Covid 19 coronavirus: Wellington charity gains donors over lockdown

Pat Shepherd said they were amazed to see people were increasing their giving over lockdown, rather than cutting it off. Photo / Supplied

A Wellington charity expected to lose donors over lockdown, but was humbled to see the number has actually grown since Covid-19 hit New Zealand's shores.

One Percent Collective is a Wellington-based charity which signs up people to donate just one per cent of their paycheck. The collective forwards 100 per cent of the money to the 14 charities it supports nationwide.

Founder Pat Shepherd said they expected to lose donors over lockdown, but have instead seen a steady jump in money raised. Some donors have even doubled their giving this year.

"We moved into Covid freaking out a little bit . . . knowing that that was going to kind of take a hit on people's income," Shepherd said.

In the first couple of weeks they lost about 3-4 per cent of donors, but as lockdown continued, the numbers began to climb.

Since then, One Percent Collective has gained nearly 100 new donors, and collected more donations than they did in the previous quarter.

"It was pretty cool," he said.

Shepherd believes part of the reason their charity did so well was down to their model encouraging people to donate a small amount often. As it was only 1 per cent of their donors' income, it was less likely that people would stop the payments compared to larger donations.

Many of their charities were suffering from the lack of donations from corporations, but the money from the collective continued to come in.

"Because we have a lot of people giving a little, it means if a few people drop out it doesn't make a [big difference].

"This is a really sustainable form of giving."

Seeing the donations increase over lockdown was "pretty cool", Shepherd said.

"For a lot of people, obviously, when you're kind of financially struggling, stopping a donation is kind of one of the easy things to do. It was just amazing to see that actually people weren't doing that."

Pre lockdown, the collective had 560 donors. They now have 650 regular donors.

The amount they are raising each year also continues to climb. A milestone $2 million was raised by the charity's eighth birthday this month.

The first pre-Covid quarter of this year brought in $127,000 in donations, and the following quarter was $131,000.

"We've discovered a lot of people who are in a privileged position with secure and steady jobs have made a decision to increase their giving because they realise they are more fortunate than others. They are keen to contribute, which is really humbling."

One donor told the charity Covid-19 had made them take stock of their privileges.

"I'm still employed, I still have a steady income, I have a safe place to live, can afford to eat, and am not struggling with health complications that might make me vulnerable to Covid-19," they said.

"Always, but especially in a time where so many people do not have these things, I have a responsibility to do more than nothing."