Volunteer groups face plenty of challenges, and funding is one of the biggest. You’re keen to get out and do the work, but first you need plans, health and safety documents, budgets, and funding applications. It’s a process!
The upside is that this work helps clarify your “why”—and strong clarity leads to stronger applications and better outcomes.
There are many great resources online to support community groups with funding, and we’ll link to the ones we recommend. Below are some specific tools and guides we think you’ll find helpful.
Let us know what else you need or how we can support you.
Happy fundraising!
Funding Tools & Resources
CCC and ECan funds and calendar
Find links to the most relevant funds offered by Christchurch City Council and Environment Canterbury, with key criteria, opening/closing dates, and links to the applications.
View the calendar
Sample Community Group Budget
We’ve developed a sample budget, including trap costs, suppliers, and even a calculator for helping you estimate the “in-kind” contribution. It’s an excel spreadsheet, if you don’t have an Excel guru we might be able to help.
Download the budget >>
Sample Heath and Safety Plan
This plan as developed for the Adventure Park project, but it’s a good guideline of the basics of what you need.
Download the sample health and safety plan >>
Funding Tools
- Fundsorter. An online tool helping New Zealand charities find and apply for contestable grant funding. Check out our review.
- The Fundraising Agency. Experts in strategic fundraising. ideal for larger entities, www.thefundraisingagency.com
Workshop Presentations
In October 2025 we ran two workshops Both featured common content, but the first was more centered on “Finding your Why”. As we said, funders don’t fund what you do, they fund WHY you do it! So it’s very important for you to be able to express this.
The second workshop centered my on what a good funding application looks like. Download them both and if you have any questions drop us a line!
- Workshop 1: “Find your Why” – Download >>
- Workshop 2: Funding for Success – Download >>
Funding Sources
- Predator Free NZ Trust.
The Predator Free Communities Funding has been a kickstarter for over 200 groups. Funded groups receive between $1,000 and $5,000 based on need and size of the community. It’s competitive, so make sure you have a good plan before applying! (And make sure you check out the “lawnmower test”). Legal entity NOT required. - Christchurch City Council
Christchurch Biodiversity Fund, To protect areas of significant ecological value on private land within the boundaries of Christchurch City Council through a contestable fund of up to $400,000 per annum. Legal entity required.
Environmental Partnerships Fund. This fund supports proactive partnership work between Council and community groups for environmentally focused activities and projects on publicly accessible land and waterways. Legal entity required.
Sustainability Fund, the purpose of this fund is to encourage community, school, social enterprise or business projects that help meet our climate change objectives and targets. Predator control groups probably qualify, but given the emission reduction targets, this might be better linked with planting projects as well. Legal entity required. - Environment Canterbury
Waitaha Action to Impact Fund, the Waitaha Action to Impact Fund is a contestable fund to support community organisations to deliver projects that align with our work and priorities through community engagement and action. Legal entity required. - There are obviously many other sources. PFNZ have many good ideas, and we’ll continue to add resources here.