Regional funding data analysis

Recent data released by Fundsorter shows how 37 different topics are prioritised by funders, giving us insight into grants available across Aotearoa. Now, digging into regional variations reveals even more.

Broad vs focused

Generalist funding (labelled “all” in the data) is the largest overall category at 30%. But there are regional differences: Auckland, Tairāwhiti-Gisborne and the West Coast are the most generalist, at over 50% of opportunities, while Wellington, Northland, and Manawatu-Whanganui are the most focused on specific priorities.

Auckland

As an urban centre, it makes sense that funding for facilities and capital works is a focus in Auckland (at 12%, second only to Taranaki’s 20% for that category), but low rates of funding for heritage and preservation (6 times less than the average) indicate that utilisation and new construction are more the focus for the built environment of our largest city.

Auckland has high populations of diverse ethnic groups and residents born overseas, and accordingly has funding targeting ethnic communities, migrants, and refugees at more than twice the average—but still only 3% of Auckland opportunities. Even lower is funding for family and sexual violence in Auckland, which is significantly less than even the very low overall rate of 0.8%. 

Surprisingly, while Auckland has far and away the largest Pacific population in Aotearoa, only 1.4% of Auckland funding opportunities focus on Pacific people, which is only half the already low overall rate. 

Top of the South Island 

Interestingly, the Nelson-Tasman-Marlborough region, which has quite a low Pacific population, stands out as the highest for funding targeted to Pacific people, at around 5% of regional opportunities. A similar trend is seen here in funding for Māori. This region is also strong on housing (around 8% of opportunities, compared to the very low 1.7% overall rate). On the other hand, the top of the South Island has markedly few funding opportunities for disability compared to other regions (opposite to Southland, where disability funding is highest).

Tairāwhiti-Gisborne

Despite being hit hard by Cyclone Gabrielle, climate change and disaster relief barely register in the data for Tairāwhiti-Gisborne. This region also has low rates of funding for Māori. In contrast, the big focus here is on children and youth. Tairāwhiti-Gisborne also stands out from the pack for relatively higher prioritisation of some categories: economic development, ethnic communities, migrants & refugees, social justice & human rights, mental health, and women & gender equity.

Northland

Northland is the one bright spot when it comes to LGBTQI+ funding, which is worryingly low overall at 1.3% of opportunities—Northland has twice this level. Environmental issues are prioritised highly across the board, but Northland is even head and shoulders above the rest, with the highest focus of all on climate change, biodiversity and conservation. This region also has notably high rates of funding for tangata whenua and youth. On the flip side, opportunities focused on public health and wellbeing are notably scarce in Northland.

Taranaki

Funding opportunities focused on public health and wellbeing and mental health are noticeably lacking in Taranaki. Meanwhile, this region simultaneously tops the leaderboard for both rural funding opportunities and facilities and capital works (a more urban topic), making an interesting combination. Taranaki is also quite strong on Māori and tangata whenua funding opportunities.

Funding for Māori

In the data, the Māori category covers funding for a wide range of outcomes benefiting Māori or led by kaupapa Māori organisations, while tangata whenua funding is for hapu and iwi specifically. Some areas of the country with a high proportion of Māori population surprisingly don’t have accordingly many funding opportunities for Māori.

Despite being majority Māori demographically, Tairāwhiti-Gisborne has one of the lowest rates of funding opportunities for Māori and tangata whenua. A similar trend is seen in Waikato and Bay of Plenty—both have below the average Māori funding opportunities despite high populations. Northland, another place with high Māori demographics, is an interesting case: the number of funding opportunities for Māori in general is below the average, but funding for tangata whenua is above the average.

One region with a relatively high Māori population that shows accordingly high funding opportunities for Māori is Taranaki, at 13%, and its rate for tangata whenua funding is similarly high. As mentioned, the area that shows up strongest in funding for Māori is actually Nelson-Tasman-Marlborough.

Funding for LGBTQI+

LGBTQI+ funding opportunities are worryingly low across the country, at only 1.3% of opportunities. Only Northland stands out, with twice that rate. Considering the last census showed that Wellington has the highest proportion of LGBTQI+ people (over 11% of the population) it’s concerning that Wellington funders mention them in less than 1% of opportunities.

Sports and Arts Funding

Sports and arts both make the top 10 categories overall. The West Coast and Tasman are the sportiest regions when it comes to sports funding prioritisation, with Waikato at the other end with the lowest amount. Arts is prioritised highly in general, but a few regions especially stand out strongly for arts funding: Otago, Wellington, and the West Coast. 

Some statistical surprises

A few results are opposite to what you might expect from regional demographics:

• As the most rural regions, you might guess Southland and Northland would be big in the rural category, but it’s actually highest in Taranaki.

• Northland, Gisborne, and the West Coast have high rates of housing deprivation, but funders in these regions prioritise housing issues even below the already very low overall rate.

• While Northland, Auckland, and Waikato have the highest rates of regional unemployment, none show a particular focus on funding for employment training and skills (Nelson leads that category). 

• The West Coast is known for beautiful nature, but this region bucks the overall trend with a notably low focus on funding for environmental issues.

• As mentioned, Nelson-Tasman-Marlborough rates highly on Māori and Pacific funding, despite relatively small populations of these demographics, while Auckland Pacific funding opportunities are only half the overall rate, despite having by far the largest Pacific population.

Dive into the data

This fascinating data set may yet hold more interesting insights! Dive into the data yourself, and stay tuned because Fundsorter will be updating it regularly. We’re also planning more analyses looking at different aspects of the funding sector soon.