Apply for a grant

Figure out if you’re a fit

• Have a look at our grant criteria and fund focus areas.

• Take our 2 minute eligibility quiz to help you decide if your organisation is a good match for what The Climatics funds.

• We want to be respectful of your time - if our criteria doesn't align with your mahi, we'd rather you know that upfront than spend energy on an application that won't work for either of us. We're a small, lean team, so making sure there's alignment from the start helps us both focus our energy where it counts.

Register your interest

• Submit an expression of interest (EOI) form.

• This form was intended to be completed in less than half an hour. There’s two written questions - the rest is just your organisational details.

Shortlisting

• We review all of the submitted EOIs.

• With input from our curation team, we create a shortlist of 6-10 potential organisations that show impactful work that most closely fit the criteria and focus areas of The Climatics fund.

• You don’t have to do anything in this step. We’ll be in touch to let you know whether you progress to the next stage or not.

Due diligence

• The Climatics team will work through background due diligence to get a good understanding of your organisation and the mahi you're doing.

• We set up a call to meet you and hear directly about your work. This will happen in late March.

• If we have any specific questions we’ll try to send them across beforehand, and we will likely ask you to send us any documents you think would help us understand your work or plans for the future.

• From this, we write up a description of your work and why we’re excited by it. This is to help the curation team and anyone else who inputs with their decision making in the next step.

Selection

• Our expert curation team choose the grantees from the shortlist. Last round three organisations were selected.

• We let you know whether you’ve been selected as part of this portfolio of grantees.

Public announcement

• With your input, we’ll put together an announcement to shine a spotlight on your work and to let those in our community and beyond know who will be receiving funding for this round.

Please note: We take conflict of interest seriously. All curation team members and anyone else who inputs in the selection process discloses any conflicts at both the shortlisting and selection stage.

If any of the above is unclear, please let us know - hello@theclimatics.org

What we fund: Grant criteria and focus areas

Criteria

We’re looking to fund organisations who fit the following criteria:

• Organisations with revenue of less than $1M in the most recent financial year. Our grants are currently under $35,000, and we want to be thoughtful about where those funds will be most useful. We're looking for organisations where that amount can support and strengthen the mahi that’s already happening. As we grow, these parameters may shift, but for now this helps us focus our funding where it can have the most impact.
  
  

• Organisations whose main focus is climate change locally or nationally within Aotearoa New Zealand.

  • Because we provide core, unrestricted funding, at this time we only fund organisations whose work is solely or predominantly focused on climate change, as opposed to organisations who have a wide range of activities that include climate as one of many things.

  • While we recognise the urgency and huge importance of conservation and reforestation work, our focus is specifically on systems-level climate action. We fund organisations working to reduce New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions through policy change, movement building, and transforming how we talk about and act on climate, rather than through land-based carbon sequestration or ecosystem restoration. We're also looking to support work that advances climate justice and ensures a fair transition for all communities.

In addition, if you have a collaboration that aligns closely with our funding focus areas, we encourage you to apply.

At this time, The Climatics does NOT fund:

• profit-making businesses

• debt repayment

• individuals

• One off projects by organisations who do not usually focus on climate change

• new ventures that have not received funding before

• scholarships, tuition costs or conference participation

• activities supporting a single political party or candidate

Please note that we won’t fund an organisation twice in the same year.

Funding focus areas

We fund exclusively within our four strategic focus areas, which describe systemic approaches to climate change. The organisations we fund don't just reduce emissions. They unlock changes that make everything else possible.

• Elevate the story: Using narrative tools, strategic comms, or trusted voices to inspire action and build public support and counter mis- and disinformation.
• Build the movement: Build power within communities; grow, diversify, and connect climate action across Aotearoa.
• Transform politics: Secure broad support for bold, long-term solutions, and holding power-holders accountable for the commitments that have already been made.
• Support Māori-led action: Resource Māori to lead on climate.

Note: these are not mutually exclusive - many organisations deploy several of these strategies simultaneously.

For more information about our funding focus areas, click here.

Could our funding work for you?

Could our funding work for you?

We fund not-for-profit organisations working on systems change to tackle the climate crisis here in Aotearoa. If you're focused on cutting emissions fast or centering climate justice by making sure communities aren't left behind as we shift to a low-carbon future, we want to hear from you.

While we deeply value conservation work like waste reduction and tree planting, these fall outside our current funding focus. We're looking for work that shifts the systems - policy, power, and momentum for change. That said, if your conservation mahi is focused on transforming laws or regulations for national impact, we're open to hearing about it and review those case-by-case.

We recognise Māori-led climate action as essential and urgent climate solutions, grounded in stewardship and mātauranga Māori. We strongly encourage Māori organisations to apply and have a dedicated funding pillar for this kaupapa.

We know grassroots and small-to-medium organisations punch above their weight but often struggle to access funding. If your annual revenue is under $1 million, you're exactly who we're hoping to support - please apply.

A note on our eligibility criteria

A note on our eligibility criteria

We know our criteria might feel narrow, and we get that can be frustrating - especially when you're doing important work that doesn't quite fit our current parameters.

As a tiny team, we need clear boundaries to focus our energy and resources where we can have the most impact right now. These criteria aren't arbitrary - they've been carefully considered to align with our funding pillars and the realities of what we can achieve at this stage.

Will they evolve as we grow? Almost certainly.

If our criteria don't fit your mahi right now, it doesn't diminish the value of what you're doing. We're just one small piece of Aotearoa's climate funding landscape, and we hope you'll find support elsewhere that's a better match.