Arthritis New Zealand is one of five finalists to present to Sir Bill English and Lisa King in live ‘What’s your impact?’ competition judging panel.

The top five finalists have been announced for the inaugural ‘What’s your impact’ competition – backed by BDO and ImpactLab. The competition will see $25,000 worth of ImpactLab’s GoodMeasure service awarded for free to a New Zealand based charity or for-purpose organisation.

The five finalists will present at an online judging panel at 12 pm on 23 February 2022 that includes Sir Bill English, ImpactLab founder, Founder of Eat my Lunch Lisa King, as well as Henry McClintock and Justin Martin, BDO’s not-for-profit experts. This will be open to members of the public and will be an opportunity for finalists to learn from each others’ impact journeys as well as receive guidance from our expert judging panel.

Chosen from over 40 entries, the five ‘What’s your impact?’ competition finalists are:

• START Taranaki

START Taranaki is a community-based NGO delivering a Supervision with Activity (SwA) programme on contract with the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) and Oranga Tamariki to high level and recidivist youth offenders.  S.T.A.R.T Taranaki’s wilderness programme uses a wilderness intervention to allow young people to completely detach from their everyday environment and places emphasis on building meaningful relationships between staff and participants.

The judges felt that START Taranaki had a clear strategic plan, had strong relationships with community parties, and were ready for the next stage of their impact journey.

• Nisa

Nisa is a social enterprise and underwear label, employing women from refugee and migrant backgrounds in their Wellington workshop. The organisation’s dream is to build an alumni of former employees who go on to inspire their own communities and start their own businesses.

The judges liked how Nisa is focused on better understanding its impact in order to grow and further its cause.

• Friendship House Trust

Friendship House has worked in South Auckland for 40 years, primarily in the family harm space and violence prevention programmes for male perpetrators of family harm. They also offer social work and counselling to people who are vulnerable as a result of family harm, and aim to give men the tools needed to make positive choices in their lives.

The judges felt that Friendship House is working on a significant national issue and liked the organisation’s strong vision, and how employees at all levels had the opportunity to provide input to the strategic plan.

• Hōhepa Canterbury

Hōhepa Canterbury is a well-established provider of services and support to people with intellectual disability and/or autism. Its practices, anthroposophical inspiration, and commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi Te Tiriti o Waitangi create its distinctive approach to working with people with disability. The organisation is very interested in capturing data-driven insights in order to further increase its impact – something that ImpactLab’s GoodMeasure service is very driven by.

• Arthritis New Zealand

Arthritis New Zealand aims “to improve the life of every person affected by arthritis”. It is a national charity that provides information, advice and support to people diagnosed with any of the more than 140 forms of arthritis. The organisation impacts over 700,000 Kiwis and works across communities. Having been through a period of change, Arthritis NZ is now ready for a closer understanding of its impact.

The winning organisation will work with ImpactLab over the course of three to six months to produce a GoodMeasure impact report which will include their social return on investment figure and other key data points. The winner will also attend a workshop with ImpactLab to discuss the findings in greater detail.

Register to view the online judging webinar here on 23 February 2022. The winner will be announced on 24 February 2022.