5,000 hours of community impact

Christchurch charity hits a major milestone with a new charitable funding model

Christchurch charity UpstreamNZ has achieved a major milestone, generating over $100,000 in funding for youth charities through a new funding model. That’s the equivalent of 5,700 hours of community work, subsidised counselling, and childhood early intervention services.

UpstreamNZ’s unique model enables Kiwis to generate charitable donations with their everyday household or business purchases, at no extra cost to the customer.

"New Zealand has some of the highest mental health stats for teenagers in the world,” says UpstreamNZ co-founder Mitch Shaw.

“Research shows that having positive stakeholders in their lives helps young people work through any difficulties they are having, but one of the biggest barriers is getting funding to make these stakeholders available. We started UpstreamNZ in 2018 to help solve the problem with fundraising, to make sure these resources were available. All round, it is a win-win.”

Using a 'triple win' model, Kiwis buy from an approved UpstreamNZ Supplier, a commercial business that has chosen to support UpstreamNZ. The supplier donates a portion of their invoice to one of UpstreamNZ’s 13 approved youth charities. The customer doesn’t pay any extra, and with over 100 suppliers to choose from, there are plenty of opportunities to create impact.

UpstreamNZ supports local and national charities including CDN Trust, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Wai-Ora Trust and Conductive Education Trust. Conductive Education Canterbury General Manager Rebecca Courtney has seen firsthand the impact that UpstreamNZ has had on her organisation.

“We can see the contributions coming in and gathering momentum,” Rebecca says. “This is having a direct impact on our programme, and supporting children and families.”

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