Social Investment Fund

Pathways to funding

There are four Social Investment Fund pathways available to the sector:

Pathway One: New Investment

Pathway One is for new investments in initiatives that focus on priority cohorts and outcomes and strongly demonstrate the social investment approach. Organisations seeking new investment will need to evidence how their proposed initiatives will support priority groups of the population (cohorts) to achieve one or more priority outcomes.

Seven initiatives were selected to progress to contract negotiations for Round One of new investment funding in 2025. Children with parents in prison are among those who will benefit from early intervention through the preferred seven new projects anticipated for funding. In this first round of funding, a total of $50 million is anticipated to go towards programmes reaching more than 1600 children, ranging from newborns through to eighteen-year-olds. Read more on the Pathway One Selected Initiatives(external link) page.

Registrations of interest for Round Two have now closed - see the Pathway One: New Investment page for more information.

Pathway Two: Contract Consolidation

Pathway Two is focused on the consolidation of existing contracts held by social sector or community organisations with one or more government agencies into a single outcomes-based agreement, administered by the Social Investment Fund.

This pathway is designed to reduce the administrative and compliance burden for organisations, simplify reporting and focus it on outcomes, provide more flexibility to organisations in how they deliver services. It also offers an opportunity for shared learning between organisations and SIA about what works for the people and communities they support. Consolidation will use existing funding in the first instance.

Round One successful initiatives to be announced in early 2026

Pathway Three: Community-led Commissioning

Community-led commissioning is a model where decision-making authority for social service investment is devolved to local leaders, empowering communities to tailor solutions to their specific needs. The intention is to support local collectives that include regional organisations, iwi, hapū, philanthropists and non-government entities to design and deliver services that meet local needs.

SIA will invite Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from community collectives in mid-2026. The purpose of the EOI process is to shortlist community collectives that demonstrate strong community leadership and readiness to undertake commissioning activities within their region.

Round One EOIs anticipated to open in mid-2026

Pathway Four: Co-investment (Innovation)

Co-investment is a mechanism to enable partnerships with philanthropic organisations or other funders to co-invest in initiatives that amplify collective impact and drive innovation.

Subject to Ministerial decisions, SIA is exploring the potential for a co‑investment pathway to improve the alignment and combined impact of Government and non-government funding in the social sector. SIA is progressing work to explore options for the co‑investment pathway, while further engagement is planned to inform advice to Ministers.

Under development

About the Social Investment Fund

The Social Investment Fund will:

focus on priority outcomes and cohorts agreed by Fund Ministers
invest early to help New Zealanders overcome a range of challenges to achieve their goals
enable us to test and scale the social investment approach
work in partnership with social sector organisations, iwi and other agencies.

In 2025 and early-2026, the Social Investment Fund will primarily make new investments in organisations that have the infrastructure and capacity to help us test and scale the social investment approach at pace. This work will pave the way for changes that will benefit the wider social sector.

Who can apply to the Social Investment Fund?

We partner with organisations delivering health and social services across New Zealand. This includes:

Registered charities and not-for-profit organisations
Iwi and Māori organisations
Whānau Ora providers
Pacific organisations
Community groups and trusts
Social enterprises focused on health and social outcomes
Other organisations with a primary purpose of delivering health and social services

To be eligible, organisations must be legally registered entities in New Zealand that can enter into contracts and have systems to safely collect and share participant information. We're committed to working with organisations at different stages of capability and we will support successful applicants to meet our data and evaluation requirements.

Social Investment Fund information

Demonstration initiatives
Webinars
Social Investment Fund FAQs
Register your interest for Fund updates

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Got questions about the Fund, application process, or social investment? Read our Social Investment Fund FAQs to find answers to common questions.

Sections covered:

Webinars

View information about upcoming webinars and recordings of previous webinars on the Webinars page.

Quarterly Fund Update

The Quarterly Fund Update for the Social Investment Fund summarises the Fund's performance each financial quarter since it was established in 2025. Quarterly updates will evolve as the Fund matures and performance data from investment is collected over time.

Read the first Quarterly Fund Update for the period 1 October to 31 December 2025.

Quarterly Fund Update - December 2025(external link)

More information

About social investment

For more information on social investment, see:

What is social investment?
Social investment FAQs

Quick Guides

Refer to the Social Investment Fund Quick Guides(external link) for more information on specific aspects of the selection criteria for Pathway One: New Investment.