Environmental Initiatives Fund (EIF)

A wide range of organisations are eligible to apply for EIF funding. Organisations must be a legal entity with a track record that satisfies Council. Organisations able to apply include:

• Charitable trusts
• Iwi/hapu
• Incorporated societies
• Community trusts
• Educational institutions
• Limited liability companies

• Central government departments and agencies and territorial authorities. (Applications from community groups with these agencies as partners or co-funders are encouraged. However, the lead must clearly be the community group).
• Crown Research Institutes.
• Groups that are better funded through other Waikato Regional Council programmes or central government programmes.
• Organisations that are based outside of New Zealand.

If you are already receiving funding for a project through the Natural Heritage Fund or the Small Scale Community Initiatives Fund in the current financial year then you will not be eligible to apply for EIF funding for the same project. 

If you have received a grant through either of the three funds in the past for the same project, you must ensure that you have completed your final accountability report before applying to this EIF round.

The EIF will generally contribute to materials, labour costs, contractor costs and costs associated with supporting volunteers.

• Projects located outside the Waikato Regional Council administrative boundaries.
• Debt repayments, refinancing of existing loans, deposits, or underwriting projects.
• Projects receiving funding from other Waikato Regional Council programmes (however, aspects of a project not covered under another programme may be eligible to apply for funding).
• Projects more appropriately funded through other Council programmes.
• Projects which Council considers are core business of other agencies.
• Overseas travel or conference expenses, legal expenses or expenses incurred through participation in statutory processes.
• Landscaping, beautification, food gardening and wildlife pond projects that do not have appropriate environmental outcomes.
• Proposals designed to generate personal or commercial benefit, political or religious objectives, or for private pecuniary profit or gain.
• Projects which seek to redistribute, at their own discretion, funds to recipients.
• Consultants' fees or salaries that are not directly linked to an activity or programme with proven benefit to the community and/or environment.
• Purchase of large capital items of equipment or infrastructure (eg. vehicles, solar panels, buildings, building renovations, roads and bridges).
• Any works/activities that are required as conditions of a resource consent or as mitigation as part of a resource consent.
• Projects that require resource consent but have not yet received one at the date of the close of the funding round.
• Retrospective funding for projects or itemscompleted or acquired before the application closing date.
• Land purchase.

Applications are assessed by Waikato Regional Council's staff according to how well they meet the following criteria:

1. Fit with Council’s regional outcomes and policies.
2. Environmental enhancement – How the project will directly promote, enhance or protect the Waikato region’s environment, with a focus on improved ecological and biodiversity outcomes.
3. Community participation & awareness – how the project involves iwi Māori, the wider community and increases public awareness of environmental issues. What is the level of mana whenua and community support for the project.
4. Collaboration and partnership – whether the applicants have explored and developed any opportunities for collaboration and partnership with others, including any co-funding and support from other parties.
5. Viability – the likelihood of the project’s success and the applicant’s capability to deliver the outcomes of the project. 
6. Value to Mana Whenua – Relative to the scale of the project, how the project involves iwi Māori including their cultural values, interests and associations, the effect on Māori historic heritage or the relationship of Māori and their culture and traditions with their ancestral lands, water, sites, waahi tapu and other taonga including fauna and flora.

All eligible projects will be assessed against the assessment criteria by multiple assessors. Assessment scores will be moderated by a moderation panel. 

Multi-year projects will be considered (to a maximum of two years)

Council decisions on NHPP grants are final and there is no process for unsuccessful applicants to appeal the decision. At times a funding decision to not approve an application may solely be based on the fund being oversubscribed.