Super excited to be presenting at One Voice’s Matariki Forum on Monday. As a result of volunteering to do so, I have spent the last six weeks or up to my eyeballs in pdfs, spreadsheets and the like in an effort to update the earlier work I have done.
And after all those hundreds of hours of work, I present to you the upshot… which is slightly underwhelming. No substantive changes. Gaming trusts are still providing almost half of the funding into the region.
And after all those hundreds of hours of work, I present to you the upshot… which is slightly underwhelming. No substantive changes. Gaming trusts are still providing almost half of the funding into the region.
Now, there are quite a few health checks on the data. I have changed my methodology: when I did earlier work, it was for the calendar year (or as near as I could get that). I have decided that funder’s financial year makes more sense, as many funders only publish consolidated grants, so that makes the 2014 number look different than I have earlier published. Where those older grants are publicly available I did fill in the gap. The DIA 2014 data looks a bit light, and it seems I only have COGS data for 2014, but historic information is no longer published (and thanks to DIA for providing the later info I did request – so I have put in a (technical term) fudge).
The only local body included is Christchurch City Council, but the grants programmes of Selwyn and Waimakariri are fairly inconsequential. And some of the family trusts are no longer providing information publicly, which makes it trick to see where they put their money… however, their slice of grants won’t impact greatly on the results. Where many of the Gaming trusts shine is around disclosure. They have complete histories of grants on their websites, and many (Trust Aoraki for example) share excellent and somewhat intriguing rationales behind their declines. However, if I can make a request: territorial authority, data files and charity numbers would make my job easier.
Below is a chart showing the specific grant makers who provided the funds. Interestingly the most prolific grant maker seems to be our Council: 11% of their grants in 2017 went to individuals, and many grants to the same organisation are split between various community boards in an attempt to allocate accordingly.
The only local body included is Christchurch City Council, but the grants programmes of Selwyn and Waimakariri are fairly inconsequential. And some of the family trusts are no longer providing information publicly, which makes it trick to see where they put their money… however, their slice of grants won’t impact greatly on the results. Where many of the Gaming trusts shine is around disclosure. They have complete histories of grants on their websites, and many (Trust Aoraki for example) share excellent and somewhat intriguing rationales behind their declines. However, if I can make a request: territorial authority, data files and charity numbers would make my job easier.
Below is a chart showing the specific grant makers who provided the funds. Interestingly the most prolific grant maker seems to be our Council: 11% of their grants in 2017 went to individuals, and many grants to the same organisation are split between various community boards in an attempt to allocate accordingly.
The supply of grant funds is rather interesting. I heard Problem Gambling on the radio the other day saying that people seeking grants should go elsewhere for their money. That strikes me as a little simplistic… where exactly? As anyone raising funds for an NFP knows, it’s pretty competitive out there – for most charities anyway – and given Gaming trusts supply almost half of Canterbury’s grant money our ecosystem will be slightly stuffed without it.
Voices can be interesting to think about too. Who is the voice of grant makers? The local funders’ forum? Philanthropy New Zealand? As far as I am aware, the biggest group of grant makers sit on neither.
So if we are not happy with where money comes from, then what to do? We need to look at demand – where the money is going, and address a few of the big issues around that before making sweeping changes to supply. And I will look at demand next time: spoiler alert – nothing much has changed.
If you have some spare time on Monday 18 June 2018 5 – 7 come on down to the One Voice Matariki forum at ECan on St Asaph St in Christchurch. But if you can’t make it, see the Reports page of Delfi’s website: I’ll put the presentation and notes up there when I remember how.
I write about this stuff as believe that as need to understand where funding comes from, where it goes, and how it gets there. Love to talk with you if you think this is at all interesting. Check out my website www.delfi.co.nz.
Voices can be interesting to think about too. Who is the voice of grant makers? The local funders’ forum? Philanthropy New Zealand? As far as I am aware, the biggest group of grant makers sit on neither.
So if we are not happy with where money comes from, then what to do? We need to look at demand – where the money is going, and address a few of the big issues around that before making sweeping changes to supply. And I will look at demand next time: spoiler alert – nothing much has changed.
If you have some spare time on Monday 18 June 2018 5 – 7 come on down to the One Voice Matariki forum at ECan on St Asaph St in Christchurch. But if you can’t make it, see the Reports page of Delfi’s website: I’ll put the presentation and notes up there when I remember how.
I write about this stuff as believe that as need to understand where funding comes from, where it goes, and how it gets there. Love to talk with you if you think this is at all interesting. Check out my website www.delfi.co.nz.
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