ZESPRI in the community
Our success relies partly on the happiness and health of the communities and environment where we live and work and continual investment in the skills and leadership needed for our industry in the long term. At Zespri, we're committed to sharing this success and making positive contributions to our communities. That's why we support some of the region's local volunteer organisations who do a fantastic job with often limited resources.
Our Three Pillars
Our community investment programme has three pillars with which our partnerships are aligned:
a happy and healthy
Community
The Happy and Healthy Community Pillar is the primary pillar of Zespri's community investment in New Zealand and around the world.
An enhanced
Environment
At Zespri, sustainability is fundamental to our purpose: helping growers, communities, the environment and consumers thrive.
a skilled and connected
Industry
At Zespri we place a high priority on education and skills development and offer several scholarship opportunities throughout the year.
Supporting our communities
Zespri takes immense pride in the fact that our success is our communities’ success. Because the local communities where we grow kiwifruit have such a strong influence on our industry, we want to be a strong supporter of our people and our communities.
ZESPRI
AIMS GAMES
Zespri AIMS Games is an inter-school sporting competition that will be held in Tauranga in 2022 for young sportspeople across New Zealand. It is the largest sporting event for 11–13-year-olds in the Southern Hemisphere, with over 11,500 athletes at the 2019 Games – more than the number of athletes at the Olympics. Zespri AIMS Games encourages active lifestyles, fair play, and participation across a variety of sports.
Find out more
Zespri Young and Healthy
Virtual Adventure
Zespri are proud to partner with the Young and Healthy Charitable Trust to launch the 2020 Zespri Young and Healthy Virtual Adventure aimed at encouraging primary children and their families to eat better, exercise more and lead more environmentally conscious lives. Global lifestyle brand ASICS is also on board, with four sporting ambassadors ready to lend a hand on the adventure. Recreated as avatars to support kids on the journey include a superstar cast from top New Zealand sporting codes; Kane Williamson, Samantha Charlton, Ardie Savea and Ameliaranne Ekenasio.
Find out more
Good Neighbour Trust
Good Neighbour Charity is a community-focused organisation dedicated to providing vital support and assistance to those in need. With a mission to foster compassion and create positive change, Good Neighbour offers a range of services including Food Rescue, Neighbourhood Projects, Community Gardens,Firewood, Care team, Kitchen Educational programs, and more. Through collaborative efforts and unwavering commitment, Good Neighbour strives to uplift individuals and families, promoting a stronger, more resilient community for all. As a Platinum Sponsor of Good Neighbour, Zespri demonstrates its dedication to social responsibility and making a meaningful impact in the lives of others.
KIDSCAN, ASSOCIATE PARTNER
Zespri is proud to be an Associate Partner of KidsCan. Over the past three years we’ve provided financial support, donated over one tonne of healthy, fresh kiwifruit, attended gifting events and volunteered in the KidsCan warehouse.
KidsCan partner with over 800 schools and 100 early childhood centres all over New Zealand to provide kids with some of our most basic necessities including food, clothing and health items. These items are essential to giving all Kiwi kids the same opportunity to learn as everyone else, and our support goes towards funding these programmes and the wider KidsCan organisation.
Surf Life Saving New Zealand
Eastern Region Primary Partner
Keeping the beaches safe for everyone to enjoy is our way of saying thank you to the communities who have helped build our company’s success. Surf Lifeguards save hundreds of lives a year in our region alone, and provide a vital service to the families who live and work in our regions. Our partnership provides free training – which lifeguards would have to otherwise fundraise for – to all lifeguards from 19 clubs in the Eastern Region, as well as providing rescue tubes and additional equipment and funding to the Zespri Clubs of Year.
The free training on offer includes inflatable rescue boat (IRB) training, Patrol Captain and Intermediate Lifeguard courses. A number of scholarships are also be available for Surf Life Saving’s National Lifeguard School and BP Leaders for Life development programmes.
YOUTH SEARCH AND RESCUE
In the bush, we're also supporting the amazing work that's being undertaken by Youth Search And Rescue (YSAR). Their programme ensures young people can develop the skills to become active members of the community voluntary search and rescue and emergency organisations.
With New Zealand playing home to both amazing and challenging landscapes, that skill set is invaluable. It’s important that organisations like YSAR have enough community support so that even more students and instructors can benefit in the years ahead.
We see the financial support Zespri provides as an investment in young people who are willing to go above and beyond to help others. But our partnership is more than just a financial one. It’s about recognising that the more we can expose ambitious and inquisitive youth to the wealth of opportunities that exist, the more our communities will thrive.
A SUSTAINABLE Environment
Sustainability is a major focus for us at Zespri - it sits at the heart of our purpose to help growers, communities, the environment and our consumers thrive through the goodness of kiwifruit. Not only does Zespri have an incredibly dedicated sustainability team who strive towards our ambitious targets, but we have also identified the importance of supporting sustainable initiatives as a part of our community investment commitment.
ŌTANEWAINUKU KIWI TRUST
Across the hills and deep in the forest we stand with the Ōtanewainuku Kiwi Trust which is helping restore and regenerate the local kiwi population.
This dedicated group of volunteers are helping increase the survival rate of our most precious bird (and our fruit's namesake) and rely on organisations like ours to help fund crucial transmitting gear for tracking or helicopters to assist with egg recovery and hatching operations at Rainbow Springs. Zespri is excited to partner with Ōtanewainuku Kiwi Trust.
Ōtanewainuku Kiwi Trust is a community volunteer group assisting the kiwi population just beyond the kiwifruit heartland of Te Puke. It recovers eggs from the forests, hatches them at Rainbow Springs, raises them at a crèche so they are a bit older and smarter and releases them into a pest-controlled section of Ōtanewainuku Forest.
Our $150,000 three-year commitment will fund transmitting gear for tracking Kiwis, pay for helicopters on egg recovery ops in inaccessible parts of the forest and cover the cost of egg hatching at Rainbow Springs.
Find out more here
To read more about our focus on Sustainability, check out the page here
Sponsorship application process and timing
If you have a great initiative in mind and are interested in establishing a partnership with Zespri, after having checked that your application aligns with Zespri’s community investment pillars above, please email your detailed proposal to: sponsorship@zespri.com.
Important note: Due to the volume of sponsorship requests we receive, please apply in writing at least three months before your event or initiative commences.
Zespri Scholarships
At Zespri we place a high priority on education and skills development and offer several scholarship opportunities throughout the year. To find out more about our Scholarships, click here.