Apply for the Pacific Languages Community Fund

• Applications open on Friday 14 November 2025.
• Drop-in sessions will be held online on 20 November 2025 from 6-7pm and 25 November 2025 from 12.30-1.30pm. You can register by emailing [email protected]
• Applications close on Friday 28 November 2025 at 12pm.
• We aim to inform applicants of the outcome of their application by the end of December 2025.
• Successful applicants will receive funding by the end of January.
• Progress reports must be submitted by Friday 29 May 2026.
• Initiatives must be completed by Friday 30 October 2026.
• Completion reports must be submitted by Friday 27 November 2026.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for the PLCF, applicants must meet all general requirements, and at least one focus area requirement. Additional criteria apply to Tier 1 applicants and those who have previously received funding via PLCF.

General requirements

To be eligible for the PLCF, applicants must:

• only apply once for the PLCF in 2025/26.
• not be an education institution (e.g. early learning centre, school, university, college, or wānanga).

Focus area requirement

To ensure the fund reaches communities where support is most needed, projects must meet at least one of the following:

• support the revitalisation of a Realm language (Tokelauan, Niue, or Cook Islands Māori), given their critical status.
• be led by or targeted at young Pacific peoples (under 30), in response to low language retention rates among young Pacific peoples.
• be based in a region with a smaller Pacific population (any region outside of Auckland and Wellington regions), in response to lower access to learning and speaking opportunities.

Additional eligibility requirements

• must be a registered entity if applying for Tier 1 funding (eg, charitable trust, incorporated society, company).
• applicants previously funded through PLCF must have completed all reporting requirements and show how the new project builds on prior work.

• personal financial assistance.
• debt repayment or debt servicing.
• academic research and other research activities.
• translating existing materials, documents or information into Pacific languages – this excludes translation of original material created as part of your initiative.
• programmes and activities delivered overseas, including the New Zealand realm countries.
• travel, accommodation, or fact-finding tours.

Follow the link below to apply and it will take you to our application portal Kātoatoa – there is guidance in the application form to help you submit an application.

Apply through Kātoatoa

If you already have an account, you can log in and get started.

If you do not have an account, please register.

All eligible applications to the Pacific Languages Community Fund (PLCF) are assessed using a detailed scoring matrix. The matrix evaluates how well your initiative aligns with the fund’s objectives and your organisation’s ability to deliver it successfully.

You can view the full assessment matrix here: Pacific Languages Community Fund assessment matrix (PDF 122 KB)

Applications are scored across two main categories:

• alignment to fund objectives (65%) – including language focus, impact, youth engagement, and community relevance.
• delivery capability (35%) – including your organisation’s experience, budget, timeline, and whether the initiative would happen without PLCF funding.

If your organisation has previously received PLCF funding, your application must also show how the new initiative builds on prior work.

Registered organisations are charitable trusts, incorporated societies, churches, statutory bodies, branch of an organisation registered under an Act of Parliament, registered under relevant legislation or a company with a charitable status.

If you are not registered as a charitable organisation, you can still apply but you must clearly articulate the charitable purpose of the initiative and differentiate between for-profit and not-for-profit activities.

A group that has charitable purpose and experience meeting a need of the community they work with.

• This supports projects that involve the development and production of a language resource or resources.
• This could be the development of an app, video content, written materials, books etc.
• Funding conditions would include provision that the final resources are shared with the Ministry and the Ministry is able to use and share the resources developed (with credit to the group or person who developed it).

• This supports language education initiatives focused on language teaching and learning.
• This could be language classes through basic conversations, multiple mediums, and oratory, cultural and traditional practices.
• Funding conditions would include provision that there are a minimum 10 classes. 

If you have further questions about the fund, please email [email protected]

If you are having any technical issues with your application, please email [email protected]