In the latest round of funding the Simplicity Foundation has donated $328,000 to five of our key charity partners, and provided twenty small grants to local environmental groups totaling $100,000.

Alongside a core group of other funders, the Simplicity Foundation continues with a second year of support for Take2's in-prison IT training initiative. The $80,000 donation will assist with the continued development of the in-prison programme and a community-based learning centre, as well as an associated tech lab social enterprise in Auckland.

Recreate received a second donation of $60,000 for the expansion of the MOXIE XP (Meaningful Opportunities Crossing Into Employment). This programme aims to facilitate pathways to paid employment for young people with disabilities around New Zealand.  

VisionWest also received a second year of support for My Whare, an innovative pilot programme which is addressing youth homelessness through physical and emotional wrap-around support for vulnerable young people. This $68,000 funding will help meet the salary costs of the programme coordinator.

The Foundation offered a fourth year of support for a group of students in the I Have a Dream Programme in Whangārei, now in Year 7. $35,000 helps provide the "dreamers" with a long-term adult advocate or mentor who is focused on their well-being and education, and offers wrap-around support for all the students involved and their whānau.

The Simplicity Foundation also offered ongoing support for the Graeme Dingle Foundation, with a fourth year of funding for their Career Navigator Programme. In addition to the delivery of the programme in six schools in West Auckland and Porirua/Lower Hutt, the $85,000 donation will help establish two new non-school affiliated Community programmes planned in both regions, targeting NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) young people. 

The following organisations received $5,000 each as part of the small grants environmental programmes:

Within Nature, Whakapara
Restoring Takarunga Hauraki, Auckland
Waiheke Resources Trust, Waiheke
Maketu Ongatoro Wetland Society, Waihi
Forest and Bird Coromandel, Coromandel
Manawahe Eco Trust, Whakatane
Taiea te Taiao, Waikato
Longbush Ecological Trust, Gisborne
Ruahine Kiwi, Hawkes Bay
Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust, Taranaki
Ruamahanga Restoration Trust, Wairarapa
The Good Carbon Farm, Upper Hutt
Cawthorn Institute, Nelson
Tasman Environmental Trust, Tasman
Redcliffs Residents Association, Christchurch
Wairewa Rununga Inc, Akaroa Peninsula
Aparima Pestbusters Charitable Trust, Riverton
Mana Tāhuna Charitable Trust, Queenstown
Whakatipu Wildlife Trust, Queenstown
Te Waiau Mahika Kai Trust, Southland

The next small grants round will focus on youth development programmes - you can find out more here.