Top Up Community Grants 2025/2026 round winners

Fa‘atauanau is a Pasifika-led initiative based in West Auckland that weaves wellbeing into everyday sporting environments for young people. Delivered through schools and local sports clubs, the project embeds simple, culturally grounded “top ups” aligned with the Five Ways to Wellbeing – for example, by using games and active sessions to create open, relaxed spaces for honest talanoa. Led by community voices and guided by Pasifika values, Fa‘atauanau makes wellbeing feel accessible and part of everyday life, strengthening not only individual wellbeing but the wider community, too.

Ki Tua o Matariki is a Māori-led organisation in Tāmaki Makaurau that creates culturally grounded spaces where whānau can grow wellbeing together through connection to whenua, kai and each other. Their project, Tupu Oranga Ngātahi – Growing Wellness Together, centres a mara kai as a living classroom where young parents, hapū māmā, pēpi and the wider community can build simple, everyday wellbeing habits through gardening, sharing kai and learning together. Guided by tikanga and supported by kaumātua and whānau leaders, the project makes wellbeing practical and mana-enhancing.

Ngāti Maru ki Hauraki is an iwi-led organisation based in Thames, delivering kaupapa Māori that strengthen hauora through culture, connection and collective care. Their project, Mauri Tū, Mauri Ora, brings rangatahi, whānau and kaimahi together through creative wānanga, regular hīkoi, shared breakfasts, and the development of a community mara kai. Based in Ngāti Maru values, the kaupapa turns simple, everyday actions, such as creating, walking, gardening and kōrero, into meaningful wellbeing “top ups”. Mauri Tū, Mauri Ora supports whanaungatanga, lasting wellbeing and a resilient Hauraki community by reconnecting people to their identity, whenua and each other.

Radiqal Movement is a queer- and disabled-led organisation delivering inclusive, body-neutral movement opportunities for Rainbow and disabled communities across Aotearoa. Underpinned by Te Whare Tapa Whā, their kaupapa Moving with Mauri is a nationally accessible video series that supports people to build a positive relationship with movement, tinana and their own mauri. Tailored for communities who are often excluded from mainstream fitness spaces, the series is designed to start with gentle, mindful movement and progress toward more confident engagement with physical activity – resulting in greater individual and collective wellbeing.

Based in the Bay of Plenty, TOI (Te Ohomauri Innovations) is an Indigenous support system dedicated to empowering wāhine by revitalising indigenous knowledge and practices. The project TOI WāHine: Awakening Mauri Through Ruahinetanga centres menopause (ruahinetanga) as a powerful transition into wisdom, leadership and renewed mauri. It supports Māori wāhine to build culturally grounded, everyday wellbeing practices through wānanga rooted in mātauranga Māori, rongoā, maramataka and collective care. By reframing menopause from isolation and struggle to connection and empowerment, the kaupapa uplifts wāhine and strengthens mental, physical, spiritual and whānau wellbeing.  

WELLfed is a Porirua-based charity supporting māmā and whānau through culturally grounded, wraparound wellbeing programmes. Their WELLfed Pēpē Māmā Programme supports pregnant māmā to build simple, everyday wellbeing “top ups” through shared cooking, connection, learning and reflective practice, grounded in Te Whare Tapa Whā. It helps reduce isolation and postnatal distress while building confidence, life skills and strong peer-support networks that extend well beyond the classroom.

Te Ara o te Hue – Wānanga for Wellbeing is a West Coast kaupapa by Whare Manaaki o te Tai Poutini delivered in Māwhera–Greymouth that draws on the hue (gourd) as a symbol of wellbeing, creativity and cultural resilience. Through five inclusive wānanga weaving mātauranga Māori, surfing, toi Māori and rongoā, the project strengthens identity, whanaungatanga and wellbeing in a mana-enhancing and accessible way. Designed in response to high levels of mental distress on the Coast, it offers non-clinical, community-led wellbeing “top ups” grounded in local voices, tikanga and connection to te taiao.