Youth Fund

Youth Fund aims to:

• increase capability and resilience for young people through leadership, mentoring or volunteering activities, and
• engage young people in new activities that contribute positively to their communities.

• Young people aged 12 to 24 years old (who are resident in New Zealand)

  Individuals or groups of young people aged 12 to 24 years old must be supported by a legally recognised New Zealand based organisation. This could be a business, charity, school, or some other type of organisation. To be a legally recognised organisation it must be registered on one of the several registers managed by the New Zealand Companies Office or set up under seperate legislation

• An organisation who is working in partnership with young people for the project

  Organisations working with young people (aged 12 to 24 years old and resident in New Zealand) must be a legally recognised New Zealand based organisation. This could be a business, charity, school, or some other type of organisation. To be a legally recognised organisation it must be registered on one of the several registers managed by the New Zealand Companies Office or set up under seperate legislation.

The project must:

• align to the Youth Investment Strategy and the aims of Youth Fund
• provide opportunities for young people to participate in leadership, mentoring or volunteering activities in their community
• support young people aged 12 to 24 years old
• be designed and run by young people or an organisation in partnership with young people, and
• start from 1 January 2018 and be completed by 30 June 2018.

Note: have achieved accreditation, or be able to achieve accreditation to provide youth development services for the Ministry of Youth Development (MYD). To gain accreditation, organisations need to be assessed against a streamlined version of the Level 3 Social Sector Accreditation Standards, developed specifically for MYD providers. 

More information about this can be found in the FAQs section.

A panel of young people appointed by MYD will assess all applications against the criteria for Youth Fund. The assessors will also consider the:

• project’s practicality, viability, value and benefits
• level of support from young people
• fit with government priorities
• availability of funding (the Youth Fund is limited to a total of $200,000 excluding GST)

MYD will check that the:

• organisations applying for, or supporting the young people have the appropriate Social Sector Accreditation Standard
• previous history of Outcome Agreement compliance, and
• recommended funding by the panel is between $2,000 (excluding GST) and $7,000 (excluding GST) per programme, and is no more than $200,000 (excluding GST) in total (for all projects).

MYD is unable to fund:

• projects that have previously been funded through the Youth Fund
• projects involving young people outside of the eligible age range (12 to 24 years)
• projects that have already been started or completed
• overseas and domestic air travel
• sponsorship of an individual e.g. to attend conferences
• young people without the support of a legal entity
• organisations not working in partnership with a young person or young people
• contribution to current on-going costs i.e. rent or salaries
• the purchase of capital items (for example, vehicles or computers)
• anything that may bring MYD into disrepute.

If the application is successful a report will need to be submitted at the end of the project. The contract will confirm final reporting requirements however it will include:

The project:

• a breakdown of how the project funds were spent
• overall, did the project achieve what it wanted it to achieve? If not, why?
• optional: Success or good news story.

Young people who participated in the project:

• the number of young people that improved their capability and resilience?
• of those that participated, how many gained skills and knowledge in those areas?
• how many and what area (volunteering, mentoring or leadership)?
• the number of young people who reported being satisfied with the project?

Click here to lodge your application for Youth Fund 2018.

https://myd.smartygrants.com.au/

Michelle Warner, Advisor Contracting Services and Support

Email: Michelle.Warner009@msd.govt.nz