Who we fund and who we don’t

The fund is available to benefit the workforces listed below. Peak bodies for these sectors are also listed.

Applicants either need to be from organisations working within the eight industries; or have the support of these sectors. We fund initiatives by these industries for these workforces.   

Entities that can apply for funding include registered charities, companies, incorporated societies, charitable trusts, maraes, rūnanga or other Māori authorities. Central or local Government, Te Pūkenga and workforce development councils cannot apply. However, they can be involved in a project seeking funds in a support or specialist capacity.

What we fund and what we don’t

The funds must generate benefit for workforces more widely than one workplace or company. Given our support for innovation, it could be that an initiative is piloted in a workplace to generate learnings for the wider workforce. Fund recipients will need to take an open approach to sharing details of their projects and the outcomes.

Initiatives need to be completed within the next three years or be sustainable beyond that, given the short life of the fund. If a project is for a longer time frame, you will need to demonstrate how you will fund its out years.

You can only make one application a year unless otherwise invited.

    • Vocational training, workforce development and education

    • Programmes, information and resources to promote best practice and continuous improvement in services

    • Attracting people to work in the sectors and workforce retention

    We prioritise projects that:

    • Deliver sector wide or multi-industry benefit

    • Positively impact:

      • Māori;

      • Pacific; and

      • Disabled People.

    • Research only projects (we will fund projects that have research as one component)

    • Work already undertaken

    • Ongoing service delivery or business as usual activity

    • Applications that do not specify clear outcomes that will benefit relevant sectors

    • Projects that could be considered a core government response or function, and

    • Organisations with no existing relationship with the workforces, employers or peak bodies within the specified sectors

How much funding is available

$15m is available that will be distributed over approximately three years.

The minimum that can be applied for is $30k. Given the fund is for projects with significant impacts on a workforce/s, we will fund large, multi-year applications.

There isn’t a set amount of funding that will be distributed in the first round. It will depend on the number and nature of the applications.

Help to apply

The draft application form questions can be found here as a guide.

We will update the website with more resources to support applications prior to the first grant round opening February 10 - March 16 2025. Check back for details or sign up to receive email updates.

Please email admin@workforcefuturesfund.nz if you are going to apply. We will make a time to talk with you before you prepare an application.

Our contracting approach 

We are expecting to fund a diverse range of projects of varying sizes from different types of entities, therefore our contracts will be tailored to suit the nature of the application. Some general practices will be:

  • Your proposal, budget and timeline being used as a schedule outlining the project details that you will need to deliver on, unless otherwise agreed by the funder

  • Payment up front, but with five per cent withheld until a final report is provided showing satisfactory delivery of the stated outcomes

  • Where payment is made in installments (for example, multi-year grants), a progress report showing satisfactory delivery against milestones will be required before the next payment

  • Larger and more complex projects may have contracts with additional clauses, for example dependencies

  • Contracts will include a template for progress and final reporting

  • Outlining your obligations to share details from your project, which may include methodology and results, to maximise the impact on the industry workforce/s

  • You will need to acknowledge the funder in communications

  • Seeking a collaborative working relationship between the funder and the organisation being funded with a view to maximising the impact of the funding.

FAQs

  • We will fully fund applications. We also welcome applications where the organisations have other funding sources or in-kind support.

  • The fund’s administrative resource will check applications for completeness and eligibility and then the Grants Assessment Panel will consider the applications and make recommendations to the Board, for its decision making.

    Applications will close in the second half of March, with decisions communicated to applicants in early June.

  • We seek the information in a written form, but you are welcome to also provide additional video content as is relevant to your application.

    If you need help to write your application, or there is a specific reason you want to provide an application using video, email us via admin@workforcefuturesfund.nz and we’ll arrange a chat.

  • The relevance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi to the fund includes that:

    • (Source of the funds) Much of the money that has contributed to the fund has come from the Crown, a signatory to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

    • (Lens of equality) Article three in Te Tiriti o Waitangi relates to ōritetanga/equality. The fund can give effect to article three through supporting vocational education and employment outcome for Māori.

    • (Lens of opportunity) The organisational value of respect acknowledges that the industries are best placed to know the issues/opportunities and the solutions. This can be further broken down to respecting the initiatives that are led by or have significant Māori contribution to them will be more likely to be successful with Māori audiences. This links to article two rangatiratanga (self determination).

    • (Lens of nationbuilding) Our workforces are critical to our communities, and some of the industries provide essential services to vulnerable community members. Te Tiriti o Waitangi sought balance between tangata whenua and tangata tiriti and for each to take care of the other. Acknowledging Te Tiriti o Waitangu supports strengthened workforces and services.

    We are implementing this in a number of ways through our strategy, application assessment, ensuring Māori representation in advice and decision making, monitoring and evaluation; and engagement. If you are eligible for the funds (see website information) and have a proposal that will positively impact Māori in the specified workforces, please email admin@workforcefuturesfund.nz as we are keen to discuss it.

  • Yes, we meet the charitable purpose of advancement of education given that we will only fund organisations with projects that have wide workforce benefit. We will not support a project benefitting just one organisation or workplace.

  • We are aiming that this limited amount of funding has a large, and medium to long term impact on the eight eligible sectors. To do that we are seeking initiatives that meet the most pressing needs and/or offer the most opportunity for large scale innovation and progression.

    It’s therefore essential that the industry/ies that you are seeking to assist support your proposal as being a top need/opportunity. Applicants need to demonstrate this significant industry support through, for example, getting a peak body or some major industry players to endorse the project.

  • The fund was established with reserves from Careerforce following the transition of its learning and training functions into Te Pūkenga as part of the Reform of Vocational Education. The eligible sectors for the fund are those served by Careerforce at the time it transitioned into Te Pūkenga.

  • Community Support Services Industry Training Organisation is the legal entity for the fund. CSSITO is a charitable company and a registered charity (CC32360).

  • About $15m is available and we expect to grant this over the next three years. We don’t have a set amount that we will grant each funding round. We are looking for projects seeking more than $30k, and we are prepared to fund large, multi-year initiatives. We recommend emailing us via admin@workforcefuturesfund.nz and we can discuss your idea. Please ensure you have read the information to determine whether you are eligible first.

  • The name Workforce Futures Fund was developed at a workshop of shareholders and board members.

    We acknowledge the team at Māori translation service Ōkupu, who gifted us Tahua (fund) Rāngaimahi (workforce) Anamata (future).