NZ Post is calling all Kiwis to vote for one of eleven worthy organisations to receive two year's worth of free courier services as part of their Delivering for Good programme.
NZ Post introduced the Delivering for Good programme in 2021 to provide local organisations with free courier services, allowing them to reinvest the money usually spent on courier back into their organisations. NZ Post gives up to 35,000 free courier services annually to support initiatives that are working to improve connection, belonging and inclusion.
This year's eleven deserving organisations who have been chosen by NZ Post, will receive a year's worth of free courier services - but the public can vote for an overall winner to get an additional year's worth.
NZ Post Group Sustainability Manager Dawn Baggaley says "we are proud to be making a difference in local communities by supporting charitable organisations and social enterprises by giving away free courier services. For us, delivering for New Zealand also means supporting the neighbourhoods and communities where we live and work".
Baggaley said this year's winners offered a wide range of programmes and services to New Zealanders.
"Each one is very deserving and were chosen because they are working towards improving connection, belonging and feelings of inclusion for all New Zealanders - which is the focus of NZ Post's community programme."
In 2021, the overall winner as voted by the public was Downlights, a New Zealand owned and operated fragranced soy candle company that manufactures luxury candles using artisanal techniques. Their candles are lovingly hand poured and the entire manufacturing process supports the development of a variety of workplace skills and offers employment opportunities for young adults with Down syndrome and cognitive disabilities.
Jennifer Del Bel, the managing director of Downlights, told Newshub without the help of NZ Posts Delivering for Good programme her organisation would have likely shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Our raw material costs skyrocketed. They were just ridiculous. And most of our retailers shut during the pandemic, so we had to change our sales strategy completely and focus more on e-commerce sales," she said.
"That meant spending money on marketing, new EDM campaigns, wages to do all of that. What worked the most was free delivery, which we could do because of what we had with NZ Post. The minute we put up on site 'free delivery with your order', sales just boomed, and our online conversion rate is extremely high. After people buy once, they generally buy again. I think many buy initially for the story, but then they come back because the quality is so good. So NZ Post was enormously helpful with that."
Through the Delivering for Good programme, Downlights was able to deliver 1252 parcels for free, which equated to 3.2 percent of its total operating costs. That meant all the money that would have gone into delivery costs was instead reinvested into staff wages and business growth.
Those parcels also directly resulted in an additional $9300 in donations transferred to the Downlights Charitable Trust, whose beneficiaries are Recreate New Zealand, The Living Wage Movement and The New Zealand Down Syndrome Association.
Downlights operates as a living wage organisation, which is an important part of its mission to challenge the commonly held perception that the disabled workforce is only suitable for low-paid, unskilled work.
Because of the budget freed up through the Delivering for Good programme, Downlights was able to promote a volunteer worker named Taylor to a role as an employed staff member. Like all staff members at the organisation, she started on a living wage immediately.
"Working for Downlights has been positively transformative for Taylor. We have witnessed first-hand an increased confidence and self-esteem from being gainfully employed and the responsibility that comes with it," her family said in a statement.
Del Bel has been thrilled with Taylor's progress.
"The sense of pride she has in having a paid job and feeling like she's doing what her brothers, sisters and friends are doing, it's uplifted her confidence so much," she said.
Downlights provides a strong evidence-base that Kiwi businesses can thrive while providing equal opportunities and remuneration to the disabled workforce.
To check out who the just-announced 2022 beneficiaries are, head to the Delivering for Good website - and don't forget to place your vote!
Public voting is open from May 9 - 23 before the overall winner is announced on May 30.
This article was created for NZ Post.
