School holiday programme run by a club or school

Outdoor: weather matters

The club or school runs a paid day programme of sport and activities for children in the school holidays, using its grounds and coaches; with OSCAR approval, eligible families can get a Work and Income subsidy.

Typically raises

$2,500

$500–8,000 per eventest.

About $42 per organiser hour

Based on about 25 children for one week

Is it right for us?

Money: $2,000–10,000
Work: A team for weeks
Helpers: 3–6 people
Lead time: 2–4 months
Red tape: Some

Fairly common: many clubs run them, but few as fundraisers

People: 1 adult per 8-10 children plus a programme lead and first-aider on site (estimate; check the OSCAR standards for ratios)
Organiser time: 40-80 hours per programme week incl. planning, enrolments and running days (estimate)
Lead time: 8-12 weeks for a first programme; OSCAR accreditation takes longer (estimate). Parents should apply for the subsidy 3-4 weeks ahead (Work and Income).
Up-front cost: $800. Gear, first-aid kit, booking system, advertising, and coach wages if not volunteers (estimate). Accreditation costs time, not a fee (estimate; check with Te Kāhui Kāhu).
Risk: Medium: staff costs are fixed while enrolments vary; set a minimum enrolment and cancel early if it is not met.

Suits: Sports club or team

Less usual for: Primary or intermediate school, Church, Community group, marae or service club

When: Summer (Dec–Feb), Autumn (Mar–May), Winter (Jun–Aug), Spring (Sep–Nov), School holidays

How big a job: A small team for weeks, 3–6 people

How it works

The money, as an example sum

Take about $3,300, pay about $800 of costs, and you keep about $2,500 per event: the typical result for about 25 children for one week.

From the typical figure on this page. Your result will differ.

Where the money figure comes from

NZ day rates at sports-club holiday programmes: $40/day on-site and $50/day excursion (YMCA at Ponsonby and Papatoetoe rugby clubs), $50/day or $185/week (College Rifles), $60/child/day (Hautapu Sports Club 2026), $75/day (Minis 2 Mooloos) (club pages via search). Example: 25 children at $50 for 5 days is $6,250 gross (estimate); net after paid coaches, food and gear is an estimate.

Last checked October 2026. Ran this? Tell us what you raised and we’ll use real results to improve the figures.

Step by step

Check demand: ask families and the local school whether they would book, and look at what other holiday programmes run nearby (OSCARNZ advises this).
Decide the format: full days (e.g. 8:30-3:00) or half-day clinics, age range, and maximum numbers.
Recruit a programme lead and coaches; police vet and safety check everyone working with children before the programme.
Write the basics even if you are not accredited: enrolment and medical form, sign-in/out, ratios, emergency plan, risk assessments (use the OSCAR standards as a guide).
If you want subsidy eligibility, start the Te Kāhui Kāhu accreditation process well before you advertise it as 'OSCAR approved'.
Set the price from a budget (staff, gear, food, venue, 15% buffer) and a minimum enrolment number.
Open online bookings with payment; tell eligible families to apply to Work and Income 3-4 weeks ahead.
Run the week with a daily plan, wet-weather plan, and first-aider on site.
Collect feedback, record incidents and compare actual costs to budget before deciding to repeat.

Getting the word out

Even a well-run plan fails if nobody hears about it. There are two asks, and the first one goes out first.

Ask for help: Members to take a shift, and someone with the gear or the site.
Ask people to buy: People to come along, or book, and pay on the day.
When to start: Ask for helpers first, as soon as the date is set. Start the public ask about 6–8 weeks out, and book newsletter and paper notices before that: small newsletters close early.

Where to put it

School, club and church newslettersYour own newsletter is free and read by the families most likely to say yes. Check when it closes.
Local Facebook pages and community groupsPost in your town’s community page and local groups (check their rules), and share from your group’s own page.
Facebook events and what’s-on listingsMake a Facebook event people can say they’re going to, and list it on your council’s or town’s what’s-on page.
Community newsletters and magazinesResidents’ newsletters, village magazines and other churches’ bulletins often run community notices free. Small ones close early.
Other groups sharing itAsk the school, kindy, church, sports club or marae down the road to share it in their newsletter or page. Offer to share theirs back.

The full guide to getting the word out: every channel from flyers to the evening news, with lead times and costs.

What you’ll need

Place: NeededYour own grounds or hall
Landowner’s permission: Not needed
Council permit: Not needed
Food rules: Not neededNo food sold
Alcohol: Not neededNo alcohol sold
Gambling rules: Not neededNot gambling
Health and safety: NeededA written health and safety plan (councils often ask for one)
First aid: NeededA first aider and kit on site (recommended)
Insurance: NeededPublic liability cover (councils often require it)

OSCAR accreditation via Te Kāhui Kāhu is voluntary but needed for families to claim the Work and Income OSCAR Subsidy. Safety-check everyone working with children; it is a legal duty for government-funded regulated services under the Children's Act 2014.

Make more from it

Add a half-day specialist clinic
$45-60 per child extra (estimate from NZ clinic prices)
families already on site book an extra session
Programme T-shirt or drink bottle
$5-10 margin per child (estimate)
a take-home item children want

Stack it: on its own, about $2,500. With the add-on above, roughly

$2,600est.

What you can get donated

Ask a sponsor to fund free places for families who cannot pay, or to supply fruit and drinks.

Tips

Using your own grounds and senior players as paid assistants keeps both costs and money in the club (estimate).
A programme run each holiday builds a booking habit; families stick with a known provider (estimate).
Partnering with an existing accredited provider (as the YMCA does at rugby clubs) gets OSCAR approval without accrediting yourself (YMCA Auckland).

Watch out for

Calling a programme 'OSCAR approved' when it is not; families will find out when their subsidy is refused.
Running on unvetted volunteers; one incident can end the club's programme and reputation.
Small numbers with paid staff make a loss; OSCARNZ warns that small holiday programmes 'can be hard to sustain financially if all the staff are paid'.

Free tools for this

Cash float and takings counterCount takings in pairs and bank the same day.
Checklist for any ideaBefore, on the day and after, built from this idea’s own steps and rules.

Typical rules

OSCAR approval is voluntary but needed for families to get the Work and Income OSCAR Subsidy (up to 50 hours a week in the holidays, children under 14) or MSD grants; 'parents of children attending unapproved programmes cannot receive an OSCAR Subsidy' (Work and Income; OSCARNZ).
Accreditation is through Te Kāhui Kāhu (Social Sector Accreditation Standards and the OSCAR specialist standard), which cover staffing ratios, police vetting, emergency procedures and sign-in/out; accredited services must have a first-aid trained person on site at all times (OSCARNZ).
Children's Act 2014: safety checks (police vet, ID, referees, interview, risk assessment, every 3 years) are legally required for children's workers in organisations funded by government to provide regulated services; otherwise they are strongly recommended (Oranga Tamariki).
Health and Safety at Work Act 2015: paying coaches makes the club a PCBU with full duties, including a risk assessment for each activity (WorkSafe).
Food: providing snacks to enrolled children is not food sales; selling food to parents falls under MPI fundraising rules (MPI).
Employment law applies to paid coaches (minimum wage, holiday pay); a club with volunteers only should still have written roles (estimate).

Check the details

Events and permits · Example council page: Selwyn District Council, event permit

Sources

Researched October 2026. All fundraising ideas

* General fundraising information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Money figures are examples and estimates, not promises. Check current official requirements before you commit. About this guide