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We are proud to partner with these phenomenal charities, leveraging Milford’s financial resources, expertise and commercial discipline to support their hard work in Aotearoa. Together we hope to make a meaningful impact in our country.
We work to strengthen New Zealand communities through lenses of youth, education and the environment and will leverage our financial investment expertise.
Investing in the future of Aotearoa New Zealand, creating opportunities for generations to follow.
Caring/Manaaki
Courageous/ Māia
Collaborative/Tūhono
Authentic /Tūturu
And we dare to be different.
25 years ago Sir Graeme Dingle and Jo-anne Wilkinson, Lady Dingle, decided to dedicate their lives to helping Kiwi kids when they co-founded the Graeme Dingle Foundation in order to help change the negative youth statistics in our own backyard, here in New Zealand.
Their proven programmes, Kiwi Can, Stars, Career Navigator, Project K, Kiwi Tahi and MYND, support tamariki and rangatahi five to 18 years and have a direct impact on building resilience ensuring they overcome life’s obstacles and thrive.
Participating students have access to inspirational leaders and mentors when taking part in programmes that provide a toolbox of the skills they need to prosper no matter what comes their way.
The Graeme Dingle Foundation programmes all transform lives and are informed by best practice research. With their University research partners, we know their programmes improve attitudes and behaviour, improve academic results, help young people set and achieve goals, boost self-confidence, reduce truancy rates and at-risk behaviours such as substance abuse.
Since 1995 they have had over 300,000 young people through their programmes and helped over 26,000 children each year to become their own heroes.
“When our job is done we know tamariki and rangatahi can summon from within, the power to overcome any obstacle”.
A life skills and values programme delivered to the whole school by trained Kiwi Can leaders, with every child attending a Kiwi Can lesson once a week, every week of the school year. School Principals tell us that Kiwi Can has a noticeable effect on how well their children interact with each other - with significant decreases in truancy and bullying.
Stars uses the teina/tuakana mentoring model and achieves positive and measurable results, including increased academic engagement and achievement for junior and senior students. It transforms school culture through building relationships, leadership skills and a sense of community with teachers and students.
Career Navigator is a ready-for-work programme that is designed to help secondary school students find a meaningful pathway upon leaving school. The programme supports teens in their decision making around future employment while also providing an effective platform for employers to share real-world knowledge and offer mentoring and active learning opportunities.
Project K is a 14-month mentoring programme designed for selected students with low self-confidence. The aim of Project K is to arm these young people with a belief in their own ability, to set and achieve goals and to help them find purpose and direction transforming their lives.
MYND is for young males who are referred to the programme for offending. It is a highly successful ‘intervention’ programme with a proven track record of significantly reducing youth re-offending. MYND is community-based, providing mentoring, life skills and goal setting for these young men to put them on the right path for their future.
Kiwi Tahi is an early intervention programme for young people aged 8 – 12 years which aims to reduce the number of young people engaged in anti-social behaviour and/or the youth justice system. It provides positive role models for participants and their parent/ caregivers, supports healthy relationships, teaches life skills that build resilience, and pro¬vides access to community services and support.
First and foremost, the funding provided by the Milford Foundation helps the Graeme Dingle Foundation run their current programmes and keep expanding so that they can reach more children in need across Aotearoa. By investing in their work, and partnering with them, we are investing in Aotearoa’s future, allowing more young people to positively impact our society.
There are other ways to help, too. The
Graeme Dingle Foundation are in 40 communities across New Zealand and many of their programmes require mentors. Being a mentor can be a big commitment, but it is truly life changing for many young people.
Project K needs you! As a mentor, your role will be to build a trusting, fun partnership with a Project K student and to help them set and achieve goals.
For 12 months, you’ll meet with your student fortnightly and catch up weekly by phone or email. You’ll also be able to share your successes and challenges at monthly mentor meetings and take part in fun Project K events.
Do you want to connect your industry to young people? Career Navigator mentoring could be just the ticket!
Barnardos 0800 What’s Up is a national helpline for children and young people offering free counselling via phone or online chat. Empowering tamariki and rangatahi is central to their counselling practice. Many of the children and young people who call are trusting an adult with their problems for the first time. The Barnardos 0800 What’s Up counsellors, are fully qualified professionals, are trained to listen and use all their skills to help callers and chatters. Tamariki and rangatahi can ask to speak with a counsellor who they feel they are more able to relate to (of a specific gender or ethnicity) and can ask to have ongoing counselling with the same counsellor. Barnardos 0800 What’s Up is a place children and teenagers can feel safe, heard and valued.
Prior to COVID-19, Aotearoa was already facing a youth mental health crisis. We have the highest rate of youth suicide in the OECD, and almost 1 in 5 young New Zealand children are living with an anxiety disorder and/or depression. Children and young people are struggling with real and often serious mental health issues such as anxiety, suicidal thoughts, relationship issues, bullying, self-harm, and parental separations – and often they don’t have anyone else to talk to. Too many of our children and young people with mild to severe mental health conditions are struggling to access services which meet their needs, and if they do they often face long wait times. Barnardos’ child-focused helpline 0800 What’s Up, provides all children and young people access to free, professional counselling.
Our grants application process is currently closed. However, we invite you to register your details for when it does open in the future. You can do this now by simply clicking on the button below and filling out a simple on-line registration form.