Support for organisations who use the power of music to help New Zealanders in need

Before you apply

• Is the entity that delivers your project/programme registered with the Charities Commission or a not-for-profit organisation with a formal legal structure?

• Do you use music in a direct way to enrich the lives of New Zealanders in need and to help those New Zealanders to develop as members of the community?

• If you have received a grant from MusicHelps before, is the project relating to that grant complete and have you completed all reporting requirements?

• Have you checked that your funding is not related to one of the following excluded purposes?

Please note: we do not fund

• Retrospective grants – All MusicHelps Grants must be applied to specific and future-based purposes. We can’t fund any transactions or costs that have already been incurred or have been pre-paid prior to approval of a grant.

• Travel or catering expenses

• Concerts, Events or commercial music related activity held by charitable organizations or businesses

• Building repairs, renovations or capital expenditure

• Purchase or subsidy of Vehicles

• Individuals based in or outside of New Zealand, Trusts or Charities based outside of New Zealand

First step: Lodge an Expression of Interest

Expressions of Interest are accepted all year.  These go through an initial screening usually within four weeks of receipt. We will advise applicants promptly as to whether the project or programme outlined in the Expression of Interest is eligible to progress to the next step or not.

Please note: the aim of your initiative should be to use music to positively address issues facing individuals or groups that are at risk, vulnerable or facing health challenges. You should have methods of assessing if you have been successful in addressing these issues/challenges that the participants in your project face.

Please ensure that amounts in your Expression of Interest and your full application are quoted inclusive of GST.

Late Expressions of Interest will generally not be accepted for consideration although we reserve the right to accept post deadline submissions at our discretion.

Please download and complete the Word file Expression of Interest form below and email it to admin@musichelps.org.nz.  Do not save the file as a PDF. If you are unable to view, edit and email Word files please contact admin@musichelps.org.nz.

Download the expression of interest form here.

Second step: Lodge a full application

Applicants who pass the Expression of Interest stage will be asked to lodge an application. This application form will be sent by our Grant’s team to the applicant for completion.

Late applications will generally not be accepted for consideration although MusicHelps reserves the right to accept post-deadline applications at its discretion.
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How funding is decided

Grant decisions are considered by the Board of Trustees in our board meetings in March and September. Successful applicants will be notified by 31 March and 30 September respectively.

During the application consideration process The Grants Assessor will contact your organisation and may request additional information. You will have reasonable time to provide this information. We will assess your application (and answers) check referees, visit where appropriate and finally decide your application.

The key criteria we use when assessing applications is that the proposed initiative meets our goals, although other criteria are also considered. Please contact MusicHelps for advice on preparing your application or for feedback afterwards.

Please note that the MusicHelps Board of Trustees is not obliged to approve any application and has complete discretion in the allocation of funds. MusicHelps reserves the right to alter application deadlines and grant round meeting dates and may need to defer funding rounds. In the event that such changes in the process are required MusicHelps will ensure that affected parties are fully notified.

Please note all funding deliberations and decisions are processed through MusicHelps
– the staff and Trustees do not respond to personal approaches.

Deadlines