Kelvan SmithSouth Otago donors to St John are concerned about proposed funding changes to the organisation. "It’s not totally clear what the eventual outcome will be as [St John is] not really communicating [its] reasoning, but from what I understand, about 95% of locally raised funds will be pooled regionally and redistributed around the district according to need. He said typically, donors were told funds raised locally would be retained and spent for local benefit, and he worried any change to that system could influence people’s generosity. St John South Island regional general manager Kelvan Smith moved to allay concerns, saying the funding proposal was simply about "improving efficiency". "St John has been talking with our area committees since early September about a better and more efficient way of allocating funds.

Source: Otago Daily Times November 25, 2018 15:33 UTC