Charities hurting as donations dwindle
Huge shortfall in funding as rising cost of living hits home
Donations to Bay of Plenty charities are dwindling as the cost of living hits family budgets. Rotorua Community Hospice is facing a $1 million shortfall this year — and it is not the only one struggling, with Waipuna Hospice budgeting for a $1.7m loss.
Other charities NZME spoke to acknowledged it was tough for some people to give, but will bequests and donations were the “lifeblood that keeps the doors open”.
Rotorua Hospice chief executive Jonathon Hagger said it had a funding shortfall of $1m every year.
It would prefer to be in a position “where we didn’t have to rely on the community to be able to provide an essential service”.
“However, the community recognise the work we do and the value of it and we are fortunate to have so much support.
“Even during the hard times of Covid and a cost of living crisis those who have the ability and means to be able to support us financially have gone the extra mile to help,” Hagger said.
Health NZ — Te Whatu Ora funded half of its costs and the difference was made up through its retail shop, fundraising events such as the upcoming Harcourts Dancing for Hospice and partnerships with businesses like Farmers NZ.
SPCA engagement general manager Sarah Cotter said fundraising, in general, was in decline so it had to adapt and look for new ways to engage the public.
“Donations and bequests are the lifeblood that keeps the doors open, the lights on and the animals in good care,” Cotter said.
The SPCA had 32 centres across New Zealand, including Rotorua and Tauranga, which took care of more than 31,000 animals in the past 12 months.
It was funded predominantly from donations and bequests and only received $2.5m from the Government, which went solely towards funding the inspection side of the service that costs more than $12m a year, Cotter said.
She said the charity was fortunate to have a strong and loyal supporter base.
“So while some of our fundraising has been severely impacted by Covid, like events and in-person meetings, we have been able to maintain revenue from generous donors who’ve left SPCA gifts in their wills.”
More people were also seeking help for their animals.
“The SPCA works hard to provide this through desexing programmes, food parcels and advice. We are also seeing an increase on previous years of animals coming into our centres, especially canines,” Cotter said.
Salvation Army public relations director Tim Hamilton said it was grateful the support of the public continued to be strong but acknowledged the rising cost of living might be a challenge for some donors.
“Our experience is that giving is still strong and we as yet have not experienced any material decline in donations. As an organisation that has worked in New Zealand for nearly 140 years, we are so very grateful for the loyalty and trust people have in us to care for the 140,000 Kiwis who come to us each year for support, and our ability to continue to do so,” Hamilton said.
Donations directly supported its
frontline work in the community through a range of different services.
“The Salvation Army would struggle to meet the everincreasing demand of people coming to us for support without ongoing donations,” Hamilton said.
It was largely supported by donors, corporate partners and community grant organisations, with some funding from external contracts to carry out specialised services for people in need.
Waipuna Hospice, based in Tauranga, is predicting a $1.7m shortfall this year and a spokesman says while the charity “doesn’t want people to face death alone”, something has to give.
Chief executive Richard Thurlow warned that without Government support, hospices nationwide will be unable to provide current levels of care and support.
“We can see business and people struggling. We too are struggling.”
Thurlow said it predicted it would need $13.3m to fully fund its service in the next financial year.
Of that, it hoped 43 per cent would come from Government funding, which left $7.5m to be raised from its charity shop, donations, and community events.
“It is a near-impossible amount . . . we are budgeting for a loss of about $1.7m.
“Donations to our charity shops have been down, we have seen a 6 per cent decline in income from donations and grants from the previous year. We are also impacted by the rise in costs associated with wages, food, and fuel prices,” Thurlow said.
Petrol for its fleet of 19 cars and delivery vehicles had increased by $2000 a month.
The hospice is expected to care for about 1000 patients this year, as well as wha¯nau living in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty.
About 80 to 90 per cent of its care was provided in patient homes and all its services were free.
Healthnz had provided a Consumer Price Index rate increase of 3 per cent from the previous year’s funding but the current CPI was at 7.3 per cent.
Thurlow said the hospice was lucky to have an incredibly supportive community.
“The kindness and generosity are there, but thanks to ongoing pressures from Covid and the rise in the cost of living, people just don’t have the money to spare.”