The Department of Internal Affairs

Department of Internal Affairs | Te Tari Taiwhenua

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    Services › Community Funding › Significant Community Based Projects Fund



    PLEASE NOTE: The SCBPF has been fully allocated. No further funding round is planned at this time.

    Purpose

    The Significant Community Based Projects Fund (SCBPF) assisted regionally or nationally significant projects that had significant support and participation from the community but were unable to be completed because they could not access sufficient funding from other sources.

    Key information

    The SCBPF has been fully allocated. No further funding round is planned at this time.

    Background

    Announced by the Prime Minister in 2005, the Fund was established to distribute $32 million over a maximum of four years. The Fund enabled completion of many significant projects that were spread throughout the country and were in the designated areas of arts, culture and heritage; sport and recreation; tourism; conservation and the environment; and economic development.

    The Fund was a mechanism to obtain support when all other avenues had been exhausted.
    Projects funded were likely to be those that had sought (and received) money from a range of government and non-government sources and still could not obtain sufficient funding to complete their work.

    A secretariat located in the Department of Internal Affairs administered the Fund and Cabinet decided which projects would receive a grant. Before Cabinet did so, an interdepartmental advisory group ranked eligible applications and reported to Cabinet on the results of the ranking.

    Fund guidelines

    Eligible projects had to provide evidence of significant benefits, at a regional or national level, in one or more of the following outcome areas:
    • arts, culture and heritage
    • sport and recreation
    • conservation and environment
    • tourism
    • economic development.

    Eligibility requirements

    Projects needed to be consistent with the objective of the Fund:
    • they had to be major community-based projects
    • they had to have significant support from and participation by the community
    • they had to have a range of benefits contributing to regional and/or national outcomes, with particular reference to arts, culture and heritage; sport and recreation; conservation and environment; tourism; and economic development.
    Projects had to meet a number of other eligibility criteria.
    • Projects had to be submitted by an established non-profit organisation that:
      • had legal entity status
      • had robust governance and management arrangements
      • was financially and technically sustainable (particularly over the longer term)
    • be limited to seeking one-off capital expenditure
    • be ineligible for funding from existing funds, or unable to obtain sufficient funding from existing funds. Applications that did not sufficiently demonstrate that all other avenues of funding have were exhausted were not ranked or funded
    • be technically feasible, with the group having the demonstrated ability and expertise to successfully complete the project
    • evidence of demonstrated community support for the project, including financial support
    • had secured commitments for significant community support towards the project cost (cash and in-kind) from funding sources other than central government.

    Applications had to include evidence that demonstrated how they met these criteria.

    Cabinet approved a two-stage selection process. The first stage assessed whether applications met the eligibility criteria and did not meet any ineligibility criteria. In the second stage representatives from sector agencies on an Interagency Advisory Group considered all applications against ranking criteria. All applications were then forwarded with recommendations to Cabinet for their decision.

    How to apply

    The Fund has been fully allocated. No further funding round is planned at this time.

    Previous Recipients

    Recipients from the 2006 / 2007 funding round: Recipients from the 2005 / 2006 funding round:

    Further information

    SCBPF Evaluation
    The aim of this evaluation was to assess the design of the SCBPF based on the experience of the first year’s operation and to make recommendations for any modifications for the next round.
    SCBPF Cabinet papers
    The decision making process

    Flow diagram illustrating the SCBPF decision making process: 'Application received' to 'Project completed and outcomes achieved' - 'Final decisions made by Cabinet'


    Independent Assessment Methodology
    An integral part of the the Fund's assessment process is an assessment of the financial and governance aspects of applications. Chartered accountants KPMG were employed to undertake comprehensive independent assessments of projects. The methodology for these assessments is available here: The following document outlines the methodology adopted for visits performed during Phase 3: Eligibility Assessment Part 2, and the verification of information and final grant level performed during Phase 5: Contract Management and Monitoring (Verification and Final Funding Recommendation): Appendices
    The following are appendices for the above document: *This document is in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. You need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can download a free version from the Adobe site.

    The fund is fully allocated. Other funding enquiries should be directed to: GrantsOnline@dia.govt.nz