When it comes to New Zealand charities, we have seen the same story play out again and again. Big promises, bigger pay packets, and little accountability. The latest example is Mike King’s I Am Hope Foundation, which somehow managed to boost executive pay by 80 percent while claiming to fight for struggling young people
After pocketing $24 million in public funding over four years, a deal that even the Auditor-General said sidestepped proper process, the charity’s executive salaries ballooned from $290,000 to more than half a million dollars. All this while the number of counselling sessions fell.
King’s defenders say he works long hours, but that does not justify a charity becoming a personal payday. Real community organisations, the small grassroots ones that actually see the pain and desperation up close, are shutting their doors because they cannot get a fraction of that funding. Yet I Am Hope cannot even spend all the money it has been handed.
It is a familiar pattern. The government signs over millions with little scrutiny, a famous face fronts it, and when the numbers do not add up we are told to look the other way because it is “for the kids”. Meanwhile, the executives walk away well paid, and the mental health crisis stays exactly where it has always been.
If I Am Hope truly wants to restore public trust, it should open its books, cap executive salaries, and prove every dollar goes where it is supposed to. That means to the young people it claims to serve, not to the people cashing in on their pain.
Matua Kahurangi is just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes. He blogs on https://matuakahurangi.com/ where this article was sourced
King’s defenders say he works long hours, but that does not justify a charity becoming a personal payday. Real community organisations, the small grassroots ones that actually see the pain and desperation up close, are shutting their doors because they cannot get a fraction of that funding. Yet I Am Hope cannot even spend all the money it has been handed.
It is a familiar pattern. The government signs over millions with little scrutiny, a famous face fronts it, and when the numbers do not add up we are told to look the other way because it is “for the kids”. Meanwhile, the executives walk away well paid, and the mental health crisis stays exactly where it has always been.
If I Am Hope truly wants to restore public trust, it should open its books, cap executive salaries, and prove every dollar goes where it is supposed to. That means to the young people it claims to serve, not to the people cashing in on their pain.
Matua Kahurangi is just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes. He blogs on https://matuakahurangi.com/ where this article was sourced
2 comments:
Yet another case of doing sausage sizzles, and local fundraising to pay executive salaries.
Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket
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