The ECC Member Benefit Programme involves the provision of a range of goods and services from ECC-contracted Preferred Suppliers to ECC member centres at favourable rates and may include additional benefits to the ECC.
BNZ have products and services designed specifically with Small Businesses in mind.
Together with the Early Childhood Council, Buddle Findlay runs the "ECC-Buddle Findlay Employers’ Advice Line” for centre owners and managers, to assist with employment related queries or concerns. Early Childhood Council members can access up to 15 minutes advice over the phone, at no cost to the centre. If you have an issue that requires a greater level of assistance, we are happy to help or to refer you to other advisers.
Exclusive to ECC members, NZ Childcare Finance can bring forward up to 40% of your next bulk funding payment, so that you can use the funds to pay everyday expenses and wages before the due date. This facility is unique to the childcare sector, and is proving very popular among members.
Applying is extremely straightforward, and advances are typically the same or next day.
1200 early Childhood Centres, Kindergartens and Play centres around New Zealand are covered by Crombie Lockwood’s exclusive product Childproof.
Childproof is a specialised insurance solution designed to ensure your centre financially survives any insurance event.
The scheme offers special prices to ECC Members only. There are no fees; ECC Members just have to register to be able to access the special savings on products such as writing instruments, paper and card, art and craft supplies, general stationery, teaching resources and textbooks, furniture and storage, sports equipment, and more!
We can audit your special purpose financial report which is then filed with the Ministry of Education, a service that your accountant cannot perform. It is a simple and easy process; with you in mind, we have specifically designed brochures and templates to ensure that you provide us with the exact information we need to make the experience as painless as possible.
You can have confidence that our regulatory audit service is conducted with a key focus on quality assurance, and is fully compliant with the Ministry of Education’s requirements.
ECC’s Preferred Suppliers are generally approached by the ECC. We go through a rigorous selection process to ensure consistency with our goals and philosophy and to ensure that the goods and services and terms by which they are offered to our member centres are attractive and appropriate to meet your needs.
Criteria
Definition
Reputation
The provider must have a solid positive reputation in our sector
Product / Service range
Product / service range must be relevant to ECE centres and available nationally, with good pre and post sales service, payment arrangements, distribution arrangements, etc.
Exclusivity
The product / service range or the offer to ECC members must be exclusive to ECC members and must be of reasonable benefit compared to other offerings made by the supplier or its competitors to the wider ECE sector
Likely Demand
Must be able to demonstrate an appreciation of the decision to buy remaining with each member centre; and what the size of the overall demand for the product/service range is likely to be.
Must achieve a “win’win’win” (for the ECC member, the supplier and the ECC)
Appeal to ECE centres
Messaging to ECC members must be tailored and reflect an understanding of their business and operating environment
Partnership
The ECC is looking for a preferred supplier who keeps in touch, actively understands our members and takes an interest in our business in a collaborative fashion.
Activity
The ECC is looking for a preferred supplier that wants to work at the relationship and is not a passive partner.
The ECC established the Member Benefit Programme (MBP) to help member centres access a range of goods and services at favourable rates.
Choosing these types of services from an ECC-accredited MBP provider means that member centres will not have to go through the hassle of finding your own supplier, or one with an understanding of the early childhood sector, and may mean significant savings. Selecting a Preferred Supplier is solely an option for member centres. Member centres, as customers, can choose to continue with their existing Preferred Suppliers or access the goods and services they want from one of our Preferred Suppliers. The MBP is not in competition with other suppliers of goods and services you may wish to access from suppliers of your choice, nor does the programme necessarily offer a superior level of service.
All Preferred Suppliers sign a minimum-12 month agreement with the ECC and are evaluated annually based on your feedback. If they fall below our expectation of service and satisfaction with our members, we will replace them on the programme.
Preferred suppliers will be able to:
Each Preferred Supplier must clearly identify the specific goods and services that are available under the programme to our members on their ECC website page.
There may be other goods and services available through each Preferred Supplier, but these will not be promoted on our website. This is to protect each of our Preferred Suppliers and to ensure no conflicts or overlaps in goods and services. A condition of the agreement we sign with each Preferred Supplier is exclusivity for the agreed range of goods and services.
The ECC establishes a contract with each Preferred Supplier outlining roles and responsibilities.
