Pathway One: New Investment

On this page you will find:

• Pathway One Round Two details
• About Pathway One
• Key dates
• Social Investment Fund FAQs
• Webinar 17 February
• Priority outcomes and cohorts for New Investment
• Apply for Round Two
• Support
• Application Assessment Framework and selection criteria
• Video: Assessment Framework Overview
• Quick Guides
• Social Outcomes Agreement Draft Template
• Self-selection exercise
• Update on successful New Investment Round One initiatives
• About the Social Investment Fund
• Fund Online Portal

Round Two now open

Social Investment Fund Pathway One: New Investment Round Two opened on Monday 9 February.

Round Two is a two-step open competitive procurement opportunity, similar to Round One. The first step involves a Registration of Interest (ROI) period. Shortlisted applicants from the ROI process will then be invited to submit a more detailed proposal through a Request for Proposal step. 

The ROI opportunity opened on Monday 9 February and closes at midday on 10 March 2026. 

We invite organisations to consider their alignment to the opportunity, and if interested, apply to this open competitive opportunity. We are open to new and innovative initiatives and collective applications through this process.  

Please carefully review all information available to make sure that your organisation is eligible before applying.

New priority cohort added

In addition to the three cohorts for Round One, Social Investment Fund Ministers have added a fourth priority cohort group for Round Two:

Mothers who experience harm from substance use, and their children, from pregnancy up to age five

This new cohort is a part of the Crown Response to the Abuse in Care Inquiry. Specific funding was allocated in Budget 2025 to prevent entry into care.  

Pregnancy and the early years are vital periods for maternal and child health and wellbeing. SIA analysis found that mothers who experience harm from substance use and their children both have high rates of entry into various forms of state care, including Oranga Tamariki care, and mental health, disability and corrections care.  

We are seeking proposals that help to improve life outcomes for the cohort to reduce the need for state care.  

The four priority cohorts for Round Two are:

• Children whose parent(s) are currently or have recently been in prison,   
• Children of parent(s) who experienced the care system,
• Children that were stood down or suspended from school when they were 12 or younger, and
• Mothers who experience harm from substance use, and their children, from pregnancy up to age five. 

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.

The organisations selected will need to be ready to work with the Social Investment Fund to help us test how Government and the social sector can work smarter together, including collaborative and robust approaches to evaluation and learning, secure data-sharing agreements; and outcome-based contractual arrangements centred on a theory of change.

Read answers to frequently asked questions about the Fund and the application process on the Social Investment Fund FAQs page.

Social Investment Fund New Investment Round Two: What to expect

Join Joe Fowler, Deputy Chief Executive Investment & Commissioning at the Social Investment Agency, for an online webinar to hear about the upcoming Round Two of the New Investment pathway.   

Webinar details: Tuesday 17 February 2026, 11:00am – 12:00pm

This is an opportunity for those who wish to apply for the ROI to hear from the Social Investment Fund team about the requirements for applying and an understanding of the assessment criteria

The one hour session will include: 

• Overview of Social Investment Fund - New Investment Pathway Round Two ​
• A description of what we are looking for in an application and an explanation of the new cohort
• A Q&A session where you have the opportunity to ask questions 

This session will be recorded and made available on our website.

Register for the webinar(external link)

Please register by COB Monday 16 February. If you have questions about the webinar, contact info@sia.govt.nz.

Applicants will need to demonstrate that their proposals will support outcomes for one or more priority cohorts.

Priority cohorts

The cohorts for Round Two are:

• Children whose parent(s) are currently or have recently been in prison,   
• Children of parent(s) who experienced the care system,
• Children that were stood down or suspended from school when they were 12 or younger, and
• Mothers who experience harm from substance use, and their children, from pregnancy up to age five. 

The cohorts have been chosen by Social Investment Fund Ministers based on Government priorities and the significant potential children in these cohorts (and their families) have to achieve improved outcomes later in life. Cohorts may change in future funding rounds.

Priority outcomes

The outcomes and measures for Round Two are:

We invite eligible organisations to submit their ROI for Round Two of Pathway One: New Investment.

Please ensure you have fully read the ROI Guidance for Organisations before starting your application.

Step 1: Read Application Guide

This step-by-step guide is designed to help you with the application process. 

Application Guide for Pathway One: New Investment (Round Two) [PDF, 2.4 MB]

Step 2: Apply via Portal

Once you have read the Guide, follow the below link to the online portal to complete your ROI application.

Apply for New Investment Round Two(external link)

Pathway One: Round Two opened on 9 February and closes at midday on Tuesday 10 March 2026.

Application form preview

Here is an example of the application form you will need to fill out in the online portal. 

Application Form Preview - Round Two [PDF, 544 KB]

Help with the portal

For enquiries and technical issues (e.g. access or password issues) relating to the Online Portal, contact ServiceDesk@sia.govt.nz.

