Council Administered Funding
The Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund helps subsidise travel costs for rural junior sport teams, removing the barrier of cost so that tamariki (aged 5–11) and rangatahi (aged 12–18) in our rural communities can take part in regular local sporting competition. The fund is provided by Sport New Zealand and administered by Ruapehu District Council on its behalf.
Funding Round
The Rural Travel Fund runs one funding round each year.
| Opens | Monday 1 February 2027 |
| Closes | Friday 5 March 2027 |
| Council decision | 24 March 2027 Council meeting |
| Applicants notified | Following the 24 March 2027 Council meeting |
Eligibility criteria
Applications for the Rural Travel Fund are open to rural sports clubs and rural school teams with young people aged between 5 and 18 years who need financial assistance with transport expenses to local sporting competitions.
The fund is not provided for the purpose of travel to regional or national competitions or events.
See the Rural Travel Fund Guidelines for full eligibility information.
Criteria for considering applications
School club teams and sports club teams are defined as:
- a school club team participating in regular local sport competition in weekends, which excludes inter-school and intra-school competitions played during school time; and/or
- a sports club team participating in organised, regular sport competition through club membership outside of school time.
Funding will not be provided for the purpose of travel to regional or national events.
Accountability
Recipients of funding through the Rural Travel Fund are required to complete an Accountability Form, within which they must:
- specify how the grant was spent and attach evidence of expenditure — such as receipts, invoices, or signed statements by the club's accountant; and
- report the benefits of having received the assistance.
For more information including an application form see the Documents below or send an email to our Grants Team.
