New Investment Application Information

Read more about Pathway One: New Investment and the Social investment Fund.

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](external link)

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.

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?

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 the New Investment pathway 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](external link)

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

Quick Guides cover the following topics: 

• Understanding how we use outcomes
• Understanding Theory of Change and logic models
• Continuous learning
• Data, learning and impact

Updated: February 2026

You can also read answers to frequently asked questions about the Fund and the application process on the Social Investment Fund FAQs(external link) page.

Please note that ROI applications for Round Two have now closed. 

However, when this pathway is open, the application process is outlined below.

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](external link)

Step 2: Apply via Portal

Once you have read the Guide, you will be able to complete your ROI application in the online portal.

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](external link)

The Social Investment Fund Priority Cohort Explorer is a data tool that organisations can use to draw insights on the selected priority cohorts (population groups). The dashboard supports community organisations interested in applying to the Social Investment Fund to better understand where support may be most valuable. Data should be used alongside local knowledge, expertise, other evidence and relationships. 

The Priority Cohort Explorer provides information on demographics and geographic distribution. It collates data sourced from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) into a visual dashboard. Users can engage with the dashboard to gain insights into the demographics of Fund cohorts within their location.

The cohort numbers show only what can be seen in government administrative data. It is important to note that the priority cohort “Mothers who experience harm from substance use, and their children, from pregnancy up to age 5” will be under-counted.

View the Priority Cohort Data Explorer(external link)

Please note: We acknowledge that administrative data can reflect system biases and may not capture the full strengths, aspirations, and lived realities of Māori and other communities. It is not our intention with this dashboard to create a deficit view or define people by challenges. 

If you would like more general data to inform your application, please see our Regional Data Explorer(external link).

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](external link)

SIA Initiative Schedule - August 2025 [PDF, 393 KB](external link)