Kāpiti Coast District Council a strong supporter of community through social investment funding

Nine local not-for-profit community organisations will receive funding from Council to help them deliver a diverse range of innovative community initiatives to the Kāpiti Coast community.

Last week, a total of $985,000 (to be spent over three years) was allocated through the Council’s contestable social investment fund to support and help grow local initiatives that contribute to Council's three new social investment priorities: connected communities, safe communities, and a capable sector.

Mayor K Gurunathan welcomes the opportunity for the Council to partner with organisations on a range of programmes and initiatives that will help our communities thrive.

“This year’s contestable social investment process saw many organisations coming to the table with inspired, progressive, and collaborative expressions of interest focused on making a positive social impact in our communities. I’d like to thank everyone for the hard work put into producing such high quality proposals.”

Earlier this year, the Council invited local not-for-profit organisations to submit expressions of interest to the fund. An independent panel assessed these and 11 organisations were invited to develop proposals for the second stage of the contestable process.

A second independent panel of local and national experts in the community social sector and not-for-profit capability fields, came together to evaluate the proposals and give recommendations to Council.

“The submitted proposals were of a very high calibre and we’re grateful for the work of the panel that carefully assessed each one against set criteria,” Mayor Gurunathan said.

“Deciding how to allocate the contestable fund hasn’t been an easy decision for Councillors and while we’d like to be in the position to support all the visionary not-for-profit organisations who work tirelessly to support our communities, we’re limited by our resources.”

“We’re aware that this decision could impact some organisations who’ve received non-contestable funding in the past but haven’t been successful in this process, and we’re prioritising support to help them source alternative funding and build capacity.

“We’re committed to strengthening the capability of our local community and social sector as a whole and we’ll continue to provide opportunities in building sustainability, collaboration, and growing iwi prosperity.”

The following not-for-profit organisations will receive social investment funding, for initiatives that will help foster connected communities and strenghten capability within the Kāpiti Coast social sector:

• Kāpiti Youth Support
• Energise Ōtaki
• Māoriland Charitable Trust
• Age Concern Kāpiti
• Ngā Hapu o Ōtaki
• Kāpiti Women’s Centre and Kāpiti Living Without Violence
• Volunteer Kāpiti and Kāpiti Impact Trust
• Kāpiti Impact Trust for the Challenge 4 Change programme.
For more information about the new contestable funding model visit https://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/Our-District/Our-Community/social-investment/social-investment-qas

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