Every day, 1 in 5 Kiwi kids go without the basics that most of us take for granted. This has a profound effect on their health, education, and self-esteem.

With the cost of living and rents skyrocketing, hardworking parents and caregivers are finding it more and more difficult to provide their children with the essentials they need to thrive. These children are likely to miss out on important opportunities such as school camp or swimming lessons.

Kiwi Kid Sponsorship is tailored to meet the needs of each individual child and provides funding for clothing, shoes, bedding, school uniforms, stationery, school camp, sport, and extra-curricular activities, as well as medical expenses.

One-to-one sponsorship is transformative for young people living in poverty. Parents and caregivers can apply directly to Variety or are referred by a social worker, budgeting advisor, church leader, teacher or similar. The programme is offered across New Zealand and each child has access to $450 annually, until they reach the age of 18 or leave school.

The Kiwi Kid Sponsorship programme addresses the child’s needs by matching a child with a generous sponsor, who helps pay for essential costs, providing the child with the items and opportunities they would otherwise miss out on. Kiwi Kid Sponsorship has life-changing benefits for families too. 99% of caregivers report feeling less stressed and their children report enjoying school more and feel more included.

Apply for Kiwi Kid Sponsorship (KKS)

Individual grants provide specific, one-off funds for children. They can be accessed by families and whānau who already have children on Kiwi Kid sponsorship or those who have never applied to Variety before.

Variety’s Individual Grants help meet the ever-growing needs of some of our most vulnerable families and communities. They are a vital lifeline to caregivers who are struggling by providing much needed funding for education, health, or medical and mobility-related costs for children and young people aged 0-18. Individual grants provide support for six categories of costs:

• Shoes, clothing and bedding
• Digital Devices
• School related costs
• Extracurricular Activities
• Beds and Cots
• Mobility and medical equipment

Applications for Individual Grants are reviewed and processed quarterly in February, May, August and November. It takes about 6 to 8 weeks after the closing date for orders to be sent out. Year on year, Variety is seeing an increase in applications overall, and specifically for beds and digital devices. Individual grant applications need to be sent in by these dates:

January 31st for the February grant round
April 30th for the May grant round
July 31st for the August grant round
October 31st for the November grant round.

Apply for Individual Grants