Sunrise has announced the grant recipients in our 2020 funding round.
David Clark, Sunrise Grants Committee Chair, says the board decided to take applications early this year in light of Covid-19.
“We knew there was more need as a result of the situation arising from the global pandemic. By bringing forward our funding round we were able to help the charities and community organisations delivering assistance to those in need, sooner rather than later.”
We bought our funding round forward, we usually grant in November, but this year distributed grants in August.
David added “we were inundated with applications and would have needed four times more than we had available to grant to be able to help them all. This highlights how much need there is in our community and has made the team at Sunrise more determined to grow our endowments so we have more to grant in future.”
Sunrise Executive Officer Glenda Stokes says in these unusual times she’s “never felt more proud to be a kiwi”.
“It’s amazing the way we are working as a team of 5 million to beat the virus, and closer to home, how our community has rallied around to support those affected by the hardship arising from lockdown.”
The Global Giving Index places New Zealand third in the world for volunteering, donating, and willingness to help a stranger.
Glenda says this is "certainly true in Tairāwhiti-Gisborne, we're humbled by the support our community has shown Sunrise".
“Donations from locals have helped Sunrise become the fastest growing community foundation in New Zealand, with endowments growing to over $5 million in just five years. It is due to the generosity of our donors that we have been able to grant $538,000 to causes across the arts, education, environment, health, social services and sports communities throughout Tairāwhiti-Gisborne in the short time since we were established.”