1. Professional development for your organisation e.g.

• Towards a tertiary qualification for a staff member
• External professional supervision
• Travel to, and attendance at, a conference for several staff members
• Group training on a specific issue (for example trauma informed practice)
• Group Te Reo classes
• Governance training for an organisation’s board
• A workforce development plan or a strategic planning day

Your application should focus on how this professional development or upskilling will support your organisation to do its work more effectively.

2. (New!) Professional development for your sector e.g.

• Putting on an annual conference for your sector (in Wellington Region only)
• Providing grant writing support to small non-profit organisations
• Coordinating a support network for your sector

Your application should focus on how this professional development will support the entire sector, with a focus on the Wellington region.

Regardless of what you want funding for – the overall work your organisation does should meet at least one of our General Granting criteria:

• Increase community self-determination
• Meet immediate community need
• Increase access and Inclusion for those who experience disadvantage and exclusion
• Increase preservation and protection of natural spaces

In addition:

• Applications must primarily benefit the Wellington region
• Applicants must have a charitable purpose – this usually means you have either charitable or incorporated society status (if you do not yet have charitable status, or are unsure of your status – please call us to discuss)
• You may apply for one LIFT grant and one General Grant in the same financial year.

Up to $10,000.

In some cases you may be able to apply for over $10,000 for a LIFT grant. Please contact WCF to discuss before putting in your application.

You must be registered with WCF’s funding portal to apply for a LIFT grant. You can apply for this grant using the LIFT application.

You may apply for one LIFT grant and one General Grant in the same financial year.

In addition to WCF’s General funding exclusions, there are several LIFT-specific exclusions. WCF will not fund:

• individual consultants, contractors, or education/training businesses
• backfilling a staff member who is undertaking professional development
• professional mediation or conflict resolution within an organisation
• organisations to put on conferences in other parts of New Zealand

General Exclusions. WCF does not fund:

• retrospectively
• central or local government
• commercial ventures (we do fund social enterprise)
• endowments, capital funds, and other trust funds holding investments
• core healthcare services, including primary and secondary health services
• individuals, including scholarships and organisations that provide individual scholarships
• promotion of a religious or political message (we do fund faith-based community services)
• schools (including universities, childcare centres & kindergartens) and organisations who fund-raise primarily for schools
• medical procedures and treatment (including screening, diagnosis, and vaccination); medical equipment; medical research; professional respite care
• any other exclusions as approved by the Trustees

(In some circumstances exclusions may differ for specific funds or initiatives)