Tauranga Western Bay Community Event Fund

The maximum grant is $15,000 +GST for events in Western Bay of Plenty.and $50,000 + GST for events in Tauranga.

$100k + GST for events in Western Bay of Plenty and $600k + GST for events in Tauranga occurring between 1 September 2022 and 30 June 2023. When the fund allocation is exhausted, we will update this webpage.

Check out our guiding principles and priorities.

We don’t generally fund events that:

• Are run by individuals. We will only grant funding to a legal entity/organisation.
• Are commercial ventures seeking significant profit.
• Take place prior to an event funding decision being made.
• Are primarily political, protests or for the purpose of religious persuasion.
• Are primarily for the purpose of fundraising or may transfer funding to another party.
• Are primarily focused on alcohol or gambling.
• Are private functions, meetings, conventions etc. Private is defined as any event where the general public aren’t able to attend or purchase tickets.
• Are markets, stand-alone installations or exhibitions.
• Are for research, feasibility, or evaluation of events outside of the event itself.
• Require the funding to support the repayment of debt.
• Support business as usual operations, general salaries, rents or other overhead costs, except as a proportion of the total event costs.
• Support repairs/maintenance and capex projects outside of an event itself.
• Occur outside of Tauranga City Council or Western Bay of Plenty District Council boundaries.
• The organiser has already received event funding for within the current financial year. (We encourage one application per organisation if multiple events are to be considered).

Yes. If you have an existing funding agreement with one of our funding partners, you can still apply, but that funder will be unable to contribute to the funding offered if successful.

As this is a new fund, we are currently not considering multi-year funding applications.

No, unless you are declined prior to assessment due to being ineligible to apply to the fund.

No, you don’t need to provide quotes with your application; however, you will need to provide a detailed budget, which you’ll upload within your online application form. You can either use your existing budget or our event budget template.

A decision-making panel of representatives from Acorn Foundation, Bay Trust, TECT Community Trust and whichever council has jurisdiction over the event location. (Tauranga City Council or Western Bay of Plenty District Council)

If your application is successful, we will contact you to confirm your grant. You will enter into a funding agreement with us to formalise our funding support and any event deliverables and benefits for the fund (e.g. credit the fund on promotional material).

If your event is held on public open space, you will also likely be required to work with the relevant council’s event facilitation team for event approval. Read our resources to assist with your event application.

If your application is unsuccessful, you will be advised of the outcome, along with reasoning why this decision was made.

50% of the funding granted will be released prior to the event and 50% after submitting a post-event evaluation report (to the satisfaction of Council's event staff). The report will include attendance and audience demographics, audience feedback, key learnings, how the event delivered against the relevant values and priorities, benefits to the Western Bay of Plenty, media coverage and the final profit and loss summary.

If you have already received funding from us for an event, you must submit a post-event evaluation report before another application will be considered.

For applications in Western Bay of Plenty:

Contact the Events team at events@westernbay.govt.nz or 0800 926 732.

For applications in Tauranga:

Contact the Event Development team at eventfunding@tauranga.govt.nz or (07) 577 7000.

Any offer of financial support through the Event Funding Framework is subject to your event being able to be delivered under the COVID-19 Protection Framework (CPF). If the event is unable to proceed for COVID-19 related reasons (whether they be voluntary or mandated), or if your event is materially altered to adapt to the applicable CPF Level(s), then you may have to return your grant.

In instances of COVID-19 related event cancellation, and when the financial position of your event has been negatively affected by the cancellation, you may submit a written request to us to retain all or part of your event grant. You will need to address the following areas in your request:

1. What the reason for the event cancellation was (particularly if a change in CPF Levels has not mandated the cancellation);
2. If you have investigated alternative ways in which the event could go ahead (e.g. postponement, operational changes, online format etc.);
3. How the event has been financially impacted by the cancellation. Please submit a profit and loss statement, including commentary around what steps have been taken to mitigate event costs;
4. What other funding partners and sponsors are doing to support the cancellation of your event (if applicable); and
5. If you are requesting to retain all or part of your event grant? (please include a figure here).

Please note: Any event forecasting a breakeven position or profit without the grant will automatically be excluded from consideration and required to return any event grant issued to them (in part or full).

All requests to retain grants in part or full can be directed to events@westernbay.govt.nz for consideration. Requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis and a ten-working day turn around for decisions will apply.