Otago Polytechnic Charity House raised $115,000 for Otago community groups at the 15th edition of the Annual Charity House auction. 🙌

Each year, Otago Polytechnic carpentry learners build a four-bedroom house with guidance from their lecturers and generous support from many local businesses.

This project is an excellent example of the hands-on learning approach and shows how OP students make a better world.

The fully-furnished four-bedroom house was sold for $365,000 on 20th November, breaking the previous record sale of $325,000 in 2020.

Catalytic Foundation (formerly United Way NZ) will soon distribute these funds to frontline community charities in Otago.

29 days left to donate to the Christmas Shoebox Appeal

With the end of the year fast approaching and so many families in need of our support because of the pandemic, we’re asking you to please dig deep this year and support our Christmas Shoebox Appeal.

It is with the collective support of wonderful people like Maria and her grandchildren; Jack, Olive, Louie and Ava that we can help make a child's Christmas a happier time

Click here to Donate

Click here to order a box to fill 

This Christmas will be particularly hard for a lot of struggling families and children in New Zealand. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that many children are living in households with barely enough necessities and dealing with financial hardship on top of interruptions to schooling and social routines.

Christmas Shoeboxes go to children in refuges who had left everything behind to escape domestic violence, they go to families struggling to put food on the table and to those spending their first Christmas in New Zealand, separated from their own culture and family. 

How you can help?

1. Donate here every $50 provides a special box of gifts and you can choose the region you want to support.

2. Register here so we can provide you with boxes to fill with gifts

3. Share our social media posts to people you know

It’s a small gesture of kindness, but the effect on the recipient families can be life-changing

The study had over 560 responses from charities across New Zealand and were conducted around periods of COVID-19 lockdown.

1. First survey in March/April 2020 as NZ went into level 3-4
2. Second survey in April/May 2020 as NZ moved out of level 4-3 to level 2.
3. Third survey in July/August as NZ went into level 4  
   
   

Click Here for the 2021 Community Needs Research Report

Insights from the 2021 survey

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  • Over 90% of charities reported that they were affected by Covid-19 (consistent with the two previous surveys)
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  • 73% reported an increase in demand for their services, which is an increase from the 48% reported in the previous survey.
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  • Having identified in the previous two surveys that “Additional funding” was the primary need of the charities, the latest survey highlighted “Operational costs and expenses”, “Additional financial support” and “Staff” as three immediate needs they need help with.
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  • Charities have reported an increase in the amount of financial support they need compared to previous surveys. The most significant change is in the upper bands of funding – over 25% selected 100k (compared to 11% in previous survey), 20% selected 50k (compared to 5% in previous survey), and 16% selected 10k (compared to 12% in previous survey), with the lower bands largely the same comparing the latest and previous survey.
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  • A new question in this year’s survey asked charities what resources they needed. The top three needs were for laptops (58%), followed by food (44%) then mobile phones (31%), which indicates the need for technology.
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  • There is a significant increase in the number of professional skilled volunteers and people needed to help with charity support services compared to the surveys run last year. This year’s survey showed 45% needing volunteers for charity support services, followed closely by professional skilled volunteers at 45% (compared this to the 17% from the previous survey and 12% before that).

Overview from the Catalytic Foundation Covid-19 Community Needs Surveys

Similar to last year, the research this year has identified that practically all nationwide charities have been affected by the pandemic and have an increased demand for their social services.

For many charities, obtaining additional funding is a primary need and the amount needed has increased compared to last year, largely due to operational costs/expenses, additional financial support and staff. On the last point, the need for professionally skilled volunteers and people to help with charity support services may be an indication that charities are short-staffed and low funded so rely more and more on unpaid helpers.

Lastly, the research has identified that charities need donations around tech (laptops and phones), as well as the more expected food and secondhand goods.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL REPORT 

We want to acknowledge the team behind Home & Family who work with children, youth, adults and families in Christchurch facing challenges to build positive outcomes in their lives.

Home & Family has been in support of the Christchurch community for over 120 years. Some of the work that they do include:

• Providing children home with whānau who cherish them, keep them safe and nurture their potential.
• Residential parenting programme which has 24 hours supported accommodation for parents with children.
• Help with affordable, professional and confidential counselling services for couples, youth and children.

Their work in the family violence sector aims to ensure that the voices of children and young people impacted by family violence are heard and their needs met.

"Post Lockdown we noticed a 30% increase in demand for our child therapy services.”
- Home & Family Christchurch

Catalytic Foundation is proud to support Home & Family with a grant to ensure that they can reach even more people in need. We would like to thank all the volunteers and staff for their amazing work through these tough times.

The recent findings from our Covid-19 Community Needs research has found that community charities need our help now more than ever. Please consider a donation or setting up workplace giving so we can get support to where it's needed most. 

