The Max e-Grants programme provides small grants of up to $5,000 to Ministry of Education licensed New Zealand schools to support children aged 5-18 years to achieve educational participation.

The Max e-Grants programme provides small grants of up to $5,000 to Ministry of Education licensed New Zealand schools to support children aged 5-18 years to achieve educational participation. The aim of the programme is to support individual children or small groups of children so they won't feel isolated or left out of activities due to social or economic disadvantages beyond their control.

Each school is asked to limit their applications to ONE (1) per Grant Round. If a school lodges two applications, it is unlikely that more than one application per school will be granted.

There is only one round per year.

Should a school be successful in their application in one round, they will not be able to apply in the round immediately following, without first completing an acquittal.

All successful applications must complete an acquittal form.

We strongly encourage you to read through all the FAQs to help with the success of your application.

There are three stages to receiving a successful grant:

  1. The grant application
  2. The grant agreement form
  3. The grant acquittal form

All stages must be completed if successful.

Assistance may be given by way of financial support based on the following categories:

  • Equipment and resources (e.g. sports equipment, stationery)
  • Excursions or camps (e.g. annual year camps or one-off excursions)
  • Extracurricular school activities (e.g. swimming lessons, etc.)
  • Teacher support or tutoring (e.g. in-class aides, tutoring)
  • Uniforms (e.g. sports or school)

For any other information about the Max e-Grants programme, please check out our FAQs.

If you require specific help with your online application, please complete this online contact form for any other questions.

Login to your Grantmaking account and click the ‘requirements’ tab at the top of the page. Then use the drop-down menu (on the right of the page) to select New, and you will find the form there.

Acquittals report on what took place and how the grant was spent.

We understand teaching staff change, but the grant is accepted by the school Principal, and the school needs to make arrangements for someone who has been involved with the project to write the acquittal. If your school has an un-acquitted grant, future applications will not be considered.

As part of the approval process for your acquittal, it will be compared to your original application; therefore, you need to explain if there are any differences.

Please provide as detailed a report as possible and attach relevant images. Information from acquittals assists in increasing sponsorship for the programme, which increases the budget for all schools applying in future rounds.

Please provide as much information as you can about what was achieved with the grant, including outcomes or changes observed in the recipient's behaviour and academic performance.

The grants process
Timing
For projects between 26 January to 18 December 2026
Apply
Between Monday 21 July to Friday 19 December 2025
Review
Applications reviewed by Friday 24 October 2025
Approve
Schools notified of decisions by Friday 7 November 2025
Respond
School return approved agreements by Friday 21 November 2025
Pay Out
Payments made to schools on Monday 19 January 2026
Complete
Grant acquittals completed by schools (due no later than 6 months after project completed)