played during school time' and/or, 'a sports club team participating in organised, regular sport competition through club membership outside of school time'.

Funding will not be provided for the purpose of travel to regional or national events.

Accountability

Recipients of funding through the Rural Travel Fund are required to complete an Accountability Form within which they must:

Specify how the grant was spent and attach evidence of expenditure - such as receipts, invoices or signed statements by the club's accountant.

Report the benefits of having received the assistance.

How to apply

You can apply for this grant via our online form. 

• Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund Online Application

Or you can send a printable Sport NZ rural travel grant application form (PDF, 235KB)  to  [email protected] . 

It is recommended to fill out the pdf versions of forms in Adobe Reader , if they are filled out in a web browser, it may not save the information when the tab or browser are closed. If you are filling out in your web browser, please make sure to save the form before closing.

Further information

For further information on Rural Travel Fund, Please contact Waitaki District Council on phone 03 433 0300 or [email protected]

Related Information

• Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund Poster 2024 (PDF, 379KB)
• Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund Accountability Form (PDF, 221KB)
• Rural Travel Fund Guidelines (PDF, 292KB)

Related Pages

• Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund Guidelines

Sport New Zealand Rural Travel Fund

Updated on August 08, 2024

The funding round for 2024/25 is now open until 31 March 2025.

There is one funding round per year.

The Sport NZ Assessment Committee will meet at the end of April each year to consider applications.

This fund is supplied by Sport NZ and administered by the Rangitīkei District Council. The Committee is made up of two Councillors and the Mayor.

The fund was developed in response to concerns raised about the lack of participation in sport by young people living in rural communities. It is targeted at young people aged between 5 and 18 years, and is open to all rural sports clubs (including school club teams) with eligible members who require subsidies to assist with transport expenses to local sporting competitions.

An example is petrol vouchers for travel to local sporting events.

Before beginning the application process we recommend you check that your group is eligible for funding:

• are you a sports group with youth from 5-19 years of age?
• do you need financial help to travel to compete in your regular sporting competitions?
• are you in the Rangitīkei district?
• are you happy to provide accountability evidence?

If you answered yes, then we may be able to help. Please note that this funding is only for travel to regular local events, not regional or national. You will find more detailed information in the document below:

Sport NZ Guidelines 2024-2028

You can access the application form here:

Sport New Zealand Rural Travel Fund Application

The application process is now online. If you need assistance completing your application, please contact the administrator: [email protected]

Further information for the fund is available by:

• visiting the Council’s offices at 46 High Street, Marton or 102Hautapu Street, Taihape
• or phoning the Council on 0800 422 522
• or emailing info@[email protected]

Results for 2023/24

• Hunterville Sports Club
• Taihape Country Netball
• Taoroa School

Results for 2022/23

• Marton Junior Rugby
• Marton School
• Taihape Area School
• Hunterville Sports Club Inc
• Rangitikei College

Results for 2021/22

• Hunterville Sports Club Inc.
• Nga Tawa Diocesan School

Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund Accountability Form

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Sport New Zealand Rural Travel Fund

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This fund is designed to help subsidise travel for junior teams participating in local sport competition. The allocation of the fund is based on a population density formula for territorial authorities that have fewer than ten  people per square kilometre.

Developed in response to concerns raised by territorial authorities regarding a lack of participation in sport by young people living in rural communities. Geographical isolation, urban drift, lack of employment and training opportunities and access to mainstream funding were identified as barriers to sport participation.

Information required includes:

• Organisation details
• Number of participants
• What the funding will be used for
• How much funding is required
• Any funding from other organisations
• Financial statement
• Deposit Slip

Decision Process

Applications are considered approximately three weeks after the closing date. You can expect to receive notification of the result within the four weeks following the decision. The entire payment is then made by direct credit in your account.

Accountability

Sport New Zealand requires organisations who have received assistance to return an accountability form to Waitomo District Council showing proof of purchases made within that period and attach any receipts.

How to Apply

Applications open 1 October and close on 1 November.

• 2021 2024 Rural Travel Fund Guidelines (DOCX 617 KB)
• Accountability Form Rural Travel Fund V2 (1) (PDF 448 KB)
• Sport NZ Website

Rural Travel Fund

Funding applications for round two have now closed..

The Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund is designed to help subsidise travel for rural junior sports teams (5 to 18 year olds) participating in their local competition.

The Fund aims to remove the barrier of travel cost for junior sports teams and is administered by Kaipara District Council on behalf of Sport New Zealand .

2024 funding dates are:

Round One applications open 01 March 2024 and close at 4.30pm on 31 March 2024.

Round Two applications open 01 August 2024 and close at 4.30pm on 31 August 2024.

There are two rounds of the Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund each year - one in March and one in August- to represent both summer and winter seasons. Approximately $10,000 is available each round. Download the application form and Rural Travel Fund Guidelines:

• Application Form
• Accountability Form

We’ve moved our application process to an online system, SmartyGrants – which is used by councils and funding organisations across New Zealand. You will need to create a login to access the platform, which will make it easier for you to do future funding applications with any organisation using SmartyGrants. The system also allows you to save your form and share it with colleagues or community members to provide input before submitting your application. Create your login and submit your application on the  SmartyGrants website . If you have any problems, please email [email protected] – we’re here to help.

Once applications close, applications are reviewed and the Committee meet to make their decisions. Following this applicants are notified of the outcome. Meeting dates for the committee (historical and upcoming) can be found on the meetings page.

When your project is complete, you will need to fill out an Accountability Form detailing how you spent the money. 

Other funding providers

There are many trusts and organisations other than Council that support sporting activities. Check out the Sport Northland website and Sport New Zealand to see other funding opportunities available.

Previous successful applicants

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Act concerned by Auckland University of Technology’s travel funding guidelines

The Act Party is criticising a policy giving academics who identify as Māori and Pasifika preference when applying for travel as disadvantaging to those with the “wrong” ancestry.

Act obtained a copy of Auckland University of Technology’s (AUT) guidelines for funding researcher travel, which gives 30 per cent more points for Māori researchers and 20 per cent more for Pasifika.

The system for travel funding prioritises applications based on criteria such as distance, risk of travel and funding sources before an “equity multiplier” is applied.

Act tertiary education and skills spokesperson Dr Parmjeet Parmar said allocating travel funding based on race was disrespectful to those who would otherwise get funding based on merit.

Parmar emailed about 500 AUT researchers, after requesting a copy of the points system from AUT last week, asking for their thoughts on the policy and for more information on it.

“On the face of it, this raises concerns about fairness in funding and equal opportunity for students and academics of different backgrounds. I have requested from the university a copy of this criteria. However, the university has not responded,” the email said.

Parmar asked academics based at AUT for a copy of the international travel policy, “or more specifically its funding criteria/points system”.

“I would treat you as anonymous; I will not disclose the source of the information in any public comments, and I will redact any identifying information in any public release.”

Parmar claimed many researchers were unaware of the points system.

In an email to researchers and staff, vice-chancellor Professor Damon Salesa said he had spoken to Minister of Tertiary Education Penny Simmonds last week about the policy.

“In our conversation, and in a subsequent media interview, she noted that there was good rationale for the policy. She also affirmed the autonomy and independence of universities.

“We often prioritise groups to produce equitable outcomes and/or meet our strategic goals. In our case, the travel policy is designed - among other things - to promote sustainability, support emerging researchers, develop research impact and partnerships, and ensure we maximise benefits for the money we spend.”

Parmar said government agencies have been directed to allocate public resources according to need and value, not race.

“However, as the tertiary education minister has pointed out, universities are given autonomy under the Education Training Act 2020 to adopt their own policies. Of course, academics, politicians and taxpayers can still - and should - debate and challenge funding decisions.

“Act is deeply concerned that universities who fail to uphold equal opportunity for students and academics damage their own reputations and place divisive political ideology ahead of value for taxpayers,” Parma said.

AUT told RNZ the policy reflected its commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

“There is a critical shortage of Māori and Pacific academic staff in the university sector and our policy supports the need to address this.

“AUT proactively supports Māori achievement in tertiary education as part of our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Our approach to academic travel opportunities reflects this commitment,” AUT said.

Staff have access to the policy and criteria through the university’s intranet and the policy was also published on its website, it said.

