The Rural Travel Fund is designed to help subsidise travel for rural junior teams aged between 5 to 18 years by removing the barrier of travel costs so participants can compete in regular sporting competition. Sport New Zealand, who provide half the funding, have the following guidelines for funding(PDF, 465KB). Please read these guidelines before making an application.
The Rural Travel Fund covers travel to and from regular sporting events (competitions and practices) within the Far North District only. You can apply for up to half (50%) of your total travel costs. Funding must be for the upcoming season.
The fund is not available to:
- Individual players, coaches or officials
- Rural school or club teams competing in inter school or intra school competition during school time
Sport Northland now administers Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa funding separately. Tū Manawa is aiming to transform approaches to engaging tamariki and rangatahi in healthy and active lifestyles for life through tākaro/play, ngā mahi a te rēhia/active recreation and hākinakina/sport. This fund has a particular focus on groups who are less active, including girls and young women, disabled people and those living in higher deprivation communities. You can find more information on this funding on the Sport Northland website (click link to go to their site).
How do I apply?
You can download an application form here(DOCX, 153KB) or pick up an application from any FNDC Service Centre or from Sport Northland - Far North Sport Coordinators. Fill in the application and email it to funding@fndc.govt.nz or post it to:
Rural Travel Fund
Far North District Council
Private Bag 752
Kaikohe 0440
If you email your application and have not received an acknowledgement within 2 working days, please call 09 401 5775 to confirm it has been received.
When are applications considered and by whom?
Two funding rounds take place each year - one for winter sports at the start of the year and one for summer sports at the end of the year. You can see the application deadlines and meeting dates on the panel on the right side of this page.
Decisions are made by local community boards – Te Hiku, Kaikohe-Hokianga and Bay of Islands-Whangaroa – with advice from Sport Northland representatives.
How much money is available?
Each community board receives funding based on the number of school-aged children between 5-19 years living in their area. This figure is calculated using the 2013 population census.
Reporting
When your project is complete, you will need to submit a report(PDF, 93KB) detailing how you spent the money. This is also available as a MS word document upon request - email funding@fndc.govt.nz.
If you do not provide a project report at the end of the season, you will be ineligible to apply for funding from Council for 3 years.
Other funding providers
There are many trusts and organisations other than Council that support sporting activities. To find out more contact Sport Northland.