The manager of the country’s busiest Citizen’s Advice Bureau did a little dance when its funding shortfall was mostly filled by a single benefactor.

When Rotorua Lakes Council cut back on its community funding, Rotorua CAB manager Jane Eynon-Richards felt the pressure to fill the gap it left for the financial year.

Combined with other funding losses, she needed to find a total of $35,000 for the year to cover the annual operating costs of $95,000.

Eynon-Richards was determined the doors would stay open.

Having read about the bureau’s plight, Paul Laing, a Phillip Verry Charitable Foundation representative, knew they needed to step in.

The bureau previously received $40,000 a year from the council, but was last month granted $25,000. It was the largest amount given to a community group.

The council received more than 36 applications requesting more than $600,000 from a fund totalling $195,000.

Funding was proposed to be cut completely during last year’s annual plan process as the council looked to cut costs and keep rates down by axing community group funding. The proposal did not make the final plan.

In total, the bureau was facing a $35,000 shortfall, which along with the council cut included the loss of Immigration New Zealand funding worth $10,000 for migrant support.

Eynon-Richards is the only paid staff member at the branch and previously told Local Democracy Reporting its $95,000 expenses cover her part-time wage, rent and overheads.

“We don’t waste a cent.”

Rotorua Citizens Advice Bureau has 62 volunteers and offers a range of advice and information. Photo / Laura Smith.

Its advice ranges from help with housing, tenancy and relationship issues, to income support and assistance with immigration, employment rights and neighbour disputes.

A lawyer and justice of the peace run clinics at the bureau several days a week.

From July 2023 to June 2024, 11,846 people received help at the branch.

Rotorua topped the list for the most inquiries of any CAB last year, with volunteers helping 9340 people. This excluded clinics.

Laing read about the bureau’s funding fears last month.

He contacted other representatives of the Phillip Verry Charitable Foundation, saying, “we need to fix this”, he said on Friday.

The bureau’s work fit with the foundation’s aim, he said, and viewed it as an essential community service.

While grants in the past focussed on growth, recent economic times meant it was giving more to help existing services continue.

He used the service himself a few years ago when needing a justice of the peace to witness a document signing.

“Everyone in the community is a potential customer of the service.”

Laing said it was about helping other people help themselves. The answers, or the way to get the answers, were provided at the bureau and it was a “magnificent asset” to Rotorua.

He was impressed by how the bureau was able to operate on such a budget, and told Enyon-Richards it was incredible what it achieved with the resources it had.

The bureau turns 47 next month.

“It’s a measure of quality of advice. I think people don’t know, it’s the oracle, where you go when you’re a bit stuck.”

When he reached out to Eynon-Richards, offering a $25,000 grant, she felt relief.

“It was absolutely a yahoo moment. I was doing a jig out there.”

Laing was “a knight in shining armour”, she said.

Eynon-Richards said she had secured other smaller grants along with the foundation’s $25,000 and was not as pressed to find funding to cover what little shortfall remained.

The grant meant she would not need to be applying for more grants that offered less money, more frequently, and would “keep the lights on and the doors open” for the financial year.

Crucial for community - says volunteer of 46 years

When Alison Perrin first moved to Rotorua she was appalled to find there was no Citizens Advice Bureau.

There were not many social services at the time, she said, and so a group of like-minded individuals decided the city needed a CAB.

By the time she got back from her year-long overseas experience, it was up and running.

That was 46 years ago.

Alison Perrin has volunteered with the Rotorua Citizens Advice Bureau for 46 years. Photo / Laura Smith.

Perrin, former co-ordinator of the branch, still volunteers once a week and attends training once a month.

She was grateful for the foundation’s grant.

Perrin told Local Democracy Reporting a lot differed from when she first started. From local knowledge of what was located where, what it offerered now was more complex.

“It changed tremendously.”

It started out as more of a “listening ear” kind of service.

Perrin recalls two turning points - the first was when the Consumer Guarantees Act was introduced in 1993 and the second when everything began to be computerised.

Advice and knowledge of volunteers tended to be more comprehensive now, she said.

Perrin viewed it as “crucial for the community”.

Some things remained constant, however: “We’re the first port of call for lots of people.”

The branch had developed a reputation for quality service, she said, and had good relationships with agencies it referred clients to.

Working with not much was another constant.

“At times in the early days we were working on the smell of an oily rag.

“We’ve always existed on very little.”

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.