Stephen Fisher, the Chairman of the Spirit of Adventure Trust has some questions about Telecom's $1 million Charity Vote Website that is due to go live around lunchtime today.

Four registered charities in NZ stand to win $250,000 - Telecom says the winners will be determined by people who go to the website and vote.

It has been difficult to find out information about the selection and voting process but for the small amount on the website itself and the automated email below.

Our Response

Thank you for your email.

As of Wednesday the 5th of September we will allow members of the public to vote for one of 50 charities from a list, or to nominate a charity of their choice. Please use the link below from Wednesday

http://www.charityvote.co.nz

If we can assist you any further with this matter we will be happy to help.

...

We haven't been able to establish:
- whether the Spirit of Adventure is one of the 50 Charities ?
- how Telecom has compiled the list of 50?
- who can vote?
- how many times people can vote?

Stephen Fisher wonders what criteria Telecom has used to compile the list of 50?

He suggests independent criteria such as the 50 biggest charities according to the IRD may seem to be fair, as an example.

Another matter that may be of concern is a suggestion that only people with an xtra email address will be eligible to vote despite the electronic glitch affecting people who used other ISPs

We were told that customers on broadband, no matter what ISP they used for email, were affected because they are all routed through the xtra server.

The substantial size of the donation has many charities hoping they are the successful recipients and it would be disappointing if the selection or voting process disadvantaged any one of them.

Stephen Fisher
Chairman
Spirit of Adventure Trust

ENDS

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