School Sustainability and Resilience Fund
The School Sustainability and Resilience Fund (SSRF) was established in 2022 by Bay of Plenty Regional Council to raise awareness and understanding of climate change, hazards, resilience and sustainability within local communities.
The School Sustainability and Resilience Fund supports schools, kura kaupapa Māori, kōhanga reo, early childhood centres, kindergartens, tertiary institutions and other education organisations to deliver projects related to climate change and natural hazard resilience or environmental sustainability.
Projects must contribute to one or more of the following categories:
- Raising awareness of climate change or natural hazards.
- Improving long-term resilience to climate change or natural hazards.
- Reducing or mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
- Improving environmental sustainability.
Over recent years, the funding pool has increased thanks to our funding partners Rotorua Trust, Trust Horizon, Bay Trust, TECT, and Tauranga City Council.
Learn more by reading our Frequently Asked Questions about the fund.
What you need to know
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What can the fund be used for
What we can fund:
- Up to $5,000 (excl. GST) in funding for sustainability related projects
- Up to $10,000 (excl. GST) for climate change or natural hazard resilience projects.
This could include sustainability projects such as
- māra kai
- greenhouses
- rainwater tanks
- worm farms
- composting equipment
Projects supporting climate change or natural hazard resilience including:
- climate change/natural hazard education,
- environmental monitoring,
- active transport,
- planting native plants/trees
- pest animal/plant control.
What’s the process?
- Apply through the Participate page
- Staff will check applications meet the funding criteria
- Successful applicants notified
- Projects go through voting process
The Voting Process
All applications that have met the eligibility criteria will take part in the participatory budgeting process, which means the community votes for their preferred projects online at Participate BOPRC. There will be two voting rounds.
Round One
The first round will include all eligible applications and will be open to members of the public to vote for their preferred projects. Each participant who votes will have a set budget or 'wallet' that they can allocate to projects. Each project will have an estimated budget, and when participants vote for a project the value of that project will be deducted from their total budget. Participants will also have a 'minimum' amount that they have to spend, to ensure that they vote for more than just one project.
Round Two
This round provides a 'second chance' for projects who were not voted in during the public voting round. Funding will be allocated by a youth panel, comprised of rangatahi from across the Bay of Plenty. This voting round will not be open to the public.
Contacting successful applicants
Regional Council Staff will notify the successful applicants as soon as possible after the youth panel has completed their funding round. A list of successful applicants will also be published on the Participate website. The successful applicants will be provided with a funding agreement which will outline the terms and conditions for the funding.
