Sunrise awards grants to 35 local causes

The Sunrise Foundation board has approved $79,310 of grants to arts, education, environment, health, social services and sports causes throughout the Tairāwhiti-Gisborne District. 

Glenda Stokes, Sunrise Executive Officer, is delighted Sunrise is in a position to fund so many causes this year.  

Glenda says “it is due to the generosity of our local donors that we have been able to support so many needy causes again this year. It exceeds all of our expectations that we have been able to grant $187,785 back to our community since we launched four years ago.”

In the 2018 funding round Sunrise received applications requesting $180,000 in assistance. Glenda added that “this shows how much need there is in our community and has made me even more determined to grow our endowment funds, so we have more money to help more causes in future.”

Sunrise, a community endowment foundation, raises money through donations and legacies from local Tairāwhiti-Gisborne donors. All money donated is invested in perpetuity (forever) to protect the capital, and grown each year to inflation proof and protect the funds from future market fluctuations.  The surplus income is granted to charities and community organisations in the Tairāwhiti-Gisborne District.  

Applications for grants are invited once a year and assessed by the Sunrise Grants Committee, which includes Sunrise Trustees Richard Briant, Colin Christie, David Clark and Lilian Tangaere-Baldwin. Rob Dymock and Leslynne Jackson volunteer on the committee as secondees.

Glenda believes having a grants committee with a wide range of experience and knowledge made the granting process more manageable. She added that “our trustees expertise is well balanced with the health and community services sector knowledge Rob and Leslynne bring to the team.”

Leslynne Jackson has worked in the community services sector in Tairāwhiti-Gisborne for many years and has seen firsthand the funding shortfalls in organisations delivering social services. She believes as the gap widens between the haves and have nots the role of philanthropy in helping to bridge that gap will become more important. 

“I can see the needs in our community are going to keep rising. I volunteer for Sunrise because I believe its endowment model is going to become hugely beneficial for our community as Sunrise grows. The money that’s given keeps on giving, forever.”

David Clark chairs the Grants Committee and has been a trustee since Sunrise was established in October 2014.  He has been involved in the charitable sector in Tairāwhiti-Gisborne for many years and is a family member/trustee on the Clark Charitable Trust.

David says that as Sunrise only distributes the surplus income from the endowment funds invested this limits how much they can grant each year. 

“As Sunrise’s endowment funds grow we will have more funding available and be in a better position to support more worthy causes. We appreciate the effort organisations took in making their applications and commend all the applicants on the important work they do in our community.”

2018 grant recipients are Art in Public Places, Barnardos Gisborne, Citizens Advice Bureau Gisborne, City of Gisborne Cadet Unit, Eastwoodhill Arboretum, EIT Students Association, Gisborne Budget Advisory Service, Gisborne Craft & Care, Gisborne East Coast Cancer Society, Gisborne International Music Competition, Gisborne Rowing Club, Gisborne Volunteer Centre, Hearing Assistance, Historic Places Tairāwhiti, Hospice Tairāwhiti, Life Education Trust, Mangapapa Union Church, Midway Surf Club, Pākirikiri Marae, Red Cross Gisborne, Seasons of Growth, SLSNZ Eastern Region, Supergrans, Tairāwhiti Beneficiary Advocacy Trust, Tairāwhiti Community Law Centre, Tairāwhiti Community Voice, Tauawhi Men’s Centre, Te Hapara Family Service, Te Ora Hau Te Tairāwhiti, Victim Support Tairāwhiti, Waikanae Surf Lifesaving Club, Waikohu Health, Wainui Surf Club