The issue of period poverty is super wicked – that is, it’s really complex, involves a lot of different parts of society and is home to deeply held and varied views.

To solve such a massive issue there are already a large amount of initiatives in this space all working together to increase access and affordability to sanitary items.

Where can I donate?

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of how you can donate and get involved.

Foodbank + Salvation Army

These two great organisations teamed up to create a women’s bundle that distributes sanitary item packs to those in need.

KidsCan

A charity that provides raincoats, school gear and sanitary items to Kiwi kids in New Zealand.

Supreme Malawi

A social enterprise that makes re-usable sanitary pads for women in Malawi.

Countdown

In July 2018, Countdown announced a move to drop the price of their budget sanitary items by 48%. Read our opinion on the move.

Soap for Society

Lucy Revill from Residents of Wellington started Soap for Society in 2018 to help the Wellington City Mission collect hygiene items including sanitary items for those in need.

Raw initiative + Organic Initiative

Through our sanitary supplier Organic Initiative’s website when you purchase a box of sanitary items you have the option to donate a box by adding $6 to your order to the Raw initiative.

Wā Collective

Our amazing friends at Wa Collective have a social enterprise focusing on menstrual cups in the tertiary institutions. By choosing a Wā Cup, you are subsidising a menstrual cup for a student

Your purchase subsidises a Wā Cup for someone in need, preventing period poverty from affecting education in NZ - super cool and great for the planet.

Dignity NZ

Our initiative is a buy one, give one sanitary items in the workplace model. Organisations like ANZ and Cigna purchase a subscription from us, giving their female employees free access to sanitary items – we then match equivalent number of boxes to away to female students in high schools across New Zealand.

We are always interested in more businesses coming onboard to support our movement to make sanitary items in the workplace the norm and supporting
those in schools to have access to these items when they need.

Positive Periods

Join the Positive periods campaign!

Write to the Health and Education Minister to support free sanitary items in all schools. There are currently 20+ initiatives across New Zealand fighting period poverty and as a country of 4.5 million people we can get this right.

Ultimately what we want is for no student to ever be caught short, feel embarrassed or not have the financial means of access to period products, period.

We want is for every young person to have a positive and dignified experience with their period, regardless of the decile of the school that you attend.

If you agree with this join the campaign at positiveperiods.co.nz.