Pathway One: New Investment (Round One)

On this page you will find:

• About Pathway One
• Key dates
• Application assessment and decision making NEW
• Priority outcomes and cohorts for New Investment Round One
• Application Assessment Framework and selection criteria
• Video: Assessment Framework Overview
• Quick Guides and Fund FAQ
• Social Outcomes Agreement Template
• Self-selection exercise
• About the Social Investment Fund

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

In this first round of funding, a total of $50 million will go towards programmes reaching more than 1600 children, ranging from newborns through to eighteen-year-olds.

Selected initiatives

1. Te Hou Ora Whānau Services Limited: support for 120 children for individual and group sessions to reduce school drop-out rates and justice and care system involvement – Dunedin.
2. Tākiri Mai te Ata Trust: support for counselling and trauma therapy for 200 young people in care, have parents in prison, or have been stood down from school – Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt.
3. Te Puawaitanga ki Ōtautahi Charitable Trust: support for 200 children for health, safety and life skills – Christchurch and wider Canterbury.
4. Ngāti Awa Social and Health Services Trust: support for 450 children, providing support for families dealing with historic trauma, and building specialist forensic nursing for child sexual abuse – Eastern Bay of Plenty.
5. Barnardos New Zealand Incorporated: support for 100 for family mentoring, and parenting support to help children reach developmental milestones, such as early childhood education attendance – Māngere.
6. Horowhenua New Zealand Trust: For more than 400 children for a behaviour change programme – Levin
7. Kaikaranga Holding Ltd: support for 150 disabled and neurodiverse children who have been suspended or stood down from school. Services include tutoring, sensory tools and short-term behavioural guidance – Auckland.

Read more about these initiatives on the Pathway One Selected Initiatives page.

Successful organisations were selected by a panel made up of government and sector leaders. You can find more information about the panellists in the Application assessment and decision making section below.

Pathway One is for new investments in initiatives that focus on priority cohorts and outcomes and strongly demonstrate the social investment approach.

The Social Investment Fund will make several ‘new investments’ in the first round.

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.

Applicants will need to demonstrate that their proposals will focus on outcomes for particular groups of people.

Priority cohorts

The cohorts are:

1. children whose parent(s) are currently or have recently been in prison,
2. children of parent(s) who experienced the care system, and
3. children that were stood down or suspended from school when they were 12 or younger. 

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 are:

Applications were assessed against the assessment framework provided by SIA. Based on this assessment, an external panel of experts made recommendations to the Chief Executive of the Social Investment Agency, who makes the final funding decisions.

The external Selection Panel consists of:

Dale Karauria (Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Kahungunu)

Dale is a Director at Dakoda Visions Ltd, a consultancy supporting work across the government sector. She brings extensive experience in public service, with a focus on improving education outcomes for Māori, Pasifika, and disengaged youth. Dale has held governance roles as Chair of Careers NZ and the Tertiary Education Commission and has served in Parliament as a Private Secretary and Political Advisor.

Patty Green

Patty is currently the Principal Policy Analyst, Whānau Ora Policy at Te Puni Kōkiri. She brings over 40 years of experience in social work, the social sector and in social policy and represented her agency on the government response supporting the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.

Andrew Webber

Andrew brings experience from previous roles as Chief Economist at the Social Investment Agency and Ministry of Education, and Principal Economist at NSW Department of Education. His expertise includes economic modelling, policy evaluation, and strategic investment frameworks, ensuring effective resource allocation for long-term impact. A strong advocate for evidence-based decision-making, Andrew focuses on optimising funding strategies to enhance well-being and equity across communities. 

Pathway One: New Investment (Round One) ROI applications closed at midday on Tuesday 23 September.

A round of community feedback on the shortlisted proposals was open from 14-28 October.

If you have questions about your application, please contact us on info@sia.govt.nz. 

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

Application Guide for Pathway One: New Investment (Round One) [PDF, 974 KB]

If you have further questions about your application or you have technical issues with the application platform, 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.

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

Webinar: Wednesday 27 August, 10am

View a recording of this webinar on the Fund Webinars page.

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 Registration of Interest (ROI) form. The information provided in the Registration of Interest 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 One) Assessment Framework [PDF, 339 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:

Quick Guide: Understanding how we use outcomes [PDF, 323 KB]

Quick Guide: Understanding Theory of Change and logic models [PDF, 358 KB]

Quick Guide: Continuous learning [PDF, 361 KB]

Quick Guide: Data, learning and impact for the Social Investment Fund [PDF, 555 KB]

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

Application form preview

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

Pathway One New Investment Application Form Preview [PDF, 507 KB]

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.

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 three 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?

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. Future rounds will be announced in 2026.
• Pathway Two: Contract Consolidation – for organisations interested in replacing multiple government contracts with a single outcomes-based agreement. This pathway will open in early September 2025.
• 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.

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.