Japha Fund set to take the F-word out of Jafa

foundation chief executive Hilary Sumpter. Photo / APN

Foundation offering grant of up to $1000 each month for small projects

'Jafa" has meant many things over the years but a charitable trust has come up with a new variation: "Japha - Just Another Philanthropic Aucklander".

The new Japha Fund, launched by the Auckland Communities Foundation, aims to put fun into funding by granting up to $1000 each month to small community projects for which $1000 or less will be "the difference between your project happening or not".

"It could be posters for a new play," said foundation chief executive Hilary Sumpter. "In Canada they have neighbourhood grants such as, to have a tool library in a street, or street parties, or a poster for a kindergarten fundraiser.

"We hope we get a lot of applications from the student sector ..."

Applications will close on the 14th of each month starting on August 14, and grants will be made by the end of the same month. "Your project should be ready to fire and be completed within a couple of months so we can share your story," the foundation says.

The online application form asks people to outline their "awesome idea", explain what social or environmental good it will achieve and who it will benefit, and state how much money it needs.

Successful applicants will have to make a short video up to two minutes long for the foundation to use "to inspire more philanthropic Aucklanders" to donate.

Ms Sumpter said the fund was starting with just $12,000 contributed by several donors including the Rua and Clarrie Stevens Charitable Trust, which was set up by lawyer Clarrie Stevens in 1970 after the death of his wife Rua. After Mr Stevens died in 1995, their son Lee Stevens added his father's name to the trust.

"We are a small private trust," Lee Stevens said. "We give away just over $65,000 a year. One of our major ones is Ed Hillary's work in Nepal ... we'd like to support people with new ideas."

Just another acronym
Jafa
Pejorative term invented by non-Aucklanders, originally "Just Another F***ing Aucklander".
Japha
The city's new self-image, "Just Another Philanthropic Aucklander".