Rights Aotearoa Newsletter #2

Welcome back to our second newsletter. If you're new here—welcome. If you've been with us from the start—thank you.

Today I want to talk about something we've learnt in our first few months of operation, and ask for your help.

The Funding Reality

When we launched Rights Aotearoa, I believed we'd fund our work through traditional grants, but here is what I've come to understand: Rights Aotearoa does general advocacy work. We respond to what's happening in real time. We defend universal human rights with a focus on transgender, non-binary, and intersex communities when and where those rights come under threat. We can't predict in January what we'll be fighting in July, or what urgent submission we'll need to write in September.

Grantmakers want projects. They want measurable KPIs. They want to know exactly what their funding will achieve in months 3, 6, and 12.

That's not how human rights defence works, and you can see all the work we have been doing at www.rightsaotearoa.nz 

The Path Forward

We've made a decision: Rights Aotearoa will be funded mostly by grassroots donations from people who believe this work matters.

That means we need to build a community. Right now, we're small. Our first goal is to reach 1,000 newsletter subscribers—people who want to stay informed about human rights in Aotearoa and support this work.

This Is Where You Come In

Can you send this newsletter to five friends and ask them to sign up for it?

That's it. Five people who might care about this work. Five people who want to stay informed. Five people who believe universal human rights matter.

If everyone reading this does that, we'll hit 1,000 subscribers quickly. From there, we can build the sustainable direct donation model that will keep Rights Aotearoa operational and effective. We run a lean model at Rights Aotearoa - no superfluous expenses.

Why This Matters

The advocacy work is going extraordinarily well. We're having an impact. We're in the rooms where human rights are being discussed. We're providing expert analysis and principled opposition when it's needed most.

But impact doesn't pay the bills. Community does.

Will you help us build this?

You can sign up at www.rightsaotearoa.nz

Ngā mihi nui,

Paul Thistoll

CEO, Rights Aotearoa

Rights Aotearoa is New Zealand's leading non-governmental organisation devoted to promoting and defending universal human rights with a focus on transgender, non-binary, and intersex rights.