Community Investment

Rātā continues to invest in the communities within our funding region, with the goal of empowering long-term equitable and sustainable community impact. Over the last year, with the rising cost of living and other financial pressures, we’re seeing more of our funding being distributed to projects and programmes which enable people to get the right support they need, when they need it most.

Our Community Investment programmes contribute to community wellbeing in the areas of Connect, Learn, Support, Participate and Sustain, enabling organisations to make a difference in their communities.
 

Long standing inequalities are amplified in times of need, whether that’s as a result of cost of living or natural disasters. These include financial stress, mental health and housing insecurity.  But in times of challenge, we also see how the sector innovates and responds, supporting the community with a focus on learning and adapting. 

To help support the sector to learn adapt and grow we have been investing more in strengthening the sector through programmes to address key needs and more focused support for individual organisations.

Across all of our funding areas we're focused on communities of need and particularly tailored support approaches, as highlighted in our recent Participate Funding Review. Using evidence-based research and data analysis to guide our strategic funding decisions, helps us to understand the needs, barriers and strengths in our communities and the evidence base about what works. It also enables us to continuously refine our approach and processes to deliver the greatest social impact. The insights from our research may be valuable to other organisations in the sector, which is why we will be sharing more research over the coming months.

To all those organisations we partner with to deliver positive community outcomes: we thank you for your mahi and the difference you are making – and continue to make – in the lives of our community.