Pinch on for charities
As demand for their services grows charities are scrambling for funding.
The slow economy, low interest rates, and money flowing to Christchurch have all combined to make things tough for groups dependent on public and philanthropic donations.
One of the charities most impacted has been Plunket, New Zealand’s largest provider of support services for the wellbeing of children. The organisation had to cancel its annual appeal which was to have taken place ten days after Christchurch’s February earthquake. The appeal is Plunket’s biggest fundraising event and raises upwards of a million dollars for the organisation. “It was a double whammy,” Brandan Holland, Plunket’s commercial manager says. “We had less money coming in and a greater demand for our services. It’s really been a case of doing more with less.”
Graham Le Grows, director of the medical research charity the Malaghan Institute, says money flowing to Christchurch has seen donations for charities outside of Canterbury drop by as much as 30 percent.
“Everyone’s hanging in there, clinging on and hoping,” Le Grows says. “Charities throughout the country are fighting very hard to survive.”
Vanessa Heatherington of the Wellington SPCA also believes charities are feeling the impact of the Christchurch situation.
“We did send out a direct mail appeal around the time of the February earthquake and we didn’t get our best response.”
Another significant change she says has been a big drop in the number of bequests to the SPCA.
“People aren’t getting the prices they once did for their houses and they don’t have as much money saved anymore.”
Ange Channy, manager of Wellington’s Women’s Refuge says the biggest problem facing her organisation has been access to government and city council subsidised housing.
“There’s been an increase in terms of women and families moving up from Christchurch and they’ve been given priority in terms of city council and Housing New Zealand housing. Trying to find safe places for Wellington women has been an absolute nightmare.”
Dale Powles, manager of Parent Help Wellington, says with money flowing to Christchurch and general tough economic times sourcing funding has become a lot harder.
“It’s made things quite difficult and we survive by trimming budgets. My understanding from talking to people in the sector is that we’re all in the same boat.”
Powles and Kay Brereton, coordinator of the Wellington People’s Centre, say money from philanthropic trusts is also becoming much harder to get.
“Much of the money they distribute comes from interest, and while their interest take is going down the demand is going up. More and more groups are after a smaller source of money.”
Brereton says a common problem is that when many welfare groups get into a position where they need money, philanthropic trusts are reluctant to assist.
“They say, ‘oh you don’t look too good financially’ so they don’t help.”
James Craw, fundraising manager for Wellington Free Ambulance, believes government announcements about job cuts in the public sector has impacted on public donations.
“People are uncertain about their future job security so they’re not wanting to give too much of their money away.”
He says one of the positive spin offs from the Christchurch earthquakes has been a greater public awareness of emergency services.
“During a disaster people realise the importance of emergency services and they don’t take us so much for granted. They think, ‘what would happen if they weren’t there’.”
The slow economy, low interest rates, and money flowing to Christchurch have all combined to make things tough for groups dependent on public and philanthropic donations.
One of the charities most impacted has been Plunket, New Zealand’s largest provider of support services for the wellbeing of children. The organisation had to cancel its annual appeal which was to have taken place ten days after Christchurch’s February earthquake. The appeal is Plunket’s biggest fundraising event and raises upwards of a million dollars for the organisation. “It was a double whammy,” Brandan Holland, Plunket’s commercial manager says. “We had less money coming in and a greater demand for our services. It’s really been a case of doing more with less.”
Graham Le Grows, director of the medical research charity the Malaghan Institute, says money flowing to Christchurch has seen donations for charities outside of Canterbury drop by as much as 30 percent.
“Everyone’s hanging in there, clinging on and hoping,” Le Grows says. “Charities throughout the country are fighting very hard to survive.”
Vanessa Heatherington of the Wellington SPCA also believes charities are feeling the impact of the Christchurch situation.
“We did send out a direct mail appeal around the time of the February earthquake and we didn’t get our best response.”
Another significant change she says has been a big drop in the number of bequests to the SPCA.
“People aren’t getting the prices they once did for their houses and they don’t have as much money saved anymore.”
Ange Channy, manager of Wellington’s Women’s Refuge says the biggest problem facing her organisation has been access to government and city council subsidised housing.
“There’s been an increase in terms of women and families moving up from Christchurch and they’ve been given priority in terms of city council and Housing New Zealand housing. Trying to find safe places for Wellington women has been an absolute nightmare.”
Dale Powles, manager of Parent Help Wellington, says with money flowing to Christchurch and general tough economic times sourcing funding has become a lot harder.
“It’s made things quite difficult and we survive by trimming budgets. My understanding from talking to people in the sector is that we’re all in the same boat.”
Powles and Kay Brereton, coordinator of the Wellington People’s Centre, say money from philanthropic trusts is also becoming much harder to get.
“Much of the money they distribute comes from interest, and while their interest take is going down the demand is going up. More and more groups are after a smaller source of money.”
Brereton says a common problem is that when many welfare groups get into a position where they need money, philanthropic trusts are reluctant to assist.
“They say, ‘oh you don’t look too good financially’ so they don’t help.”
James Craw, fundraising manager for Wellington Free Ambulance, believes government announcements about job cuts in the public sector has impacted on public donations.
“People are uncertain about their future job security so they’re not wanting to give too much of their money away.”
He says one of the positive spin offs from the Christchurch earthquakes has been a greater public awareness of emergency services.
“During a disaster people realise the importance of emergency services and they don’t take us so much for granted. They think, ‘what would happen if they weren’t there’.”
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