Fund details
Next funding round: Monday 27 January – Monday 24 February 2025. For further information or to discuss your event, please contact sportseventfund@wcc.govt.nz
Contact: sportseventfund@wcc.govt.nz
Value: Generally a maximum of $10,000 per event. See past allocations (156KB PDF)
Purpose of the fund
The Sports Event Partnership Fund has been established to support regional, national and smaller scale international events and tournaments that contribute to Wellington’s economy. The fund helps to support the development of clubs and sport and recreation bodies, promote participation in sport and active recreation, and showcase Wellington as a vibrant sport and recreation destination.
The fund will be used to attract new events to the city, particularly those with the potential to grow into significant multi-year or major events.
Fund objectives
The objective of the fund is to:
- deliver economic benefit to Wellington City
- increase utilisation of the Council managed sports facilities
- support the development of clubs and sport and recreation organisations
- support sport talent development.
Predominantly, the fund is used to cover:
- facility costs
- venue hire
- administration costs
- first aid costs
- officials, referees, score bench, and umpire costs.
What the fund will not cover
- Funding for professional franchises or elite sport
- Funding for capital works
- Affiliation fees, individual or team memberships and subscriptions
- Dress uniforms, footwear, training uniforms, personal gear bags and souvenir t-shirts
- The purchase of alcohol, drinks, food and refreshments
- Debt servicing or re-financing costs
- Prize money, including medals, trophies or cash prizes
- Money which will be redistributed as grant funding, sponsorship, donations, bequests or aid to other recipients
- Purchase of insurance or legal costs
- Events where the primary purpose is to promote religious ministry or political objectives.
These are not an exhaustive list.
Criteria
Requests for funding will be considered against the following criteria:
Minimum requirements
- The event must attract a substantial number of participants and supporters from outside of the Wellington Region
- The event must involve at least one nights accommodation in Wellington City
- The event must be aligned with or have support from the appropriate national or regional sporting body and/or any relevant clubs or recreation organisations
- The event must be held in Wellington City Council boundaries
- The event organiser has public liability insurance
- The event organiser is a registered company, incorporated society or charitable trust.
Additional criteria
Preference will be given to events that meet the following additional criteria:
- The event takes place over multiple days
- The event will be held at a Council managed facility site or sports field
- The event will be held more than once and has the potential to grow into a significant or major event
- Top level national events, i.e. National Championships, Masters, Elite, Age Group
- International events in minority or emerging sports that are experiencing significant participant growth
- The event is contestable to host
- The applicant is an incorporated society or charitable trust
Credibility
Event organisers, contractors and sub-contractors must be experienced and have a good reputation of event delivery and event safe practices. Applicants may be required to provide references.
Venue/facility hire
The fund may be used to pay for Wellington City Council venue hire or ground fees. However, recipients will not be eligible for additional venue subsidies or discounts.
Multi-year funding
Grants will generally be one-off. However, in a small number of cases multi-year grants may be made. Multi-year grants will be for a maximum of three years at which time the event organiser is expected to have established a sustainable funding model.
Apply for the fund
We highly recommend you get in touch before submitting an application to ensure your event meets the criteria.
- Complete an application and submit via the Funding Portal by the advertised closing date.
- Applicants will be sent a confirmation email to acknowledge receipt of the application.
- Applicants will be contacted if further information is required and asked to provide the information within five days.
- Applications will be assessed by the Sports Event Partnership Fund Panel using the above criteria. We will also take into account the management of any previous funding or sponsorship received and reporting provided.
- Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application via email within 30 days of the applications closing.
- For approved applications, a funding agreement will be provided which will contain information on the terms and conditions of the sponsorship, including reporting requirements.
First-time applicants
Read the information on this page, then register and apply online through our funding portal: Funding Portal - Apply online.
Check your application status
You can apply for the fund through our Funding Portal. You can also check your application status if you've already applied for funding. If you receive an error message when trying to access the funding portal on a mobile device, please use these instructions or contact the Funding Team.
Go to Funding Portal
Contact us
Email: sportseventfund@wcc.govt.nz