The Influencers: Amy Carter

I was amazed to learn that there are just over 2100 registered charities in Christchurch. On top of that, there will be many, many other causes that most of us don’t even know about unless they have touched us in our private lives.

The problem is, if you are wanting to gift some money to a cause, how do you know which ones are legit and which ones might not be quite as robust in their operations and governance? It’s an often voiced concern from individuals and organisations looking to donate often significant amounts of money.

This is where I want to put in an unashamed plug for The Christchurch Foundation. We’ve been going a year now and have raised just short of $4 million – the first $2.5 million was recently gifted to Tūranga, the new central library, by TSB, Spark and Southbase.
Our job is to help individuals and businesses to identify causes to which they want to gift money and to help with due diligence.

We broker win-win relationships between those who give and those who receive. The foundation isn’t cause led; we support donors and their aspirations for the city – be it a community facility such as Tūranga or an organisation supporting women’s health.
People don’t give directly to the foundation, they give through it.