The society does not provide medical services of any kind, as its expertise lies in the areas of support, education, information and patient representation.
Kidney Society services are free for kidney failure families in Northland and Auckland, although membership is encouraged.
The Society works closely with the professionals providing medical care for people with kidney failure but is a strictly independent patient society providing support in the community.
Funding our work
Kidney Society Auckland relies on grants, donations, sponsorship and fundraising.
Over the years, the Society has survived very well, in fact flourished, thanks to grants and donations - but also through frugal management, respecting every dollar it receives - and rigourous accountability processes. Our good reputation, we believe, is our biggest asset in soliciting support for our work.
Providing a full range of services to over 1300 people with kidney failure and their families in Auckland and Northland, at a cost of just $500 per family per year, donors can be assured that they get excellent value for their contribution.
Fundraising is a vital. It is also costly. However, Kidney Society Auckland aims at never spending more than 20 cents in the dollar on fundraising. Not every event or fundraising activity succeeds in achieving this goal, but overall, year after year, the cost of fundraising meets these criteria.
A small Ministry of Health contract contributes approx. 4% of our annual income.
The cost of running our Dialysis House in Papatoetoe is largely covered by a lease agreement with Counties Manukau DHB.
Membership of the Society, at $15 per year, contributes towards direct client services and some dialysis related products are sold to clients at cost.
Overall, our clients' own fundraising contributes around 5% of the annual budget.
Fundraising activities include mail appeals, the occasional small event and, for the first time this year, a small steet apeal.
Our most ambitious fundraiser this year was the production of Summer Fusion, a music CD which has reached the public through the generous support of Progresive Enterprise by selling the CD's in Foodtown, Woolworths and Countdown shops.
Telemarketing is not one of our fundraising activities, however we do benefit from a distribution of Kidney Health NZ's telemarketing proceeds of $2,000 per month.
Developing sponsorship relationships, building long term relationships with individual donors and with the business community are high on our list of activities for the future.
