Our Stories

As well as growing the endowment funds, The Sunrise Foundation is focused on giving back to the community. We support a diverse range of groups and organisations with grants given out each year.

In May, the latest watch of 14 local Year 12 students spent two weeks at Outward Bound.

Tairāwhiti Museum is excited about its upcoming exhibition COLOURS DELUXE. This will showcase The Art Album of New Zealand Flora, a rare book published in 1889, by Gisborne couple Sarah and Edward Featon of Gisborne.

At just 24 years of age, Jodi Iremonger suffered a cavernous angioma in her brain stem, leaving her with stroke-like symptoms.

In the early days of Sunrise, a scholarship fund was set up with EIT to support one or two students each year who are facing hardship or where financial assistance will make a difference.

The Women’s Native Tree Project Trust grew and then donated over 6000 healthy native trees and plants to community groups within Tairāwhiti last year.

Taupua Tairāwhiti, a shared services model developed by Sport Gisborne Tairāwhiti, was thrilled to receive a grant of $4,560 in 2021 from The Sunrise Foundation which has allowed them to purchase much needed IT equipment. 

With New Zealand recording its highest number of drownings over summer since 2015, the free swimming lessons Swim for Life Tairawhiti provide for primary school children in our region seems more important than ever.