Who Did You Help Today Trust

Determined to develop innovative grassroots solutions to tackle entrenched social issues in New Zealand, the Who Did You Help Today charitable trust runs projects that support connecting our communities to create positive change.

We contribute to this through growing the 'helping movement' and running programmes to mobilise more people to volunteer. These include:

o HelpTank, a digital marketplace connecting charities with skilled volunteers. https://helptank.nz/

o The Homework Help Club, which partners organisations with low decile primary schools to establish volunteer-led homework clubs to support children’s learning. Children from low decile schools face more barriers to academic achievement than those at higher-decile schools;

o The Mothers Project, which sees lawyers working probono to assist incarcerated women, with a focus on helping them maintain relationships with their children. Research on mothers in jail shows improved relationships can decrease reimprisonment rates and improve children's wellbeing and development.

We also recognise and promote the value of helping others. The trust was named Who Did You Help Today because founder Stacey Shortall has been asking her children that question daily since they could talk. Stacey says that helping - regardless of whether the act is a small gesture or a big effort - makes a real difference to the lives of others and can transform our country.

The Who Did You Help Today Trust became a registered charity (CC53191) in February 2016. The trustees are Stacey Shortall, Sarah Paterson and Rachelle Sutton.

The trustees' pro bono work - including helping women in prisons and children in low decile schools - started years before the trust's inception however.

In addition to programmes like Homework Club and Mothers Project, by 2016 the Who Did You Help Today movement had also taken hold. This movement started almost accidentally and grew organically as a result of Stacey (who has received many commendations including being named a Woman of Influence, Lawyer of the Year, Local Hero, Sir Peter Blake Leader) being asked to speak at numerous fora.

Stacey started hearing that people around New Zealand were beginning to regularly ask 'Who did you help today?' of their children, families, friends and colleagues, after hearing that she challenged her children daily on how they had helped another.

Who did you help today in 2018 operates 3 projects, Mothers Project, Homework Club and HelpTank, a digital platform connecting skilled volunteers with not for profits.

The trust operates with a small staff team to support the many volunteers and ensure the demand for more services can be met.

We've been largely volunteer-led and operated. But demand for our services is skyrocketing so we're employing 2.4FTE staff. Money raised will go to pay their salaries and associated operating costs. Thanks for supporting us to grow the helping movement.