Thank you to Age Concern Whanganui, a community based non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life of the elderly.

Age Concern Whanganui offers a variety of services and information to help cater to the needs of older people, families, and communities in their area. Their wide range of services include: 

• Calling service for people who don't like face to face interaction
• Arranging transport and subsidising taxi fares for the elderly to make it easy for them to reach hospitals or their place of need.

Since the last two lockdowns, the charity has seen an increase in demand especially within the Elder Abuse Service and support services. Through their team of staff and volunteers, Age Concern Whanganui were able to provide support to over a thousand elderly people in need in the past year. This is an amazing accomplishment given the lockdowns and the current uncertain climate.

The Catalytic Foundation is really proud to have provided a grant to Age Concern Whanganui to support the incredible service they provide to the elderly in our community. We would like to thank all the staff and volunteers of Age Concern Whanganui who work tirelessly towards helping their community. 

The recent findings from our Covid-19 Community Needs research has found that community charities need our help now more than ever. Please consider a donation or setting up workplace giving so we can get support to where it's needed most. 

We want to acknowledge the Citizens Advice Bureau Dunedin for the work they do in helping people know and understand their rights and obligations, and how to use this information to get the best results for their problems.

The Citizens Advice Bureau Dunedin is about empowering people with the confidence and support they need to take action. They work towards building positive social change in the community. 

Citizens Advice Bureau Dunedin work in various sectors and reach out to several people facing challenges. In the past year, they have provided:

• 37 JP clinics in their community
• Awareness about their services to the new refugees that have arrived at Red Cross
• Radio recordings that provide settlement information for migrants.

With such extensive programmes, they help multiple migrants & former refugees in the community. They also organise free settlement information workshops for migrants. The workshops cover various topics such as employment, health and wellbeing in terms of ACC, Red Cross help during Covid-19 and currently, a workshop that covers visas and individuals’ rights amidst Covid-19.

The Catalytic Foundation is really glad to be able to support the work of the Citizens Advice Bureau Dunedin. We are very thankful for their initiative and services for the community especially to the migrants and refugees.

The recent findings from our Covid-19 Community Needs research has found that community charities need our help now more than ever. Please consider a donation or setting up workplace giving so we can get support to where it's needed most. 

We want to thank the Fiordland Community House for their role in being a “hub of community services” for the Te Anau and Fiordland area.

The services that the Fiordland Community House offers include:  

• Employment services
• Heartland services
• Community Health Shuttle
• Community Family Worker
• Counselling & Office/Meeting room hire
• A variety of community information.

They also provide programmes such as Healthy Eating and Cooking on a Budget for young families. These programmes are well attended and proved to be beneficial for young single mothers who do not have family support in the area.

The community workers are actively involved in assisting the community garden distribution of produce to families in need. The community workers also carry out surveys for residents in the new retirement village so that they can get a better understanding of the social needs.

They often see a lot of changes and challenges in the community. Recently, they have seen an increase of people presenting more complex issues compared to before. They have also seen a rise in the number of individuals experiencing mental health issues due to the stress of unemployment, housing/rental costs, and financial difficulties. To manage the increase of issues, they have employed more staff so that they can assist people in the community experiencing these complex issues.

We at the Catalytic Foundation are glad to be of help to such an amazing charity, who are guiding so many people in our community towards a better and secure future. We would like to thank each, and every one of the members from Fiordland Community House for doing an incredible service to our community.

The recent findings from our Covid-19 Community Needs research has found that community charities need our help now more than ever. Please consider a donation or setting up workplace giving so we can get support to where it's needed most. 

ChatBus Trust is the safe place for children to go when they don’t want to talk or are unable to talk to anyone in their family circle.

ChatBus Trust is based in Dunedin. To be able to assist the youth in the community, ChatBus works with counsellors. In 2020, ChatBus had only 8 counsellors, but that number has since increased to 10. To help the ChatBus cause, the counsellors working with them are:

• Professionally trained to help the youth understand difficult situations, while guiding them through it.
• Based in schools and similar establishments.
• Members of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC).
• Assigned to different communities in Dunedin that require their assistance.

It is very difficult to quantify a changed life, but they have many anecdotal stories of lives that have been changed by their experience at ChatBus. Chatbus is becoming an increasingly essential service requested by and offered by schools so that the children in the community can access counselling.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Chatbus Trust for guiding the kids of the Dunedin community. We know how hard it can be to organise and support such services, and Catalytic Foundation is proud to have supported them and be part of this amazing family.

The recent findings from our Covid-19 Community Needs research has found that community charities need our help now more than ever. Please consider a donation or setting up workplace giving so we can get support to where it's needed most.