Pandemic Sees Kiwi Corporates Focus On Giving Back

Informed by the turbulence of a global pandemic, Kiwi businesses are increasingly looking to community partnerships and humanitarian endeavours to offer a hand up to those that need it the most.

In its recently released 2021 New Zealand Cause Report advisory group JBWere Philanthropic Services found corporate support for community groups is all the more important in a post-pandemic world, where fundraising opportunities are limited by restrictions on face-to-face contact.

“Difficult as it has been for many, the pandemic offers our business the opportunity to lean into challenges facing the country by expanding our social responsibility program,” says Mike Bayley, Bayleys’ managing director.

Bayleys, New Zealand’s largest full-service real estate agency, has recently announced a Platinum Partnership with child health research charity Cure Kids.

“Businesses are more aware of the ability to effect positive change post-COVID, and our elite partnership with Cure Kids speaks to a deeper commitment for Bayleys as a purpose-led organisation focused on giving back to Aotearoa through causes aligned with our people and values,” Bayley says.

With a national network of over 90 offices and 2,000 personnel, Bayleys believes it can help to shape and vastly improve the way children who live with serious health conditions are diagnosed and treated, through sponsorship events and fundraising initiatives.

Despite real estate activity significantly hampered by extended lockdown restrictions, Bayleys acknowledges its unique position as a large and resilient business, supported by the growth of the property sector over the last decade.

The business has recently committed to four elite partnerships with Cure Kids, Live Ocean, The Prince’s Trust and Plunket which galvanizes their focus on giving back. Bayley says the partnership with Cure Kids is driven by aligned philosophies and values, underpinned by the mutual desire to effect positive change for Kiwi families.

Closer to home, Bayley says socially responsible initiatives are equally rewarding for the businesses own team members.

“Community positive projects offer our team a sense of purpose, and the ability to support a cross-section of causes they identify with through shared values, culture and commitment,” he adds.

Cure Kids currently supports $16million of child health research projects.

Since its inception as the Child Health Research Foundation by Rotary in 1971, Cure Kids has become New Zealand’s largest child health research charity, investing in Kiwi research projects that aim to improve, save and extend the lives of children diagnosed with life-impacting health conditions.

Funding from Cure Kids supports a spectrum of child health research projects across mental health, neurological disorders, autism, child cancer, development, obesity, diabetes, and more.

“We are proud to have supported many medical breakthroughs in our 50 years of operation and are committed to delivering better future outcomes for our children. This work is only made possible with the support of generous partners like Bayleys and the New Zealand public,” says Frances Benge, Cure Kids CEO.

“During this pandemic, New Zealand’s team of five million has been working together to protect individuals and families from Covid-19, and there is no reason why we can’t have the same call to action for our vulnerable tamariki. With 40,000 children admitted to hospital every year with completely preventable illnesses, as a country, we need to rally for these children in much the same way,” she adds.

Where the international community is just now starting to quantify the effect of the pandemic on mental health, the emergence of the virus has fostered an environment where communities and organisations are increasingly working together to find solutions – evidenced by the addition of Bayleys as Cure Kids’ latest platinum partner.

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