Philanthropists have met Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari’s cash flow crisis head on with $250,000 worth of funding.
Sanctuary Mountain – Maungatautari.
“We’ve moved our cash position out from what ended up being around four weeks to around 20 weeks,” said chief executive Helen Hughes. “So that’s great.”
Hughes, who has been at the helm of the operator of the world’s largest predator proof fence on Mt Maungatautari for just under a year, went public on the crisis in June sharing fears the operation might have to cease in six weeks after the Department of Conservation changed its funding model.
The project is partially funded by the Department of Conservation, Waikato Regional Council and Waipā District Council. But DOC’s withdrawal of its community fund left the project in a precarious position and Hughes making staff cuts and campaigning for funds.
Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari
“We have had several of the philanthropic funders from around the Waikato lean in and provide support to us. Over the last few weeks, we had landed around $250,000 worth of funding, which is amazing.
“The Len Reynolds Trust and the Rodmor Trust have all helped us significantly and we’ve seen an increase in donors giving regularly.”
That includes proceeds from a Donate the Weight campaign in which the donor is encouraged to donate the weight of a bird on a one off, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. The campaign is already a fifth of the way to achieving its $500,000 goal.
Hughes said the support had given the operation some breathing space.
“We are now turning our heads to the bigger issue. We now need to land the plane with longer term sponsors that can work alongside us over a three-to-five-year programme as we start to transition the business to strengthen tourism, education and other revenue streams to make us more self-funding.”
An aerial view of Maungatautari
The Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust, which has run the operation for two decades, has also applied for funding from the Lotteries Commission and is expecting to hear next month.
Hughes will meet the board later this month.
“We will start that process of looking at how we build strong relationships with partners that really value the work that we do, and that we can provide kind of a win for them in their business by sponsoring us.”
The Maungatautari team is preparing for another year of moving kiwi from the mountain to other projects around the country.
Meanwhile, Niwha Jones was due to be appointed the Department of Conservation’s representative on the Maungatautari Reserve Committee by Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan on Tuesday. DOC’s seat on the committee was vacant at May’s meeting having been filled at the previous February 16, 2022, meeting by district operations manager Ray Scrimgeour. Scrimgeour has since been replaced by Jane Wheeler.
The committee, tasked with receiving operational reports from Hughes and her team, met once in the two years before the current cash flow crisis. The trust will hold its annual meeting next month.
Maungatautari volunteer co-ordinator Lian Buckett, with, from left, Linda Just and Elaine Parkinson at the Lions Club of Cambridge “Trash ‘N’ Treasure Market”.
Te Awamutu News 26 September 2024
