Red Cross Appeal 2021

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We've answered some of your frequently asked questions. If you can't find an answer to your question, you can also find out how to contact us below.

• Red Cross Appeal 2021 FAQs

  Donations to Red Cross Appeal 2021 will go to where the need is greatest, allowing us to help people who need it most during times of need and disaster. Donations will enable Red Cross to carry out our mandated work, helping in New Zealand through our community services, first aid and disaster response work, and helping communities affected by emergencies and conflict all over the world.

• Why do you need an appeal?

  New Zealand Red Cross is a charity. While we do receive some government funding for specific services, it rarely covers all of the costs involved, nor does it cover all of the different services we provide. With ever-increasing need in our communities in New Zealand and around the world, there are always more ways we could help – if we had the funding.  The more money we can raise, the more we can help.

• Where does money raised through the appeal go?

  Donations to Red Cross Appeal 2021 will go to our ‘Where the Need is Greatest’ fund. It will allow us to help people who need it most during times of need and disaster. Donations will enable Red Cross to carry out its mandated work, helping in New Zealand through our community services and disaster response work, and helping communities affected by emergencies and conflict all over the world.

  The work of New Zealand Red Cross is more relevant than ever. 2020 was a tough year. Disasters and emergencies that we faced together included flooding, fires and a global pandemic and, every time, New Zealand Red Cross was there – getting communities prepared, responding and providing psychological first aid, among other things. But we aren’t just there for emergency response. Every day we help former refugees settle into their new homes, ensure vulnerable people have a hot meal and some company, teach first aid in our communities and send trained professionals to help people in need overseas. We don’t know where we’ll be needed next, but we do know we’ll be there.

• When I donate to ‘Where the Need is Greatest’, where does my money go?

  New Zealand Red Cross is involved in many long-term programmes and recovery activities in many different places. We need to generate a total of $47 million each year to be able to run our organisation and support people in need across New Zealand and around the world.

  When you donate to ‘Where the Need is Greatest’, your donations are managed with transparency. As well as funds being spent on vulnerable people here and overseas, funds donated help us ensure that we can be sustainable and able to support people long into the future.

• How much money raised goes to affected communities?

  When we open an emergency appeal, 100% of your donations will go directly to that response.

  Outside of emergency appeals, we aim to keep our core operating costs low. Core operating costs mean things like salaries, volunteer allowances, rent or maintenance on our buildings, transport, telephony, website, IT, financial systems, insurance, electricity, hardware, etc. To deliver the best possible outcomes for the people we are supporting, we need an effective and efficient structure in place. We are proud to run an organisation that reaches people in need, and do so in a professional and accountable way.

  We are transparent about where our money is spent. All of our financial information is available in our annual reports – https://www.redcross.org.nz/about-us/publications/

  https://www.redcross.org.nz/about-us/publications/

   and through Charities Services - https://www.register.charities.govt.nz/Charity/CC21860.

• What do you spend on core operating costs?

  Core operating costs are a real and necessary part of running a charity and of any emergency response. Put simply, we would not be able to do what we do without there being some costs associated with running our organisation. We are committed to keeping our core operating costs as low as possible without compromising effectiveness of our programme delivery, community, staff and volunteer safety, and using technology to support an agile and mobile response.

  We are able to do what we do with the help of our other funding streams such as first aid courses and Red Cross Shops, as well as corporate donors and government funding. Core operating costs are not covered solely by members of the public donating to us.

• When I donate during an emergency appeal, where does my money go?

  In response to specific disasters both in New Zealand and around the world, New Zealand Red Cross sometimes sets up ‘emergency appeals' such as the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal back in 2011, Cyclone Winston Appeal in Fiji or the Syrian Refugee Crisis Appeal. New Zealand Red Cross is one of very few charities that gives 100% of money donated for emergency appeals to the emergency response. This means all the money we raise during an emergency appeal goes towards responding to the disaster and to the affected community - we don't take any part of donations to cover our core operating costs for the appeal or for any other general funding. This guarantee is unusual among humanitarian agencies.

  However, we can’t only run emergency appeals after an event. To cover our core operating costs and carry out our day-to-day work for things like training volunteers in psychological first aid, delivering meals to vulnerable people and getting communities prepared for a disaster, we need to fundraise through our annual appeal. Money raised through our annual appeal ensures we are set up for whatever is around the corner.

• Australian Red Cross faced a lot of criticism about how they spent money donated to the bushfire response. Is it true they’re keeping the money donated for themselves?

  Unfortunately, there has been a lot of incorrect information shared online about Australian Red Cross’ response to the bushfires.

  As at 17 December 2020, Australian Red Cross had spent or disbursed $201 million of the $240 million donated. This includes:

  • $185m paid in grants to 5,808 individuals and households,
  • the cost of its emergency teams for 2019/2020, which was $5m,
  • the recovery programme so far, which was $2m; and
  • administrative support costs, currently 4c in the dollar for each dollar donated.

  The rest of the money will be spent on additional support grant, temporary accommodation pods for affected people, and a tailored, three-year recovery programme.

  We’re really keen to clear up any misinformation, so please give us a call if you have any concerns. We’d also encourage you to read Australian Red Cross’ detailed funding plan on its website - https://www.redcross.org.au/bushfirefunds.

If you have more questions about our Red Cross Appeal and wish to get more information, please contact us by emailing communications@redcross.org.nz or phoning 04 495 0139.  

You can also download a PDF of these FAQs here.