Māori organisations occupy a distinctive place in Aotearoa New Zealand's grantmaking landscape — as both significant funders (iwi investment funds, Māori trusts, hapū development trusts) and as recipients of grants from Crown agencies, community trusts, and foundations. The governance structures, values, and accountability practices of te ao Māori are different from those of mainstream charitable and public sector grantmaking, and grants management software that doesn't accommodate this difference creates barriers.
This guide focuses on the practical grants management requirements of Māori organisations as grantmakers, and what funders engaging with Māori applicants and grantees should understand.
The growth of Māori asset base — following Treaty settlements, the development of Māori incorporation investments, and the establishment of iwi investment funds — has made many iwi and Māori trusts significant grantmakers. These entities fund community development, health and wellbeing, education, environmental restoration, and cultural revitalisation.
Iwi investment funds. Post-settlement iwi — like Ngāi Tahu, Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, and many others — hold significant investment funds from which they make grants to hapū, marae, and community organisations within their rohe (territory). These grants are governed by iwi governance structures — tūmuaki, trusts boards, iwi leadership groups — with their own approval processes and accountability frameworks.
Māori trusts and incorporations. Ahu whenua trusts (Māori land trusts), Māori incorporations, and whanau trusts administer funds and may make grants or distributions to beneficiaries. The governance of these entities under Te Ture Whenua Māori Act has specific requirements.
Urban Māori authorities. Urban Māori authorities — organisations like Te Whanau o Waipareira, Manukau Urban Māori Authority, and similar bodies in other cities — deliver services to Māori communities and may administer grants for community development and wellbeing.
Kaupapa Māori foundations. Foundations established on kaupapa Māori principles — such as Te Ara Tika in some regions — administer grants with a specific cultural and values framework.
Grants management processes for Māori organisations need to accommodate governance structures that may be different from mainstream nonprofit governance:
Marae-based decision-making. For hapū and marae-based grants, key decisions may be made through hui (community meetings) at the marae. The grants management process needs to accommodate hui-based decision timelines and the need for face-to-face discussion before formal approval.
Kaumātua and kuia authority. Cultural authority rests with kaumātua (Elders) and kuia. Grant decisions that carry significant cultural implications may require kaumātua endorsement, and grant processes that don't acknowledge this authority are not fully aligned with tikanga.
Whakapapa connections. In small iwi and hapū communities, everyone is connected through whakapapa. COI management in this context needs to be understood through a different lens than standard charity COI — close relationships are the norm, and the relevant question is whether the funder's kaupapa and tikanga require any additional process for related applicants.
Collective and whānau-centred decision-making. Māori decision-making is often collective and consensus-oriented rather than individual. Application processes that require a single authorised signatory from an organisation may not fit decision-making structures where authority is shared across whānau or hapū leadership.
Māori data sovereignty — te mana o ngā raraunga — refers to the rights of Māori to govern the collection, storage, ownership, and application of Māori data. This is both a values position and an increasingly recognised policy framework in Aotearoa.
He Ara Waiora and Māori data frameworks. Frameworks like He Ara Waiora (the Treasury's wellbeing framework) and the work of Te Mana Raraunga provide guidance on what Māori data governance looks like in practice.
Implications for grants management:
- Data about Māori organisations, communities, and individuals collected through grant applications should be collected with explicit consent and used only for the purposes stated
- Aggregate reporting that publishes data about Māori communities should be reviewed with appropriate Māori engagement before publication
- Sensitive information — whakapapa, tikanga, cultural practices, land use — that may be shared in grant applications deserves additional protection
- Data should be returned to communities in forms useful to them, not just used to satisfy funder reporting requirements
Application processes as a barrier. Standard grant application processes — complex forms, tight deadlines, English-only documentation, formal organisational requirements — are barriers for many Māori organisations, particularly those working at hapū or marae level. Funders who want genuine Māori participation need to design processes that accommodate different ways of organising and communicating.
Te reo Māori. Applications submitted in te reo Māori should be accepted. Funders who do not have te reo capability should invest in it, or build relationships with trusted translators, rather than requiring that Māori applicants translate their own applications.
Kaupapa Māori as a legitimate framework. Assessment criteria that require applicants to demonstrate outcomes in Western wellbeing or effectiveness frameworks may not capture the value of kaupapa Māori approaches. Te Whare Tapa Whā, the Māori wellbeing framework developed by Sir Mason Durie, provides an alternative framework that many Māori service providers use.
Relationship-based engagement. Effective engagement with Māori organisations is built on long-term relationships, not transactional grant cycles. Funders who invest in relationships — who visit marae, who build trust over time, who understand rohe and tikanga — get better quality applications and more genuine accountability than those who administer at arm's length.
Co-governance and tino rangatiratanga. The Treaty of Waitangi principle of tino rangatiratanga — Māori authority over their own affairs — is relevant to how funders structure their engagement with Māori applicants. Programmes that include Māori in governance and assessment, and that give Māori applicants genuine voice in how programmes are designed, are more consistent with Treaty principles.
Flexible organisational structures. Ability to record Māori legal structures — ahu whenua trusts, Māori incorporations, charitable trusts on kaupapa Māori — alongside standard charity registration.
Te reo Māori support. Application forms, communications, and reports should be deliverable in te reo Māori. At minimum, the system should not obstruct te reo submissions.
Flexible timeline management. The ability to set extended deadlines for specific applicants, pause assessment for hui consultation, and accommodate decision timelines that don't fit standard Gregorian calendar cycles.
Cultural protocol documentation. Fields for recording cultural protocols associated with specific hapū, marae, or Māori organisations — communication preferences, tikanga considerations, whakapapa connections relevant to COI.
Data sovereignty controls. Strong access controls, clear data use policies, and the ability to restrict how specific community data is aggregated and reported.
Tahua supports Māori organisations as grantmakers and is committed to building grants management software that accommodates te ao Māori values and governance structures.