About Upstream
Upstream empowers customers to impact their community by choosing quality approved businesses, who give a percentage of your sale to Good Causes supporting children and young people.
Our Team
Two youth workers were tired of always asking for handouts to help fund the important work needed in their community. In 2018, Upstream was started to empower Good Causes to collaborate with businesses in generating a more sustainable funding stream for this essential work. Here's the team behind this empowering idea.
What we stand for
Upstream exists to strengthen the well-being of children and young people in New Zealand. It is essential that those who we work alongside fit our values and what we stand for.
Our goal is to raise $1,000,000 for our Good Causes
So far we've raised $357,294 of $1,000,000
Our purpose
Upstream exists to strengthen the well-being of children and young people in Aotearoa. Our platform connects customers to socially conscious businesses to generate funds for charities that support our next generation.
Our beginning
Our founders were overwhelmed by the incredible amount of support needed to improve outcomes for young Kiwis. We knew that for many youth charities, raising funds was the hardest part of providing these essential services - so we came up with an innovative way to generate an ongoing stream of charitable funding.
Our model
Meet Upstream’s unique ‘triple win’ model! When customers make a purchase from an Upstream supplier, that supplier donates a portion of their invoice to the Good Cause of the customers choosing. Customers don’t pay any extra, suppliers find new clients, and charities receive the funding they need.
How the Upstream Contribution impacts the community
80%
20%
80% of funds go directly to the area that you selected when you made your Upstream purchase.
20% of funds are distributed to CDN Trust who founded Upstream, and this income is then used to support children and young people.
Mitch Shaw
Co-FounderMitch has worked alongside children and young people since 2006 and is passionate about improving the health of the charitable organisations that provide this good work. Watching great organisations struggle to find ways to support youth workers he wanted to design a model that would answer one of the toughest questions a Good Cause faces.
James Harris
Co-FounderJames leads a team of youth workers in Christchurch. As a youth worker for the last 11 years he's seen virtually every organisation he's partnered with struggle for funding. James is excited for the opportunity through Upstream to partner with businesses, individuals and Good Causes to develop truly sustainable income for this vital work.
Natasha Livingstone
StaffNatasha was a project coordinator in the UK before returning to New Zealand. She has over 14 years' experience working in administration in both the public and private sectors, and is excited to be involved in an innovative, forward-thinking organisation working to solve the issues with sustainable funding to support children and young people.
Coral Warwick
AdministratorCoral joined the team in early 2019 and is our part-time administrator. One of her important roles is collating the Upstream Contributions from sales and distributing the funds to our Good Causes. We are privileged to have her gifted abilities in working through critical system and administration tasks that make Upstream function smoothly.
Jim Veitch
TrusteeJim is an experienced business leader with a passion for people. He is an independent director for a number of companies and organisations (Fert Wholesale Direct Ltd, A Verkerk Ltd and others). Specialising in areas of strategy, development, marketing and retail, Jim provides expert business advice and direction for Upstream
Caleb Vercoe
TrusteeCaleb is an experienced sales professional in the IT industry who is passionate about youth and the community. Caleb enjoys working in spaces where technology can assist in very practical ways such as Upstream. Caleb is also on the board and treasurer of Ellesmere Food Bank, and has previously been a youth worker supporting young people.
Natasja Joubert
TrusteeNatasja owns NJCA Ltd, a Chartered Accountancy firm. She provides key financial direction as the treasurer for the Upstream Charitable Foundation and is passionate about using her knowledge to empower organisations that focus on children. She serves on the boards of Birthright Canterbury, Organ Donation Saves Lives & Opti-Mum Inc.
Focused on Young People
Upstream exists to strengthen the well-being of children and young people in New Zealand. We have built a platform that connects conscious businesses and buyers with suppliers generating funds for Good Causes supporting our next generation.
Triple Win Focus
We provide a triple win platform that seeks to benefit the buyer, the supplier and the Good Cause in each transaction. The buyer gets access to approved businesses which deliver a great service, the supplier receives new business and the Good Cause receives sustainable funding.
Sustainable Generosity
Buyers generate impact for children and young people by purchasing products and services they would be purchasing anyway. Suppliers get revenue and sustainably do good out of these transactions. Good Causes find buyers and get funding when that buyer or business selects them to benefit.
Quality
We look for and approve suppliers that we believe are good at what they do and offer high quality service. Each of our suppliers are personally approved by our trustees. It is essential that those who we work alongside fit with our values and what we stand for. No customer wants to use a business they cannot trust; we want you to have a positive experience using our suppliers.
Collaboration
Upstream was started by two youth workers who were overwhelmed by the support that children and young people were needing. They discovered fundraising was the hardest part of trying to provide essential support services. ‘We knew we had to think outside the box and generate a stream of funding that was an innovative and collaborative approach to the problem we were trying to solve.’
Integrity
Upstream values integrity, and we choose to work with suppliers and Good Causes that we can trust to collaborate with us and join our mission to strengthen the well-being of children and young people in New Zealand. It is important that we have the right people working alongside us; our approved suppliers not only deliver a great service but are businesses that actively work to create positive outcomes in our communities.
