Introducing Donna Ching-Tregidga, Head of Supporter Engagement & Income Development and Chief Operating Officer

Donna Ching-Tregidga

Head of Supporter Engagement & Income Development and Chief Operating Officer

What is your role at Nelson Tasman Hospice?
I lead the Supporter Engagement and Income Development team which is the team responsible for the non-government funding. As a local charity we need to fundraise around 50% of our operational costs each year to continue to provide free services to our community. Our team oversees income streams like retail shops, grants, bequests, events and fundraisers and general donations.

What do you find the most rewarding about the work you do?
That each day I am part of a team that makes a difference to our service and therefore to our community. It is not easy work, given our funding shortfall is around $10,000 a day, but it is hugely impactful having the opportunity to support the community as we do.

What’s a myth about Hospice services that you’d like to dispel?
Can I have two please? Firstly, that Hospice is a building and secondly that it is a place that people go to die. Hospice as a service is so much more than that – we are predominately out in the community and we care for patients, and their families, for around 126 days. Our aim is to support them throughout that time so that they can live well … until they die.

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be and why?
I think I would be a kōwhai tree, firstly because I love the shape and colour of the flower and that it signals the start of Spring but also because it attracts the tūī which was my much-loved granny’s favourite bird, alongside the pīwakawaka. Whenever I see tūī in a kōwhai it reminds me of how lucky I was to have such an amazing granny.