Backing local recovery

Originally published in the Waikato Business News, Tuesday 4 May 2026.

By David Christiansen, Executive Officer, Momentum Waikato.

It has been heart-breaking to see the damage and disruption caused by the recurring storms of recent months.

Such emergencies have enormous impacts on ordinary people, but they are also when New Zealanders are their most generous.

For businesses wanting to send financial support to the frontline, the challenge can be knowing how to get it to where it is needed, and then trusting it got there.

After a disaster, a Mayoral Relief Fund is set up by the local council, which receives money from both the Government’s National Emergency Management Agency and the general public, and then distributes it based on applications received for assistance.

David Christiansen

This process generally works, but the appeal itself can only reach so far, as councils are not fundraisers, have only broadcast communication channels, and don’t have charity status for tax rebates on donations.

Also, some in business simply feel weary about giving to a council, for reasons ranging from avoiding a conflict of interest in other dealings, to habitual suspicion of bureaucracy. As ever, the greater the trust, the greater the likelihood and scale of generosity.

Meanwhile, private-run online appeals can be insecure and lacking credibility. There can also be concerns about the cost and destination of crowdfunding sites’ fees.

Which are all counts on which Momentum Waikato, as the region’s community foundation, has been able to help following the recent storms across Ōtorohanga, Waipā and Coromandel.

We ran several ‘Greatest Needs Appeals’ during Covid, so our resulting connections and ‘back office’ know-how enabled and guided these recent efforts.

Pumps and diggers in action at Corcoran Rd. Photo: Jesse Wood.

Flooding of Corcoran Rd causeway across Rangitukia Stream.

Our supporters are generous people who want to give wisely and locally, so proportionally they responded more readily to our calls for donations than a council could achieve via a wide call-out. We also expedited donations from businesses and others we know to be receptive.

Such donors can readily connect with our team if they have queries and see our strong track record, factors which build and reinforce ongoing trust.

After each of our recent appeals, we distributed the gathered donations to the Mayoral Relief Funds, though with slightly different approaches.

Momentum is partnering with the Thames Coromandel District Council on the Coromandel Future Funds, which were set up last year to build local long-term financial resilience following previous weather events. So, we collaborated with TCDC staff on appeal priorities and handled some callouts in tandem with them.

Whereas with the Waipā and Ōtorohanga district councils, we simply reached out to the mayors and then delivered the collected donations to add to their Relief Funds, which were warmly received.

Momentum Waikato is proud to able to back up the broad range of people and organisations who have to mobilise when disaster strikes. On behalf of us all, we say thank you to them.

A joint Civil Defence Centre was established in Otorohanga.