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A Central Hawke’s Bay woman who helped raise $16 million for the NZ Liberation Museum Te Arawhata in France says it takes a special kind of convincing to get Kiwis to spend their money on something overseas.
Jenni Giblin splits her time between a farm at Oueroa near href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/waipukurau/" target="_self" rel="" title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/waipukurau/">Waipukurau, where she lives with her husband and children, and Auckland, and said it took a little bit more than bake sales and raffles to raise money.
Giblin joined the project in 2019 and ultimately worked to raise $16 million across four years for a museum dedicated to the liberation of the French town of Le Quesnoy by New Zealand soldiers at the end of World War I.
Jenni Giblin said New Zealand was a generous nation for projects that mattered.
“There is a story there around Kiwi ingenuity and using a number eight wire approach to saving this whole township, so people came on board and they were extremely generous,” Giblin said.
She said she worked with Sir Don McKinnon and got contributions from high-net-worth individuals and those who had a connection to France.
She said, with no central government support, they raised the money from donations from people and councils, including Hastings and Tararua district councils.
Giblin said donations ranged from $5000 to $3 million, given by a range of donors.
“You have to get your story right to get people interested in giving you money.
“We were trying to get people to put money in across the other side of the world - and many of those people may never get to see the museum.”
The trust Giblin worked for purchased a building in Le Quesnoy, and they worked with Weta Workshops to tell the story of the New Zealand army in World War I with the money.
Le Quesnoy Museum in France.
Giblin said NZ is a nation of people who “like to give”, and despite the cost of living, people were still finding different ways to donate.
“At the moment, it feels very tight everywhere and very hard, but people are still choosing to give.
“People understand that the particular charity or the particular project is going to have a positive impact on people’s lives or is going to help transform a community.”
Giblin, who initially worked in Parliament, said she got into the fundraising business when she worked for former Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule in a move back to Hawke’s Bay in 2002, as a strategy manager for Hastings District Council.
“He was seeking funding for the Hawke’s Bay Opera House, and he asked me if I would help.”
She said she “sort of fell into fundraising”, and from there has worked on a range of projects, and helped Napier mayor Barbara Arnott with funding for McLean Park.
Giblin later founded Funding HQ in 2020 because she saw the need to help not-for-profit organisations seek funding.
“I could see there were a lot of not-for-profits across New Zealand really struggling to access funds.”
Giblin said she has now raised over $280 million for projects across New Zealand across a range of sectors.
Her next mission, which she was doing voluntarily, was to help raise money for playground equipment, a bus shelter, and uniforms at Nuhaka School.
Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.
