Massive volunteer contribution recognised
By Sue McCabe, Chief Executive, Philanthropy New Zealand | Tōpūtanga Tuku Aroha o Aotearoa.
The ongoing heavy reliance on volunteers was highlighted in a meeting today of philanthropic and grantmaking funders to discuss the response to the storms devastating parts of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Volunteering Auckland General Manager Cheryll Martin spoke about the volunteer effort underway; the ARK Collective Project talked about the community need they were seeing; and a representative from Auckland Emergency Management updated funders on the official response effort.
For Auckland, today marks the 17th day of response, and the speakers talked about exhaustion amongst those responding.
The critical role that volunteers play in an emergency, alongside members of the public helping themselves and neighbours, was acknowledged. These volunteers and community agencies often swing into action before Government is on the ground. It is important that Government worked alongside and with the community-led responses.
The need to fund volunteering infrastructure was highlighted as a way to support the resilience of the volunteering sector; preparedness for an event, as well as the volunteering that occurs. Volunteer numbers have been lower since the arrival of Covid-19 to Aotearoa New Zealand.
The important role community social media pages are playing in terms of keeping neighbourhoods updated was highlighted. Connection and collaboration between community groups was also important to share resources, eg donated goods, given their initial distribution did not always match the specific community need or capacity of an organisation to pass on.
Another key message from the session was that bigger not-for-profits are often better supported to respond, but many of the smaller groups who are important in responding to particular community needs did not have the profile, connections or resource to seek additional help.
The need for generosity was highlighted by the ARK Collective Project who were seeing families who had lost everything, with the knowledge that Government support would not be sufficient, and insurance wasn’t an option for many. Practical difficulties such as getting children to school without private or suitable public transport, given families had been placed in temporary housing away from their home, were highlighted.
A list of some areas of need can be found here.
Philanthropy New Zealand | Tōpūtanga Tuku Aroha o Aotearoa (PNZ) would like to acknowledge the amazing response efforts underway – by members of the public, Iwi, volunteers, community organisations, business and central and local Government. While the impact is devastating, there are many amazing stories of contribution and hope that show strong and connected communities. We’d like to acknowledge that many funders are working tirelessly to support community organisations.
PNZ exists to support generosity, good giving and a strong funding system. As part of this, currently we are convening funders to support a collective response to share information for informed decision making and so they can act in a way that doesn’t place an unnecessary additional burden on community organisations.
PNZ has also established a way community organisations responding to the weather events who need additional funding can identify themselves to funders on www.match.org.nz. If you’re a community group in this category, contact hello@match.org.nz. If you’re a funder wanting to work with others on how or who to fund; or to obtain information relevant to funding decisions, email lynne@philanthropy.org.nz. Note that we are not set up to help or respond to individuals seeking assistance. This resource contains information on support available.
The hearts of the PNZ team are with people impacted by the weather events.
Visit these websites for more information: