Givealittle Generosity Report FY2023

Givealittle's Generosity Report has been published for the 2023 financial year! It's full of stats and stories from a small handful of a few of our amazing fundraisers in an attempt to capture the amazing Kiwi generosity that we are so proud to be a part of.

Media Release November 2023
GIVEALITTLE FY2023 GENEROSITY REPORT:
KIWIS GIVE BIG FOR FLOOD AND CYCLONE RELIEF, MENTAL HEALTH,
YOUNG PEOPLE IN NEED

The numbers are in for Givealittle’s FY2023 Generosity Report, and one of the key figures is half a million. That’s not dollars, but the number of individual donations that add up to $43.5 million in giving in the year ended 30 June 2023. That is, in the online fundraising platform’s secure user-friendly interface, 499,000+ separate times New Zealanders responded to a call for help and clicked through to donate their hard-earned money. It represents an uptick of an astounding 18.8% on giving through Givealittle in FY2022.

Key FY2023 results include:
● $43.5 million – all generosity through the Givealittle platform.
● 18.8% – the increase in giving on FY2022.
● $11.2 million – donations to charities.
● 3,500+ – charities registered on Givealittle.
● $5 million – raised by Kiwi groups and businesses for good causes, mostly disaster relief and community support in FY2023. Stuff NZ’s Cyclone Gabrielle Community Support page was the second-largest page in Givealittle’s history, raising $4.5 million.
● Overall, Kiwis coped and helped with the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, the worst storm in New Zealand’s history, by raising $8.3 million for disaster relief and recovery efforts.
● Schools raised $349,000 on Givealittle for various educational purposes, such as literacy programmes, learning equipment, and outdoor learning areas.
● 499,000+ – number of donations.
● 12,000+ – number of pages created by Givealittle users.
● 2,700 – number of Kiwis who created a page to fundraise for charity.
● Individuals make up the majority of the fundraisers and beneficiaries on Givealittle, raising $25.9 million for various causes that matter to them.

New Zealanders responded readily to the extreme weather events of the Auckland flood and Cyclone Gabrielle in January and February 2023, donating approximately $8.3 million to over 380 pages on Givealittle supporting affected families, communities, relevant mayoral funds, and charities helping on the ground.

I Am Hope Foundation, the charity founded by Mike King, was the most supported charity on Givealittle in FY2023. Overall, 404 Kiwis passionate about their cause created pages to fundraise for them and have helped contribute to over 75,000 free counselling sessions I Am Hope Foundation has provided for young people. The charity’s Gumboot Friday was on 3 November this year, and has become a calendar fixture for mental health awareness and fundraising in Aotearoa.

Michaiah Simmons says, “Givealittle has been a huge part of fundraising for both I Am Hope and Gumboot Friday over the past few years and we are grateful for their support and the support of all of our incredible fundraisers and all the amazing ways they raise funds to support us in our crusade to create societal change around mental health and provide free counselling for young people around New Zealand.”

Live for More was the second most-supported charity in FY2023, with 264 fundraisers. It was the benefitting charity of the 2023 Mount Everest Challenge, an event with 160 participants in 97 teams. Live for More’s kaupapa is to empower rangatahi/young people to find freedom from their troubled pasts and be inspired to live positive and fulfilling lives. Through its surf therapy programmes, the charity transforms lives, one wave at a time, teaching young people connection, passion, purpose, and a sense of belonging.

In February 2023, founder and executive director Krista Dixon, with her husband and Live for More youth navigator Jared Dixon and their young child, undertook the Mount Everest Challenge and ascended Mount Maunganui 38 times in 50 days, the equivalent of scaling the world’s highest peak. The Dixons surpassed their goal and raised just over $4,000 in eight weeks from 54 generous donors, setting an example for other everyday Kiwis to make a difference through outdoor challenges and charitable calls to action.

Live for More operations manager Megan Leigh says, “The money raised during the Mount Everest Challenge has enabled us to fit out our office space with everything we need to run programmes and as a place for our young men. Having a well-set-up base gives Live for More boys a safe place they know they can come to and be accepted and celebrated for who they are. This fundraising is enabling young men to find freedom! Givealittle does such amazing work and raises much-needed funds for so many different causes, so thank you and your team so much.”

Jolly Good Chaps, with 126 fundraiser pages, proved the power of a pure focus on community. The small group of Hawkes Bay businesspeople and professionals held its Grand Annual Jolly Good Chaps Napier to Wellington 50cc Scooter Challenge, with 126 people participating in the ride and raising money via Givealittle for local community groups, projects, and causes while having a jolly good time along the way.

