Open war at the Peace Foundation

Peace Foundation director Anne Ackerman and president Bob Harvey resigned at last night's meeting. Photo / Kenny Rodger

An organisation devoted to promoting peace is at war with itself over allegations of financial mismanagement, inadequate structure and a lack of financial transparency.

Peace Foundation president Bob Harvey was one of two senior members who quit the organisation during an acrimonious annual meeting in Auckland last night.

Mr Harvey - Mayor of Waitakere City - said the foundation's council had been forced to ask hard questions over the past couple of years about budget and funding.

In doing so, it had opened "a Pandora's box" and the organisation was not sustainable.

National director Anne Ackerman also resigned, saying the foundation's financial structure was lacking and there was a lot of internal conflict.

Mr Harvey said questions asked by the council had brought answers "that made us uncomfortable".

He said the peace message had been lost along the way and a lack of skilled resources often meant the foundation could not respond to " the issues of the day".

Ms Ackerman - in the post only eight months - told last night's meeting: "I have lost heart. I have seen the [foundation] council trying to lead the charge on this, so from me, please keep up that motion.

"I believe in the organisation, but I only care about organisations which care about who they serve."

She said the foundation had tried restructuring, but had to be more accountable about where money went.

A major stumbling block was "making sure the money goes to the kids".

The Peace Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation established in 1975 to provide resources and services to schools, homes and groups in New Zealand and internationally.

Its aim is "to create peaceful relationships among the groups".

Since 1988, it has received grants from the Peace and Disarmament Education Trust - which was established with compensation money paid by the French government after the Rainbow Warrior bombing in Auckland three years earlier.

The Disarmament Education UN Implementation Fund has given grants to the Peace Foundation since 2004.

Ms Ackerman said: "I make no apologies for asking people to soften their attitudes because we are a peaceful organisation and there was a lot of conflict."

During her time as director, she had become frustrated by the foundation's lack of financial structure, and the way it was dominated by mediation.

Last night, members voted to exclude the public during the discussion about mediations.

Ms Ackerman said the foundation's financial structure was lacking, and that in February, financial results had been drawn up only until November last year. "There I was in February trying to run an organisation without that information."

She said staff were taking an enormous amount of time in lieu, and "not one single staff member was in the office from 9 o'clock until 5 o'clock".

It was impossible to hold a regular Monday morning meeting as fulltime staff were generally not in the office then.