Southland charities facing Covid-19 demand and fundraising uncertainty

Friday, 19 November 2021

Presbyterian Support Southland chief executive officer Michael Parker says Covid-19 has created a huge workload for its staff and volunteers. [File photo]

Charities have experienced an influx in demand at the same time as funding has stagnated as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report shows.

The 2021 New Zealand Cause Report, released last month by JBWere Philanthropic Services, examined trends in the for-purpose sector for the four-year period since March 2017, and touched on impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It says charities, especially those that provide essential services to the most vulnerable or financially insecure, are facing increasing demands and workloads as a result of Covid-19 without a corresponding increase in funding, with many reporting team morale at an all-time low as a result.

Presbyterian Support Southland chief executive Michael Parker said it had to stop taking on referrals for Family Works social services space twice this year as wait lists had extended to between three and five months.

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Youthline Southland community development manager Geraldo Miranda says an increase in demand coupled with uncertain event schedules has made planning difficult for the organisation.

There had been 3300 families that had accessed Family Works in the past year, he said.

“That’s pretty much capping us out, there’s wait lists on top of that of more people that want us to do it, we just don’t have the resources available,” he said.

“There’s a huge amount of anxiety in the community around Covid-19, and we deal with the most vulnerable in the Family Works space. And that involves people who, in the best of times, are struggling to cope. But you put the constraints of Covid-19 around them as well, it makes it doubly as hard.”

Providing social services whilst following Covid-19 safety and social distancing protocols had created a huge workload for volunteers and staff, he said.

Youthline Southland community development manager Geraldo Miranda said sources of funding were becoming more uncertain due to event cancellations and a reduction in donors’ own incomes.

Hospice Southland chief executive Dr Flora Gilkison believes more awareness around sustainability is changing the way Southlanders shop, with all stores busier than usual this holiday season and donations of designer goods increasing steadily. [File Photo].

“It’s quite tricky because we work around mental health, and this never stops,” Miranda said.

At the same time, Youthline Southland and Otago manager Brian Lowe said calls to the helpline following the lockdown in August this year increased from about 160 a week to more than 500 a week, whilst text conversations increased from about 200 clients per week to more than 300 per week.

For smaller organisations, the report stays the impacts of Covid-19 are amplified compared to their larger counterparts as donations stagnated.

It estimates a total giving of $3.8 billion in 2020, the same as 2019 figures, where there would normally be a 4.5 per cent growth rate, which indicated total giving would fall in 2021.

Chroma, a Southland-based charity formed in 2019 to support LGBTQIA+ whanau and establish links with the wider community, was also impacted.

Secretary Bethany Duffill-Brooks said Covid-19 had impacted their ability to create awareness and had reduced donations in the absence of events.

Charities are also facing the issue of an ageing volunteer workforce who are more vulnerable to Covid-19, the report says.

Hospice Southland chief executive Flora Gilkison said many of its volunteers were “no longer young, although talking to them, you would think they were”, and had become anxious about their health due to the pandemic.

As a result, it was currently in the process of mandating vaccinations for employees to increase health and safety, she said.

A Department of Internal Affairs spokesperson said a full assessment of the impact of Covid-19 on charities would not be possible until 2022 due to charities reporting six months after the end of their financial year.

It had supported the JBWere 2021 New Zealand Cause report into the state of the sector, alongside surveys by Hui E! Community Networks Aotearoa, Volunteering New Zealand and Philanthropy New Zealand on the sector during Covid-19, the second of which is currently being compiled into a report, they said.