Scooter Challenger Brian Burrough’s mission was briefly derailed when his scooter and home were flooded by Cyclone Gabrielle. But after friends and contacts provided him with a beautiful red Vespa, Brian set out despite these setbacks, with the dual goals of supporting I Am Hope and raising funds for flood relief. By the time his page closed, Brian (whose original fundraising target was $3,000) had raised more than $5,000 over five months.

The Jolly Good Chaps Charitable Trust decided to help relieve the devastating effects of Cyclone Gabrielle and agreed to donate 100% of Scooter Challenge riders’ fundraising, “with the least red tape possible,” to local community groups making a massive difference in cyclone-hit Hawkes Bay.

In the course of FY2023 Givealittle also formed a new collaboration with Footprint, New Zealand’s largest online Will provider. Some charities report that gifting in Wills represents 30% of their total income, and the collaboration aims to help Givealittle users take the opportunities to leave a legacy gift to charity and create a Will, at a discount, with Footprint.

Givealittle charity page owners who opt to turn on Footprint’s messaging will ensure anyone who donates to the page will see the Footprint message on their donation receipt email to help spread the word – and there is no extra cost to the page owner, no obligation for any donor who makes a Will to leave a bequest to charity, and no fee taken by Givealittle when Wills are created.

Givealittle General Manager Mel Steel says, “Givealittle is a neutral platform run by a small but mighty team that believes deeply in the power of crowdfunding and community support. We are thrilled and heartened to see in our FY2023 Generosity Report that despite the headwinds so many Kiwis have personally faced this year, we have kept digging deep to help one another. From climate disaster relief to mental health, from big established charities to small grassroots non-profits, between friends and neighbours and schools and companies gathering funds to do good things, New Zealanders have been there for each other.

“We are also pleased that the steady programme of platform enhancements is being noticed by users, who expressed high satisfaction and gratitude for the platform and commended its ease of use, privacy options, responsiveness, and impact in online fundraising.

“We hope everyone who has contributed to this $43.5 million in giving can take a moment to reflect on the magnitude of what we can do when we come together. These funds are being used to do so much good in every part of Aotearoa New Zealand.”

Givealittle offers various tools and features to enhance the fundraising experience, such as the Footprint collaboration, matched giving, payroll giving, donation tags, landing pages, widgets, and events. It also forms strategic partnerships to promote and simplify giving: for example, it partnered with the Funding Network New Zealand to run the Generosity Generator, an online fundraising training programme specifically designed for small, grassroots charities in Aotearoa to teach them how to run online campaigns.

After a successful pilot in early 2022, FY2023 saw two Generosity Generator campaigns: in September 2022, 29 charities raised $152,215, and in May 2023, 23 participating charities raised $160,000. The fourth and final Generosity Generator runs from 6 to 17 November 2023 with 37 charities participating.
ends

For more information:
Laura Air
Alexander PR
+64 (0)21 259 3242
laura@alexanderpr.co.nz

About Givealittle
Givealittle is an online fundraising platform for all of New Zealand. We’re dedicated to connecting New Zealand causes with generous online donors. We’ve been connecting people in need with people who care since 2008 and have been part of the Perpetual Guardian Group since April 2020.

As a registered charity, Givealittle files an annual financial report with Charities Services. Givealittle receives a 5% fee (incl GST) on funds raised to cover the operating costs of the platform. Any surplus monies are reinvested in the platform to maintain the charity’s sustainability, stability, and compliance.

https://givealittle.co.nz/

About Perpetual Guardian Group
The Perpetual Guardian Group is New Zealand’s leading fiduciary services provider and the largest non-Government philanthropy entity by volume, with $679 million in charitable funds under management (in more than 600 charitable trusts) and $849 million of assets under management.

The Group’s four companies offer complementary specialist services to support clients at all stages of life: Perpetual Guardian, Perpetual Guardian Investments, New Zealand Trustee Services, and Givealittle.

The Group’s origins date back more than 136 years in New Zealand, and today the company has a 230-strong national team serving Kiwis from 17 offices and branches. Innovation, integrity, fiduciary expertise, and unparalleled experience make us the country’s premier provider of the full suite of estate planning services.

We are proud to have more than 140,000 client relationships, many of them over generations of the same families and charitable organisations. New Zealanders trust us to preserve their wealth and ensure their legacy through wills, trusts, enduring powers of attorney, and comprehensive and competitive investment advisory and philanthropic services.