Tairāwhiti is home to some of the most generous people in the country based on the size of their Givealittle donations per person.
Data released by Givealittle in its end-of-year Generosity Snapshot showed the average donation size from Gisborne was about $100 per person.
A total of $170,557 was raised by the region through 1709 Givealittle donations in 2024.
Northland had the next highest average donation size at $95, followed by Southland at $94 and Marlborough at $91.
One Givealittle page operating from Gisborne this year is “Fundraising for Disha – Open School”, run by the Tairāwhiti Multicultural Council under the brand Opportunities Without Discrimination (OWD).
The page, which has raised $3500 in four weeks, was set up to support a project to educate underprivileged children aged 6 to 14 in the slums of Delhi, India.
Tairāwhiti Multicultural Council president Arish Naresh said Tairāwhiti was “a very connected region” when it came to fundraising and community events.
He highlighted that locals still gave a lot, despite the region not being among the most affluent.
“We may not be the richest when it comes to our bank accounts, but we are definitely rich in heart,” Naresh said.
“We band together as a community, stick together and do things.”
He said the Tairāwhiti Multicultural Council, with the community, has raised funds for a cyclone appeal in Fiji, bushfires in Australia, an earthquake in Nepal, a typhoon in the Philippines, and had also been involved in free school lunches in partnership with local groups before the previous Government’s Ka Ora Ka Ako Health School Lunches programme began.
“The concept of koha is a gift that Māoridom and tangata whenua have gifted to this society and it is great because koha is something that is valued quite widely,” he said.
“Because we understand the meaning behind koha and giving generously to causes, this stems out of that.”
The Tairāwhiti Multicultural Council “hardly used” Givealittle for most fundraising, and Naresh highlighted the custom socks OWD was selling to raise funds for The Sunrise Foundation.
Some of the largest and most successful Gisborne-based Givealittle pages in 2024 were those opened to raise funds for the families of three East Coast fishermen found deceased along the eastern Mahia Peninsula coastline in June.
Four pages, set up by individual family friends or the Gisborne Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club, have collectively raised more than $370,000.
Other successful Givealittle fundraisers in Gisborne this year have included more than $25,000 raised for the whānau of Midge Te Kani after she lost her life in a crash, just over $19,000 raised for the family of 5-year-old Khyzah whose body was discovered after he went missing in Tiniroto.
Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz said the Givealittle result for the year for Tairāwhiti “comes as no surprise”.
“We are generous, caring and know how much it means to be supported in tough times.
“Thank you Team Tairāwhiti,” she said.
“I am so incredibly proud and a Merry Christmas to you all.”
Site chief executive Lythan Chapman said 350,000 donations to over 10,000 causes added up to $28 million donated from January to December, marking a “powerful testament to the generosity across New Zealand”.
“Gisborne stands out with an impressive $100 per person donated on average, making it one of the most generous regions relative to its population size,” Chapman said.
“This shows that even smaller communities can have an outsized impact when it comes to charitable giving.”
She said there was often talk about “big cities leading the way“ but smaller regions were just as generous, if not more so based on giving per person.
“It’s the collective spirit that truly powers this country. Whether it’s $5 or $500, every single donation matters and makes a difference.”