Simplicity Charitable Trust recently completed the third round of giving for 2021, and we’re happy to announce it was the biggest round to date. $365,000 was distributed between six Kiwi charities, all doing critical work in their communities. 

We support charities across four priority areas that have been identified by members as important: 

* Youth
* Environment and climate change
* Education and financial literacy
* Homelessness

Here's who we gave to this round:

Big Brothers, Big Sisters (BBBS) have received a second round of funding, which will allow them to meet local demand for their mentoring services. BBBS establishes one-to-one mentoring relationships between adults and children who are facing adversity, with the purpose of providing support, building resilience and improving life outcomes. 

Graeme Dingle Foundation runs school-based programmes across New Zealand that promote good values and help young people develop life skills and set goals for the future. We continue our support for the Career Navigator programme in Kelston Girls, Waitakere College and Porirua College. This hands-on programme helps students connect with work opportunities and encourages them to set high education and career goals for themselves.

House of Science are passionate about raising scientific literacy of primary-aged students, by providing resource kits and professional development for teachers. With this donation, Simplicity Charitable Trust will help to establish House of Science’s newest branch in South Auckland, improving resources for primary schools in that area.

We’ve been able to support a second round of funding for Kiwis for Kiwi Foundation, with our donation contributing to running costs of the Westshore kiwi crèche in Napier, which helps kiwi repopulate the wild. The creches are an incredibly important part of protecting the baby kiwis from stoats, who prefer to prey on the young ones. 95% of kiwi that hatch in the wild die before they reach breeding age. 

Orange Sky provides free laundry service and warm showers to the 41,000 New Zealanders experiencing homelessness. This round, we helped fund the purchase of a new laundry van for Orange Sky’s Auckland team. Their simple, practical service restores a sense of dignity and belonging in the homeless community, who often feel ignored or disconnected from society. 

Student Volunteer Army is an education charity run for students, by students, focused on providing meaningful volunteering opportunities for children and young people across New Zealand. The Trust continues its support for the SVA Service Award, which recognises and rewards youth volunteering. There are many benefits to volunteering, for the individual young people and their communities.