So this bombshell happened - a venue and a CEO's home raided by DIA (30 Sept 2026).  I’m watching on the sidelines with my popcorn like some sort of voyeur waiting for the next action here.  A comment by the parent company might be interesting. Crickets (as at publication of this piece).   I have no insight as to what DIA were looking for with this action.  For the record I did complaint to DIA in October 2022 about this entity.  My complaint was around their grants practices, in that they seem to give a lot of grants to some relatively new organisations. However as noted in their 2025 accounts the raid could be related to some more back office activities as per some reportage around "creative accounting".  With this entity its important to understand that they are 100% owned by Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Services – the charity which raises money for the private business who runs Canterbury’s Rescue Helicopters. Regardless of the outcomes of DIA's actions, to me it raises more questions about the risk of marrying a pokie who have been investigated in the past with one of Canterbury's most loved Not for Profits.  

Sitting in my To Be Done was a blog on some thoughts around system change (or, possibly a more click-worthy headline: how to save $1.5m from the grant making ecosystem without actually doing much).  That’s now up.   Below is a dive into their grant distributions to end June 2026.  This is an update to the last review in 2024.  In 2026, they look to have given away $20.1m, up $2.2m from the previous year.  If we look at ARS from an ecosystem view, they are the sixth largest pokie by grants, giving away 5.4% of total pokie grants in calendar year 2025.  As at 30 June 2026 they have 30 venues, picking up and Auckland one off Bluesky this year.

Below is a chart looking at where the money goes.  You would think the name on the tin gives a hint as to where the grants go.  Well, no.  In 2026 Sport gets 46% of the total funding, while Air Rescue Services received 38%. Despite operating in the North Island, none of the North Island helicopter rescue services get anything (although according to Granted.govt.nz Hawkes' Bay's were the only ones to ask).   Note Education, which got a grand 2% of available funding in 2026, often does use these grants for sport, but without further disclosure on the purpose of the grant its tricky to classify.

The comments from last time stand:  not much change but some levels of grant making that are a little eyebrow raising.  You can read some of that here, but that Nelson Suburbs Football Club has been subject to a complaint as have a few of the above.  Dewey Center Foundation too is interesting: registering as a charity in 2021 this pokie is its only funder.  And Dewey is in the same address block as one of the ARS venues.  I also wonder about Sport Education Community and Cultural Foundation,  which registered as a charity in 2019.  The accounts are simple: in and out.  It could be that ARS should be applauded for supporting new organisations.  But I'm inherently distrustful of most things so I'd have a good look at this.  And as for football making up 6 of the top 15 entities..... well

I write about this stuff as believe that as need to understand where funding comes from, where it goes, and how it gets there.  These pokies have considerable stewardship over community funding.  As a citizenry we allow both those supplying money and those asking for money to operate, and as a community we need to ensure we have oversight over the organisations they choose to fund: are they operating efficiently?  Are they leveraging best practice?   Love to talk with you if you think this is at all interesting, and if you want to dive into the data a bit more than happy to do so. Check out my website http://www.delfi.co.nz/