PRESS RELEASE

Pub Charity Clarifies Funding Requirements

From:   Martin Cheer
Chief Executive

Pub Charity

The New Zealand Herald has reported this morning (26/7) that leading gaming trust Pub Charity has rejected funding applications from organisations linked to the Anglican Church in response to their political views or lobbying.

Pub Charity’s net proceeds committee suspended funding to Anglican Church based organisations following statements made by the Anglican Bishop of Auckland, reported in April 2012, that ‘the Church refused to take any funding from pokie machines – a decision which had shut down access to a large pool of funding’.

It is a requirement that every application being considered by Pub Charity’s Net Proceeds Committee is required to contain a certified resolution of the applicants governing body that it supports the application.

Accordingly applications for Anglican organisations cannot be deemed to be supported by the senior governance when the Bishop of Auckland Ross Bay has stated as above that the Church ‘refused to take any funding from Pokie Machines.’

Pub Charity wrote to clarify that position.  The first letter from Pub Charity’s Donations Manager was returned unopened.  A second letter sent by CEO Martin Cheer in 2013 finally was responded to giving no clarity and advising that Pub Charity would have to, in each case, approach the various diocese effectively saying the problem was Pub Charity’s to resolve.

In the interim applications for gaming funds from the Anglican Church are being advised that their application has been declined while the apparent contradiction remains to be clarified.

ENDS

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