KIA ORA 

About Us 

We believe that poverty is not God's plan. You are.

Tearfund is a Christian non-profit organisation working for a just and compassionate world. We’re passionate about ending poverty and living out God’s kingdom values of love, hope and transformation.

 

"We believe aid should never be used to further political or religious standpoints, or be withheld on the basis of race, gender, religion, nationality or sexual orientation." 

Ian McInnes, CEO 

Our Mission

Motivated by Jesus, we encourage Kiwis to act for justice to relieve poverty among the world's most vulnerable people. 

 

Our Vision

Our vision is to see individuals and communities around the world transformed by hope, opportunity and dignity. 

 

Our Values 

Faith, Justice, Courage, Kotahitanga-Unity 

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49 Years

Working around the world since 1975

You can trust our years of experience working with partners all over the world.

100,000

People's lives impacted in the past

We work with farmers and entrepreneurs to build capacity and make lasting change, lifting themselves out of poverty.

13m

Raised for our global partner organisations

With donations, kiwi's just like you are making a difference all over the world.

Our Work

We believe our key distinction and strength is our partnership model. We believe these communities know the issues they face better than anyone, so we identify community organisations with expertise in development and partner with them to empower their work. That’s why you won’t find us setting up offices in our partner countries and employing expensive expatriate staff who take away jobs from experienced locals.

Through these partners we work across four causes to help those most in need. We help protect the vulnerable from modern slavery. We help restore hope after disasters strike and help those affected by conflict to find peace and safety. We sponsor children in need, and help struggling farmers and potential entrepreneurs to create sustainable incomes. Using a collective approach, we empower communities to help themselves and find local, long-term, sustainable solutions to poverty.

 

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Where we work

Tearfund brings hope to vulnerable communities with local partners in 17 countries, through Disaster and Conflict, Modern Slavery, and Farming and Enterprises initiatives. We also partner with Compassion International in 25 countries to provide holistic child development support through local church partners. Explore the impact of our work here and Compassion’s approach here.

Our History 

Tearfund NZ was born out of Tearfund UK. In the 1960s, when 40 million people worldwide were made refugees by war or disasters, coverage of the suffering sparked a spontaneous outpouring of compassion among UK Christians. These Christians sent money to the Evangelical Alliance, and a fund was created to distribute the cash to evangelical agencies caring for the needs of refugees around the world. The Evangelical Alliance was determined to marry Christian compassion with practical action.

Powerful images, striking design, and provocative messaging such as “they can’t eat prayer,” propelled Tearfund onto the Christian stage, urging a new, radical understanding of what it means to bring good news to the poor, caring for their physical as well as spiritual needs.

Tearfund UK was registered as a charity on March 6, 1973. In 1975, the Evangelical Fellowship of New Zealand embraced the idea of a humanitarian arm of local churches. With a $10,000 grant from Tearfund UK, Tearfund NZ was birthed, raising $2,000 to construct a village well in Guinea Bissau in its first project.

From humble beginnings, Tearfund has grown to become one of the largest aid agencies in New Zealand, raising more than $14 million a year to support multiple partners across many countries

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Chief executive officer

Ian McInnes

Ian McInnes has spent the last two decades in international aid and development work, including many years in disaster response work and recovery operations in some of the world's toughest humanitarian emergencies. Ian happened to be in Sri Lanka during the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, where he and his wife Himali became hands-on in the aid response. 

At Tearfund he has pioneer and championed some of the aid sectors’ most innovative approaches to tackling exploitation and poverty in the region, prosecuting human trafficking in SE Asia, and developing market-based agricultural livelihoods such as a cooperative dairy operation in post-war Sri Lanka.  

Formerly Chair of the Council for International Development and the NGO Disaster Relief Forum, Ian has broadly represented NZ aid and development organisations through his role as CEO at Tearfund.      

Ian leads an experienced executive team of Tim Manson (International Programmes Director), Gertjan Kardol (Marketing and Fundraising Director) and Allan Bates (Chief Operating Officer).