Please note that our service desk is only monitored during business hours. We will try to address your issue as soon as possible. When new funding rounds open, we may experience a surge in support requests during the first week as there are higher volumes of users. During this time responses may take 2-3 working days. 

Please note: Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) is now required for all users of the portal.

For help with setting up MFA on your devices, refer to our MFA how-to guide below.

How to set up MFA [PDF, 469 KB]

Help with your application

If you have questions about your application, contact us on info@sia.govt.nz. Please note that this email address is only monitored during business hours. We will respond to any enquiries sent outside of business hours the following working day.

Please refer to our FAQs and the Quick Guides below for answers to common questions.

This information will help you identify if your initiative may be suitable for this round of New Investment funding. 

Assessment framework and selection criteria

We know that many organisations are interested in applying for New Investment in Round One of the Social Investment Fund. We also know that preparing and submitting applications can take a lot of time. We are therefore going be open and transparent about what we are looking for, how we will assess proposals, and what kind of proposals are likely to be successful.

The first stage of the application process involves completing a ROI form. The information provided in the ROI form will be scored using an assessment framework. The proposals with the highest scores will be shortlisted.

The seven domains of assessment are: 

1. Outcomes 
2. Cohorts
3. Theory of change
4. Continuous learning
5. Sector-wide learning
6. Community connectedness
7. Delivery confidence

View the New Investment (Round Two) Assessment Framework [PDF, 144 KB]

In this video, Joe Fowler, Deputy Chief Executive-Investment and Commissioning, provides an overview of the assessment framework for Pathway One: New Investment.

Refer to these quick guides for more information on specific aspects of the selection criteria.

Updated: February 2026

Quick Guide: Understanding how we use outcomes [PDF, 248 KB]

Quick Guide: Understanding Theory of Change and logic models [PDF, 445 KB]

Quick Guide: Continuous learning [PDF, 247 KB]

Quick Guide: Data, learning and impact for the Social Investment Fund [PDF, 471 KB]

Read answers to frequently asked questions about the Fund and the application process on the Social Investment Fund FAQs page.

These Social Outcomes Agreement templates are used to document our agreement for initiatives under the Social Investment Fund. The templates linked below can help you understand how we expect to work together, how we approach impact, evaluation and learning and understand progress. Each agreement will be tailored to the specific initiative we invest in; areas highlighted in the templates indicate this.

Please note, these templates are currently being revised for Round Two - however, significant amendments are not anticipated.

Guidance on how we work with together in practice is currently in development.

SIA Social Outcomes Agreement Template - August 2025 [PDF, 487 KB]

SIA Initiative Schedule - August 2025 [PDF, 393 KB]

Should I apply for the Social Investment Fund?

Before you decide to apply for the New Investment funding pathway, we recommend you complete this short self-selection exercise. You should answer ‘yes’ to all or most of the questions below before committing to the full application process.

Self-selection exercise:

1. Outcomes – Does your initiative align to one (or more) of the priority outcome domains?
2. Cohorts – Will your initiatives reach a significant number of one (or more) of the priority cohorts (population groups) we have identified?
3. Theory of change – Do you have a robust theory of change that shows how the activities you are proposing will lead to improved outcomes for the priority cohorts?
4. Continuous learning – Does your organisation have embedded practices and policies that enable you to learn and adapt?
5. Sector-wide learning – Does your proposed initiative have innovative features and/or things that the wider social sector could learn from?
6. Community connectedness – Does your organisation have good relationships in the areas that you are proposing to work in?
7. Delivery confidence – Does your organisation have a track record of delivering similar initiatives?
8. Data sharing – Are you willing to transfer data into the IDI to support a robust evaluation?

Seven initiatives were selected to progress to contract negotiations for Round One of new investment funding in 2025. Read more on the Pathway One Selected Initiatives page.

Children with parents in prison are among those who will benefit from early intervention through the preferred seven new projects anticipated for funding by the Social Investment Fund. 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.

Preferred organisations were recommended by a panel made up of government and sector leaders.

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 that can enter into contracts and have systems to safely collect and share participant information. Through the Fund, 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.

After reviewing the assessment framework and completing the self-selection exercise, you may decide that this funding pathway is not suitable for your organisation. In this case, you can explore the other opportunities to apply for funding:

• Pathway One: New Investment – future funding rounds may focus on different priority cohorts. 
• Pathway Two: Contract Consolidation – for organisations interested in replacing multiple government contracts with a single outcomes-based agreement. 
• Pathway Three: Community Commissioning – this pathway is currently under development. Further information will be released in 2026.
• Pathway Four: Co-investment – this pathway is currently under development. Further information will be released in 2026.

If you have applied to the Social Investment Fund and need to access the portal to view your previous applications, click on the link below.

Access the Social Investment Fund Portal(external link)

Support: For support with issues related to the portal, please contact ServiceDesk@sia.govt.nz