The Christchurch Foundation: An Earthquake Story

The annual contribution of $ 600,000 from taxpayers to the Christchurch Foundation is currently under review. Some see finance as an inappropriate use of public funds, while others see it as an investment in the city’s future. Lewis Day finds out more about the foundation.

Amy Carter, chief executive of the Christchurch Foundation, describes the organization’s origins as “an earthquake story.”

After sending millions of dollars to Christchurch from around the world in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake sequence, it became clear that a “strategic approach to philanthropy” was needed.

A municipal fund and government initiative were launched to take over the flow of support, but neither was developed with a long-term vision.

This led to the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority investigating various charitable models that could look to attract and mediate charitable donations for causes central to Christchurch.

Ultimately he left the responsibility for establishing such an entity with Christchurch City Council. In 2016, the City Council approved the creation of the Christchurch Foundation and the following year it became a registered charity, aiming to act as a vehicle for charity in the city.

The city council has approved a contribution of up to $ 600,000 per year to the foundation for six years, subject to review now by an independent supplier. The review would give the city council the power to terminate, change, or pursue an existing agreement.

Board members are expected to make a decision before Christmas.

Readers of The Star have expressed concern about the city council’s contribution to the foundation, considering it an inappropriate use of taxpayer money.

However, Mayor Lian Dalziel, who is also on the foundation’s board of directors, believes that taxpayers should be “extremely proud” of the contribution they have made to the foundation.

“People can look at dollars and cents and say that this is a large amount if they do not know what the return is, but the return will last for many generations,” she said.

Carter also believed that the price-payer contribution was a “smart investment in Christchurch’s future.”

She believed that the contributions of pedigree payers would play a large role in helping realize the Foundation’s ambitions to support local causes for at least a century.

Carter said the foundation is working towards full financial independence from the city council by 2023, and has proposed a gradual reduction in operational funding from the council until then.

She said that Christchurch’s response to the terrorist attacks on March 15 really put the city on the map and launched the foundation 10 years ahead of schedule in terms of building links around the world, aiding in its quest for financial independence from the city council.

Last year, the foundation held an event in London to mark the launch of its UK branch, and is currently working through setting up a branch in the United States. It is hoped that these branches will attract more donations from abroad.

“We hosted an event there [London]We started building our database of past clients. But we also spoke with people like The Rockefeller Foundation, and met with the English Premier League and Cricket League to look for opportunities for collaboration and March 15th opened those doors for us, ”she said.

“he is [March 15] Slingshots give us 10 years in terms of building relationships which is really important for gifting. Don’t hit someone for a million dollars when you have a cup of tea with them so it’s a long game, not short, and you have to build trust. That’s what was impressive with the council’s commitment when they were looking to establish us is that they saw it. ”

City council funding finances the foundation’s operating costs, including employee salaries.

While Carter was unwilling to disclose her current salary, the Foundation’s most recent annual report shows that she received $ 214,078 during the 2018/2019 fiscal year.

However, her salary will be announced when the corporation’s annual report for the previous fiscal year is released in the next few months.

John McGill, chief executive of Strategic Bay, said the salaries of chief executives for charities across the country could range widely from much less to more than $ 100,000 a year.

Carter said she has since voluntarily reduced her salary, which is now “much lower” than the figure recorded in the corporation’s most recent annual report.

The report also showed that she received a reward of $ 35,000 over the course of the 2018/2019 fiscal year, something Carter said was no longer happening.

“I removed the bonus component because it seemed to annoy people while the intent of getting the bonus was to put KPIs on me, meaning that I had to be a performer and thus reduce the costs of the organization.

“The truth is, yes, I am well paid, but it is much less than what I would get if I was in the business world or actually worked for a major charity in a senior leadership role.

“I don’t want to look exposed because I know I feel very honored. But not everyone can do the job.

“I have a unique set of skill sets, and although I certainly cannot be dispensed with by any means, you need a very large person with some good tasks on the board to negotiate deals with some of the biggest entities in New Zealand and have conversations with global institutions and various actors. Evolving donor.

“It’s not a $ 50,000 job a year, that’s just the fact.”

The foundation has also received a 10 percent reduction in the donations it receives from the board this year in response to the pandemic.

However, instead of focusing on the money that is given to the foundation from the city council, Carter thought it was important for taxpayers to ask themselves if the foundation was providing them with a good return on investment. I thought she did.

The first gift the foundation facilitated to the city was $ 2.75 million to cover the operating costs of the Turanga Library. So far, $ 7,000,000 has been delivered and the rest remains to be paid. Funds were generated from donations from TSB, Southbase, and Spark.

The foundation also received 18,000 various donations during the first 24 hours of the devastating March 15 terrorist attacks that took place. Overall, over $ 12 million has been raised in response to the shooting to date.

More than $ 9 million in total was distributed, of which $ 3,570,000 was distributed to the closest victims, $ 1 million to those with bullet wounds, $ 1.2 million to children and widows of victims, $ 415,000 disbursed from the Medical Support Fund, and $ 470,000 distributed from The Community Support Fund and an additional $ 615,000 were provided to those financially burdened by the attacks through the Suffering Fund.

An educational fund has also been established, a long-standing legacy that will support 108 children with higher education and training.

Imam of the Al-Nour Mosque, Jamal Foda, said that the Foundation played a “decisive” role in helping the Muslim community recover from last year’s attacks.

Former city councilor Rav Manji played a leading role in the foundation’s response to the attacks, leading its engagement with the Muslim community over a period of three months that shaped its distribution model.

Most recently, the Foundation has worked alongside Meridian Energy in moving towards creating the Toei Corridor throughout Christchurch.

A pass of Toy Tucker plants, a favorite in Toei, will be planted across Christchurch to encourage birds to return to town.

Carter said Meridian Energy had come to the foundation wanting to contribute to the environmental aspect of the city, so she had the idea to build the Toei Corridor.

“That was my idea, I showed it to them [Meridian]They’re gone.Yes, we like to do that, so we planted 3,000 trees on City Hall land on Friday [last week]. “

This is an example of an enterprise’s “project financing” approach.

The second approach it uses to facilitate philanthropy in the city is a strategy Carter calls “the passive giving.”

“Like the gift given to Turanga, we bring money in and send it directly to the recipient that the donor chooses. We’ve also done this for other things in town like SCAPE. [public art] And the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. “

The third approach is to fund the endowment. This involves donors providing capital to the charity, which then invests in it and distributes its profits to the reason for choosing the donor.

This multifaceted approach from the charity has caught the attention of Susan Doulton, who will study the charity as part of the Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship in researching strategies in providing disaster grants.

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