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Our Board

See below our current board members.

Maureen Crombie

Chair 

Maureen is a senior management professional with experience in international non-government and public sector organisations, both in New Zealand and overseas. Her background includes governance, strategy, policy, business planning and performance, risk management, marketing and communications. As chair, she served ECPAT International for 8 years and been instrumental in the movement’s global growth and expansion of advocacy against the sexual exploitation of children. She is motivated to help bring justice, hope and freedom to children and communities affected by exploitation, trafficking, oppression, and poverty. Maureen is an Institute of Directors member and joined the Tearfund Board in 2023

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Ross Wallis  

Ross is a sixth-generation Raglan dairy farmer and has been working the farm for the last 20 years. Prior to this he and his wife worked as full-time volunteers for Youth with A Mission in various parts of the world, leading teams and training schools. Ross has a passion for farmers in developing countries and is a supporter of Tearfund’s dairy development programme in Sri Lanka, to which he brings his experience within the dairy industry to help build and empower strong farming communities. Currently, Ross is on the Fonterra Shareholders Council representing Waikato west farmers." 

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George-Wieland  

BA History (Hons), BA Theology (Hons), PGCertEd, DipPastStud, PhD  

George was previously the Director of Mission Research and Training at Carey Baptist College, Auckland. His background includes cross-cultural work in Brazil, church-based ministry and community work in the UK, and tertiary teaching. He travels frequently in connection with mission and community development work in several countries, is involved with Micah and other integral mission networks, and he has developed a course on Theology and Development. He has had experience on several boards and has been on the Tearfund Board since 2015  

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Nikki Denholm  

Nikki is a co-founder of Exposure International and has worked in 40 countries capturing stories of the refugee crisis, orphans, children in prison, famines and human trafficking. Nikki also has a  health background specializing in gender issues and founded the national New Zealand FGM and African Refugee HIV/AIDS education programmes. She recently co-founded The Light Project to help equip the young people to navigate the new pornography landscape in Aotearoa. Nikki has published a photographic book on the lives of women and children in prisons, serves on the board  of LIFT International, and was recently made a member of The New Zealand Order of Merit for her humanitarian advocacy and photography. She joined the Tearfund Board in 2022 but has had a longstanding relationship with Tearfund through her media projects, engaging donors and advocating for Tearfund’s anti-trafficking work.  

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Emeline Afeaki-Mafile’o

MNZM, BSW, MPhil (Social Policy), Post Grad Dip Social Sciences

Emeline joined the Tearfund Board in 2022 and can be best described as a social entrepreneur.  She founded Affirming Works in 2001, which uses a Pacific model of collective mentoring to provide life skills to young people in Auckland. This work led her to Fofola Consultancy Ltd, which has contributed to public policy development in New Zealand and the Pacific.  With her husband, Emeline owns Tupu'anga Coffee, which harvests, roasts and packages in the Kingdom of Tonga, supplies local establishments, and exports to New Zealand.Alongside this, they started four social enterprises – community cafes in the Auckland area.  In 2006, Emeline was named a Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader and won the Westpac Woman of Influence award in 2014. She was awarded The New Zealand Order of Merit Award in 2015 and in 2018 became a member of the NZ Westpac Sustainability Panel, tackling poverty and the disadvantaged. In 2020 she was invited to become part of the leadership group for Mana Kai and the Aotearoa Circle. 

 

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Anthony (Reinest) de Rose

ACMA, CGMA,MBA, Chief Executive YMCA Central

With 25 years of experience in the for-purpose sector, Anthony is passionate about enhancing community wellbeing and fostering resilience in children, young people, and families. A Chartered Global Management Accountant and Associate Chartered Management Accountant (CIMA, UK), Anthony also holds an MBA (Victoria University, New Zealand) and is dedicated to driving positive social impact through education, inclusion, and sustainable growth. 
 

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