NZ Football Foundation announces August grant application round

The New Zealand Football Foundation is excited by the prospect of increased engagement across local footballing communities through the provision of their 2021 funding round, which opens August 1^st and ends August 31^st. 

As sport and communities in New Zealand continue to rebuild and innovate following the COVID-19 pandemic disruption, the Foundation is set to continue providing much needed support to fund and help our footballing communities. 

The Foundation is a charitable foundation set up to advance education through football, assist with resources, alleviate inequality in the game, as well as increase access and connections to Footballing communities in New Zealand.

In the call for grant applications, the Foundation is looking forward to continuing their focus on funding key areas including youth football, women and girls’ football, social development and innovation. 

With New Zealand entering a period of unprecedented potential for growth in the women’s game through the co-hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand in 2023, the Foundation offers potential for footballing communities to capitalise on this opportunity through applying for funding.  

Foundation Board Chair Jodi Tong says, “We are looking forward to building on the support we have provided our community so far and creating further impact through new projects, alongside an extension of our current support of the New Zealand Football Foundation Kate Sheppard Cup for a further two years”.

“It is an exciting time to be facilitating and enabling growth in Football across New Zealand”, Tong says.

At the heart of the Foundation’s purpose is the need to increase access to football and so this grant round will continue focus on projects that help improve communities to enjoy the lifelong benefits of team sports like football for education, health, and wellbeing and in particular, funding to support projects to support marginalised communities. 

In a year of growth, Holly Nixon has joined the Foundation as Grants and Events Manager. Holly brings a wealth of experience working with the football community in New Zealand, especially in the women’s side of the game. Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, Dr Michele Cox, says she is “delighted to have Holly on board. We are excited to welcome a person of Hollys calibre and experience to the team and look forward to realising more of the Foundation’s potential”. 

The Football Foundation was established in 2010 to manage $4 million of funds obtained as part of New Zealand’s 2010 Football World Cup qualification. The foundation has since distributed grants of over $1.6 million. See Footballfoundation.org.nz for more details on the foundation and on how to become a Football Foundation supporter or donor.

For further information on the grants, contact Holly Nixon (holly@footballfoundation.org.nz, +64 21 734 381) or Dr Michele Cox (michele@footballfoundation.org.nz, +64 27 475 4127).