Funding

We depend on your support

Dan-Berger-Overnight-(3)Hillary Outdoors is a charitable trust that relies on the generous support from our funding partners, sponsors and donors. Hillary Outdoors charges fees for its courses and these are heavily subsidised by the trust. The New Zealand government provides no funding to our centres at all.

On these pages you will learn about how you can get involved in funding. Whether you need to fundraise to get yourself, a school group, club or some friends along to a programme or event or are able to help by contributing in some way, such as volunteering, donating to Hillary Outdoors or even buying something from our shop, you’ll find plenty of ideas, suggestions and information. You can also learn about scholarships and sponsorship opportunities in this section.

Behind the scenes are a fantastic team of people who work tirelessly to ensure that Hillary Outdoors continues to make a remarkable difference to the lives of New Zealanders, both young and old.

We also have a very devoted and active Board of Trustees who deserve a standing ovation. They freely give their time, energy and expertise to contribute to the growth and direction of Hillary Outdoors.

How are Hillary Outdoors and its students funded?

Aside from the fees charged for programmes and events that meet some of the basic operating costs of providing top quality outdoor education and multi sport events, Hillary Outdoors depends on additional funding sources to cover some of the other costs associated with our programmes, events, facilities and equipment.

Funding partners
Hillary Outdoors are lucky to have the support of various funding partners, including Pub Charity – their contribution mainly helps significantly subsidise the fees for low decile school students to attend Hillary Outdoors. Funding partners are often charitable entities that distribute funds to applicants that meet their strict criteria. Sometimes these funding partners are gaming trusts or publicly owned businesses who promote responsible selling of alcohol etc. and helping Hillary Outdoors is part of their commitment of giving back to the community.
Commercial Sponsors
In addition to funding partners, Hillary Outdoors have a number of sponsors that help with the expenses for maintenance and upgrade of equipment, vehicles and buildings. These on-going costs are an essential part of providing top-class programmes and in some cases, sponsors are further funding Hillary Outdoors by directly subsidising student fees to experience Hillary Outdoors through our Community Sponsorship Programme.
Donations
Last but not least, Hillary Outdoors also benefit from the generosity of individuals who donate funds. Sometimes these are people who give a one-off contribution because they are thankful for what they gained when attending Hillary Outdoors years earlier and occasionally people make bequests to Hillary Outdoors. Even simply buying something from the Hillary Outdoors shop helps support the future of Hillary Outdoors.

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How do students receive funding?

IMG_2530Students who meet certain criteria (mainly low decile schools) could be eligible to receive funding via Hillary Outdoors from our funding partners and/or commercial sponsors. Schools can apply on behalf of their students to funding partners, with some guidance and support from Hillary Outdoors. If the funding application is successful, the amount paid to Hillary Outdoors from the funding partners covers a large percentage of the total fees for the school to attend.

We believe that in order to establish ownership and responsibility amongst the students for the outcomes of attending a programme, they should not be fully funded by charity. Often the sense of camaraderie and achievement begins with the fundraising students get involved in before they even get to a Hillary Outdoors Centre. Therefore, the balance of the total fee needs to be paid by the school.

In some cases the school will ask the individual students parents to pay the appropriate amount, in other cases, the school will undertake fundraising activities in order to finance this balance. Whether you are an individual student that needs to do your own fundraising or part of a school group, you may find our fundraising page helpful.