Small Scale Community Initiatives Fund (SSCIF)

A wide range of organisations are eligible to apply for SSCIF funding, including:

• Individual landowners
• 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 Environmental Initiatives Fund in the current financial year then you will not be eligible to apply for SSCIF funding for the same project.

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

Starting from the 2024/2025 round, applicants to the SSCIF may only be awarded funding for a maximum of three consecutive years and will then be required to take a minimum of one years break before applying to the SCCIF again.

• Purchase of materials involved in pest animal and/or pest plant control including traps, lure, bait stations, bait, herbicide, monitoring materials, and personal protective equipment.
• Professional contracted services up to $1,000 where essential (e.g. the services of a qualified herbicide applicator or controlled substance licence holder).

• Plants and planting.
• 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. (e.g. 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 received one at the date of the close of the funding round.
• Retrospective funding for projects or items completed or acquired before the application closing date.
• Any project that would have significant adverse impacts on the environment, regardless of the positive impacts.
• 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, strategic priorities, 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 and 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 and assessments will be moderated by a moderation panel.

Multi-year projects will not be considered.

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.

Landowner permissions must be signed; this can be handwritten or electronic. An email on its own is not sufficient. If you would like a landowner permissions template, email smallscalefund@waikatoregion.govt.nz.

Yes, we require signed landowner permission from any property where materials or contracted labour will be used. If you would like a landowner permission template, email this request to smallscalefund@waikatoregion.govt.nz.

If you have verbal permission from all landowners and are in the process of getting signed permission but may not get to this before the application deadline, please get in touch to discuss options.

You can enter one address of the multiple properties you will be working across. The purpose of providing this address is for us to be able to locate your project using our internal mapping software. You must also attach your own map that includes the boundaries of the entire project, which along with the address you provide, will enable us to efficiently locate your project.

• Total project boundary
• Location of existing infrastructure (traps, bait stations etc)
• Location of future infrastructure or control areas
• A scale
• A legend
• Please note, if you are unable to include all of this information on the map itself, you can write a description of anything on your map in the comments box underneath where the map is attached in the application form. The most important information to include on the map is the project boundary and existing infrastructure, the rest of the information can be explained in the text box if needed.
• Also, please consider that we must be able to find your project on our mapping software. If your project is in the middle of the bush with no road access and when zoomed in it looks like any other piece of bush, we need some additional context. This could be an additional map that is more zoomed out and shows the location of the project in relation to nearby roads.

Yes, this funding can be used to purchase items such as trapping gloves or masks for herbicide application.

In general, we do not fund the purchase of trail cameras. However, applicants can include a small number of trail cameras in the application if they can demonstrate how they are required to improve the monitoring of biodiversity outcomes or improve the effectiveness of the pest control programme. Council staff will use their discretion to determine if the purchase of any trail cameras for your project is justified.

Yes, funding can be used to purchase items such as a basic first aid kit but cannot be used to purchase items such as a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB).

No, this fund does not fund planting materials. Other parts of council might be able to support with planting work. Please contact Waikato Regional Council or call our freephone number 0800 800 401 for more information.

Links will not be accepted as quotes for material costs. Alternatively, you can take a screenshot from an online store provided that it shows the retailer, price and items to be purchased.

If the invoice is from the last six months and it is for the same materials that you are applying for, we can accept this instead of a quote. This is acceptable for items such as lure which many groups purchase regularly. As with a quote, it must include the product, cost, date and name of the supplier. Please note, this funding cannot be used for expenses paid prior to the funding being granted.

No, this funding cannot be used to employ people to undertake trapping or servicing of a bait station network. Funding for professional contracted services is intended only for the purpose of engaging a qualified herbicide applicator or controlled substance licence holder where this is essential to delivering the project.

Yes, we need to know what herbicides they plan on using and what plant species you are targeting and how this will lead to outcomes for biodiversity.

Yes, but make sure that you enter the correct number of hours that the funding will be used to pay for and include details of this in your application.

Note that prices are fictitious, this table is solely for the purpose of this FAQ document.

Note that prices are fictitious, this table is solely for the purpose of this FAQ document.

No, all applications must come through SmartyGrants. If you are having trouble you can watch this video on how to complete an application in SmartyGrants. If you are still having trouble, please get in touch.

The bank account must match the name of the applicant i.e., if you are applying on behalf of someone else (whether that is an individual or a group), the bank details must be in their name, not yours.

No, if your group is not a legal entity you cannot receive this funding. A member of the group must apply as an individual and they will be responsible for ensuring the funding is appropriately spent and reported on to council.

Yes, but it must be a PDF copy of the downloaded statement itself, not a screenshot of the website. Alternatively, you can download a ‘Proof of Account’ using online banking which will display a letter confirming the bank account on an official bank letterhead.

You can block out any financial information that you do not want us to see provided the account name and account number are visible on an official bank letterhead.

No, once the round has closed no further information can be added to an application. We recommend you start your applications early to ensure you have enough time to get all of the documentation needed while the funding round is open.