New major donor club honours Sir Edmund Hillary
Published on 7th March 2012
VSA has launched an exciting new fundraising initiative to mark its 50th anniversary.
The VSA Hillary Club is a major donor club that honours the memory of VSA’s founding president, Sir Edmund Hillary. Members donate $4,500 or more a year to VSA. That is the amount we need to raise annually for every Kiwi volunteer we have in the field in order to keep our programme at its current level – 100 volunteers on assignment at any one time
In return members will get regular reports about how their donations are being used, as well as a chance to meet returned volunteers and talk about development issues at an annual members’ lunch.
They will also be able to visit one of our programmes overseas, and see for themselves how our volunteers and partner organisations work together to achieve great things.
According to VSA’s chief executive officer, Deborah Snelson, the VSA Hillary Club is an excellent way of continuing Sir Ed’s vision for VSA for another 50 years.
VSA's founding president Sir Edmund Hillary
“Sir Ed’s role went far beyond being a famous figurehead. His greatest contribution sprang from his own character which in many ways became the essence of our underlying philosophy – the VSA way,” she says.
“He believed that relationships were the most important thing of all, and that if people
work together in equal partnership they can achieve great things.”
* To find out more about the VSA Hillary Club, or to become a member, contact Karla Paotonu 04 495 8526, kpaotonu@vsa.org.nz
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