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Working bee for Good Deeds 2023 winner’s Beaconsfield School.
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of its annual Good Deeds competition, Rabobank will give away $100,000 to improve rural community hubs, schools, clubrooms, and marae across New Zealand.
Entries for the 2026 edition of the competition are being sought from rural community groups across the country and can be made via the Rabobank website.
This year's competition will see ten rural community group selected as winners with each winner receiving $10,000 to upgrade their local community hub.
From the ten winners, one will be selected to receive a day's labour support from the teams at Rabobank and The Country radio show.
The Good Deeds competition had been running annually since 2017 in conjunction with The Country radio show.
The competition aims to support and celebrate the efforts of rural communities to enhance their local areas.
Recent winners include Colyton School near Fielding, Te Mata Tennis Club near Raglan, and Beaconsfield School near Timaru.
Rabobank New Zealand chief executive Todd Charteris says the 2026 contest has been merged with the Rabo Community Hub competition which ran for the first time last year and provided funding for rural community groups to upgrade their local community hub.
"The Community Hub competition was initiated by our Client Council network after they identified the critical role that rural community hubs play in providing a suitable location for local rural communities to come together," Charteris says.
He says that last year's competition proved "hugely successful" and attracted over 500 entries from across New Zealand.
"Given the similar focus of the two competitions, we made the decision to merge them together to create the Rabobank Good Deeds Community Hub competition," Charteris says.
"The prize money for this competition will be drawn from the Rabo Community Fund - a fund set up in 2021 and backed by an annual contribution from the Rabobank Group - and ultimately the goal is to help build the vibrancy and resilience of rural New Zealand."
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Todd Charteris at the Good Deeds working bee for 2024 winner’s Te Mata Tennis club. |
Charteris says the competition prizemoney could be used for any work that improves the interior or exterior of the nominated hall, school, clubrooms, or marae.
"For example, the funds could go towards installing new carpet, double glazing for the windows, repainting or a new roof," he says.
"Essentially, the prize money can be used for improvements that enhance the premises and make it a more appealing place for the local community to spend time.
"As part of the competition entry form, entrants will need to detail how the building is currently used, what they would do with the funds and labour, and how the proposed improvements would help increase the facility's usage."
Charteris says the winning hubs will be chosen by members of Rabobank's four regional client councils.
"Our client councillors have close connections to the rural communities across their respective regions and they're well-placed to decide our competition winners," he says.
"They'll certainly have their work cut out for them selecting the top entries, and once they've made their picks, the competition winners will then be announced live on The Country radio show during April."
Entries close at 11.59pm on March 31, 2026.
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