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About the Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund

The new Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund will provide $10 million over two years to support innovative time-limited projects and initiatives aimed at improving mental health outcomes in New Zealand.

The Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund is open to any providers / organisations that may include (but is not limited to): non-government organisations (NGOs) and community mental health and addiction providers (including iwi-based and other Kaupapa Māori providers) so they are able to access Government funding for innovative approaches to improve mental health and addiction outcomes for New Zealanders.

To be eligible for the Innovation Fund, Providers will need to demonstrate in their Proposals that the proposed time-limited initiative can meet ‘all’ of the criteria listed below. 

  • increases access to mental health and addiction support  
  • protects public specialist mental health and addiction services by reducing demand 
  • develops capacity in the mental health and addiction workforce 
  • uses technology to drive productivity 
  • delivers scalable solutions for unmet need 
  • returns positive social return on investment (with evidence) 
  • achieves positive outcomes for target population groups that have evidence of poorer mental health outcomes than other groups 
  • will be co-funded on a dollar-for-dollar matched funding basis (noting the matched funding allocated through the Innovation Fund cannot be used for overheads or administration costs).  

The Innovation Fund will operate on a dollar-for-dollar matched funding basis with existing investment from organisations matched by Health NZ to a minimum amount of $250,000 per annum per initiative and to a maximum amount of $1 million per annum initiative.

How to apply

The Innovation Fund opened for applications on 31 July 2024 on the Government Electronic Tender Service (GETS) website so providers could submit proposals as part of a contestable procurement process.

It closed on 29 August 2024 and contracts are expected to be in place by early November 2024.

A second funding round may be announced later in 2024, depending on the amount of funding allocated in the first round.

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