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Act concerned by university's travel funding guidelines.

ACT Party Tertiary Education and Skills spokesperson Parmjeet Parmar. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith

The ACT Party is criticising a policy giving academics who identify as Māori and Pasifika preference when applying for travel, as disadvantaging to those with the 'wrong' ancestry.

ACT obtained a copy of Auckland University of Technology's (AUT) guidelines for funding researcher travel which gives 30 percent more points for Māori researchers and 20 percent more for Pasifika.

The system for travel funding prioritises applications based on a number of criteria like distance, risk of travel and funding sources before an 'equity multiplier' is applied.

ACT Party Tertiary Education and Skills spokesperson Dr Parmjeet Parmar said allocating travel funding based on race was disrespectful to those who would otherwise get funding based on merit.

Parmar emailed about 500 AUT researchers, after requesting a copy of the points system from AUT last week, asking for their thoughts on the policy and for more information on it.

"On the face of it, this raises concerns about fairness in funding and equal opportunity for students and academics of different backgrounds... I have requested from the university a copy of this criteria. However, the university has not responded.

"As an academic based at AUT, would you be able to send me a copy of the international travel policy, or more specifically its funding criteria/points system?

"I would treat you as anonymous, that is to say I will not disclose the source of the information in any public comments, and I will redact any identifying information in any public release."

Parmar claimed many researchers were unaware of the points system.

In an email to researchers and staff, vice-chancellor professor Damon Salesa said he had spoken to Minister of Tertiary Education Penny Simmonds last week about the policy.

"In our conversation, and in a subsequent media interview, she noted that there was good rationale for the policy. She also affirmed the autonomy and independence of universities.

"We often prioritise groups to produce quitable outcomes and.or meet our strategic goals. In our case, the travel policy is designed - amongst other things - to promote sustainability, support emerging researchers, develop research impact and partnerships, and ensure we maximise benefits for the money we spend."

Parmar said government agencies have been directed to allocate public resources according to need and value, not race.

"However, as the tertiary education minister has pointed, universities are given autonomy under the Education Training Act 2020 to adopt their own policies. Of course, academics, politicians, and taxpayers can still - and should - debate and challenge funding decisions.

"ACT is deeply concerned that universities who fail to uphold equal opportunity for students and academics damage their own reputations and place divisive political ideology ahead of value for taxpayers," Parma said.

In a statement to RNZ, AUT said the policy reflected its commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

"There is a critical shortage of Māori and Pacific academic staff in the university sector and our policy supports the need to address this.

"AUT proactively supports Māori achievement in tertiary education as part of our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Our approach to academic travel opportunities reflects this commitment," the statement read.

AUT said all staff have access to the policy and criteria through the university's intranet and the policy was also published on its website.

Copyright © 2024 , Radio New Zealand

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Charitable trusts to get boost through new iGaming brand

New Zealand Community Trust (NZCT), The Lion Foundation and Aotearoa Gaming Trust (the Trusts) have confirmed they are working together on an online casino initiative to protect and grow the essential community funding they provide across New Zealand.

The Trusts have established a joint venture company, Community Online Gambling Holdings Limited (COGHL), and have partnered with world class iGaming operators Super Group to deliver a world-class online casino offering under the ‘Kiwi’s Treasure’ brand (available at www.kiwistreasure.com ).

This initiative by the Trusts aims to protect the long-term sustainability of essential community funding by diversifying opportunities to generate funding.  In partnership with Super Group, COGHL plans to capture a share of revenue from this substantial existing online casino market. 

Proceeds from this initiative will be directed to improve Community, Sports, Arts, Culture, Health and Education funding throughout New Zealand.

The Trusts have teamed up because they are all experienced and trusted operators in the Class 4 gaming sector and have similar values, operating models, approaches to community funding and commitments to harm minimisation. COGHL will be separate from the Trusts’ existing Class 4 gaming activities and no Class 4 gaming proceeds will be used to fund this project.

Once online casinos are regulated in New Zealand, COGHL aims to secure an online casino licence in partnership with Super Group. Securing a licence will be critical in enabling COGHL to protect and grow the essential community funding the Trusts already provide throughout New Zealand.

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