Kiwis are among the most generous donors in the world, giving more than $5.3 billion a year to charities. But in the face of ‘fundraising fatigue’ and a squeeze on disposable income, one organisation is using a crowdfunding model to attract a new generation of philanthropists. Jane Phare reports.
Financial guru Sam Stubbs wept when South Auckland man Eddie Uini got up on stage to talk about the homeless man he walked past hundreds of times.
Stubbs, the founder and managing director of Kiwisaver provider and fund manager Simplicity, had been invited to a crowdfunding event hosted by 10x10 Philanthropy Aotearoa, started in New Zealand in 2019 by Aucklander Alaina McGregor after she became involved with the charity while living in Sydney.
Stubbs wasn’t the only one choking up that night. Uini’s voice broke as he struggled to tell the story as part of his pitch for a $10,000 donation for Orange Sky, the charity he headed. Every day, on his way to university to study quantity surveying, Uini passed the man living rough outside a Methodist church in Auckland’s Pitt St. Then one day, the man wasn’t there; Uini learned he had died overnight.
At a memorial service held at the church, he was told by a church volunteer that the man had suffered from a chronic infection, but was too embarrassed to see a doctor because he and his clothes were so dirty.
Uini was so distressed when he heard the story, he vowed he would do something to help the homeless. He began paying for a free laundry service at a nearby laundromat, but there was only so much he could afford as a student. That’s where Orange Sky Australia came in, helping Uini set up a New Zealand branch of the charity, which runs a mobile laundry and shower service.
The night Uini pitched in front of the 10x10 donors, he not only walked away with the $10,000 and a hug from a tearful Stubbs, but made valuable connections. Some of the audience became volunteers, others offered their skills to help promote the charity. And Stubbs invited Uini to pitch to Simplicity’s charitable arm, which has since donated $75,000 to Orange Sky, including $25,000 this year to launch a laundry van in Hawke’s Bay in August.
McGregor says those connections made in front of a live audience were as valuable as the money. 10x10′s target demographic is Gen Z and millennials — smart, skilled young people who are willing to help.
McGregor, the marketing and communications lead for Southern Cross, says charities might need help to build a website or need storage space, or help with marketing. Inevitably, someone in the audience will either offer their services or know someone who can help. Many become volunteers for the charities that pitch and offer ongoing financial support.
New Zealanders are well known for their generosity, giving away more than $5.29 billion a year and spending thousands of hours doing volunteer work, estimated to be worth an additional $2b a year in value. New Zealand is ranked in the top 10 of the most generous countries in the world in the CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) World Giving Index, based on three components — donating to a charity, volunteering time and helping a stranger.
But, with 28,870 registered charities needing support in New Zealand, there is a risk of “fundraising fatigue”, McGregor says, making the 10x10 face-to-face connections invaluable. Stubbs agrees. He was able to see the washing machines, dryers and shower installed in the Orange Sky van on the night, and hear Uini talk about the difference the charity was making.
“There’s nothing like seeing, feeling and touching what you’re supporting,” Stubbs says.
Hearing Uini’s pitch meant he understood the human side of what Orange Sky was trying to achieve.
“What really got me was Eddie describing about how people could not get clean and look nice for job interviews. If you’re basically living under a bridge, how could you possibly make yourself look presentable?”
Now, Orange Sky has five of its orange vans operating in New Zealand and has so far provided more than 19,000 washes, 10,000 showers and 32,000 hours of conversation to people waiting for their laundry to dry. Clients include people living on the street or in their cars, and those in boarding houses who can’t afford to use a laundromat.
McGregor says philanthropy has traditionally been viewed by younger people as a sector reserved for wealthy older people. People might attend a fundraising dinner or sponsor a friend running a marathon to raise funds for a cause, but there is often a disconnect between the charity and the donor.
Young people want to give to causes they believe in, she says. To that end, 10x10 invites charities that align with a social conscience to pitch for funds, “human-centred” organisations working to address complex issues including poverty, homelessness, mental health and troubled youth.
The crowdfunding model used by 10x10 is based on a committee of 10 volunteers who each ask 10 colleagues to donate $100 to attend a Dragon’s Den-style charity event at which three organisations are invited to pitch for the $10,000 kitty. After Covid, 10x10 introduced a $75 ticket option to make the event more accessible.
There are no cut-throat “Dragon” judges, though. Instead, a Dragon for Good — a role Stubbs played — acts as a type of MC, asking questions to learn more about the charity and inviting the audience to ask questions. The charities must be less than seven years old and receive no more than $1 million in funding a year.
After each charity has pitched, the audience vote on which of the three they think is most deserving, putting their charity dollars into jars on each table. Sometimes, one charity gets the lot — as in the case of Uini’s pitch for Orange Sky — and sometimes the amount is divided among all three.
A further $15,000 to $25,000 is often raised on the night as a result of auctions, raffles and the audience buying extra donor dollars for the charities. That money is divided equally among the three charities that have pitched.
Stubbs was impressed by the business-like organisation behind the 10x10 events. “They’re good at organising the event, they’re good at marketing it. They’re [the events] supremely cool,” he says.
“It gives you faith in the next generation. There’s a whole lot of young people there with amazing hearts, but also they’re savvy.”
Jane Phare is a senior Auckland-based business, features and investigations journalist, former assistant editor of the NZ Herald and former editor of the Weekend Herald and Viva.
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