Uniting New Zealanders around what matters most
UNITY. Aotearoa is a not for profit social enterprise founded to drive community transformation across Aotearoa New Zealand. We combine the mission of a non-profit with the discipline of a social enterprise, all surpluses are reinvested directly into our community work.
We were founded by Melanie Bedggood, drawing on over a decade of research and practice through the SIMPLE. Transformation Framework, a methodology developed to build the conditions of Trust, United Meaning, and Belonging that communities need to grow and thrive together.
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Council & Community Partnerships
We partner with local government and communities to build the foundational conditions that transformation requires: Trust, United Meaning and Belonging.
Where change has stalled, where sectors are fragmented, or where community and council have lost their connection, we create the conditions for genuine unity and collective action.
Mauao Business Recovery Fund
In January 2025 a landslip at the base of Mauao/Mount Maunganui devastated the local community. UNITY. Aotearoa is launching the Mauao Business Recovery Fund, a professionally administered, discretionary relief fund for affected businesses. Businesses self refer privately through a simple intake process. No public naming required. Support reaches those who need it as circumstances evolve.
Fund launching soon.
Founder
UNITY. Aotearoa was founded by Melanie Bedggood, Executive Advisor and founder of the Transformational Change Institute and SIMPLE. Transformation Framework.
Melanie's offices are based at the base of Mauao/Mount Maunganui in New Zealand and she has spent over a decade building the research, methodology and community relationships that underpin UNITY. Aotearoa's work.