Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand

What Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand does

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand (BBBSNZ) is a registered charitable trust (CC32216) operating the largest volunteer youth mentoring programme in Aotearoa New Zealand. Established in 1996 in Dannevirke and incorporated as a national oversight body in 2004, BBBSNZ coordinates 12 regional affiliates that match adult volunteer mentors ('Tuakana') with children aged approximately 6-12 ('Teina') for one-to-one mentoring relationships. The core service offering consists of three programme formats — Community-Based Mentoring (1-2 hours/week outside school), School-Based Mentoring (1 hour/week during school hours), and School-Based Teen Mentoring (college students mentoring primary children) — plus a corporate workplace mentoring channel. All programmes are delivered face-to-face through regional staff, professional screening and supervision processes, and a network of 35+ mentoring supervisors and over 1,000 volunteer mentors.

The organisation operates without proprietary technology, relying instead on standard case management and matching coordination tools to support a fundamentally human-relationship-based service. BBBSNZ is part of the international BBBS movement founded in 1904 and operating in 13 countries with 280,000+ mentors globally. Revenue is generated through a diversified mix of individual regular giving (from $5/week), corporate match sponsorship ($2,400-$3,000/year per match), and government and philanthropic trust grants (including the Lottery Grants Board). With over 3,500 kiwi children currently being mentored and 400+ on the waitlist, the organisation reports strong outcome metrics — 98% of mentored youth believe they make better life choices and 96% report being happier with a positive outlook.

BBBSNZ is governed by a national board of 35+ volunteer trustees and operates as an autonomous New Zealand entity with no parent company or external ownership stakes. Its go-to-market relies on community outreach, school and referral partnerships, and a multi-channel marketing approach (website, social media, the 'Bring Back Stubbies' annual campaign, newsletter, and success-story content) to recruit volunteer mentors, accept child referrals, and secure donor funding. Customer outcomes (children), volunteer mentors, parents/whānau, schools, and corporate partners form the primary stakeholder base across the North and South Islands.

Name

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand

Legal name

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand

Website

https://bbbs.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand is a charitable trust operating the country's largest volunteer youth mentoring network, matching over 1,000 adult mentors with 3,500+ children aged 6-12 across 12 regional affiliates, funded by individual donations, corporate match sponsorships, and government grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Mentoring Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Literacy & Numeracy Intervention (Reading/Math Support) (EDAJALAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Youth Mentoring & Positive Youth Development Nonprofits (BPAGADAD)

Keywords

• Youth mentoring services
• Volunteer mentoring programs
• Charitable youth support
• Community mentoring network
• School-based mentoring

Headquarters

HQ city

National

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices16 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Regular donations from individuals starting from $5 per week, one-off donations, and gifts in wills. Donations support screening, training, programme management, and match activities.
2. Corporate Sponsorship: Match sponsorship programme where businesses or individuals provide $2400-$3000 per year per match to cover costs of creating, maintaining, and supervising mentoring relationships.
3. Government and Foundation Grants: Funding from central and local government, philanthropic trusts including Lottery Grants Board, community trusts, and charitable foundations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand recruits, screens, trains, and matches adult volunteer mentors ('Tuakana') with young people aged approximately 6–12 ('Teina') for sustained one-on-one mentoring relationships lasting a minimum of one year. Programmes are delivered through community-based, school-based, and teen mentoring formats, with each match costing NZD 2,400–3,000 per year to support professional supervision, training, and match activities.

Product overview

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand is a youth mentoring charity operating as a single unified programme rather than a modular platform. The core offering consists of face-to-face mentoring programmes that match volunteer mentors (Tuakana) with young people aged 6-12 (Teina). The three main programme types are Community-Based Mentoring (after-school/weekend one-on-one sessions), School-Based Mentoring (within school grounds during school hours), and School-Based Teen Mentoring (college students mentoring primary school children). Additional offerings include corporate-sponsored mentoring where organisations sponsor employees to mentor during work time. All programmes are delivered through 12 regional branches with professional staff support and coordinate.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Community-Based Mentoring One-on-one mentoring relationship between an adult volunteer ('Big' / Tuakana) and a young person ('Little' / Teina), meeting outside school hours on weekdays or weekends for approximately 1–2 hours per week for a minimum of one year. Available free of charge to families across all 12 BBBSNZ regional affiliates.
• School-Based Mentoring Mentoring delivered on partnered school grounds during school hours for approximately one hour per week, with mentors and mentees meeting in the school library, staff room, kitchen, or playground at a consistent time each week.
• School-Based Teen Mentoring Programme where Year 11–13 college students mentor a primary-school-aged child at a partnered primary school for one hour per week; BBBS provides a resource box with activities and ideas.
• Organisations Sponsoring a Tuakana (Corporate Workplace Mentoring) Programme where businesses and organisations sponsor employees to mentor a child for one hour per week during work time; corporate partners (e.g., Naylor Love, Pic's Peanut Butter, NZ Police, Rotorua Lakes Council, Bupa) cover the NZD 2,400–3,000 annual per-match cost and gain a structured CSR and employee engagement vehicle.

Quantifiable outcome

• 98% of mentored youth believe they make better life choices
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered national principal sponsor, core partnership and community partner.

• Naylor Lovenational principal sponsorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational Principal Sponsor providing financial and strategic support for BBBS NZ mentoring programmes. Naylor Love CEO Rick Herd states the company wanted to contribute to society and make a difference, with board unanimous in supporting BBBS.
• New Zealand Policecore partnershipStrategic or Co-development Partner25+ year partnership where NZ Police works with BBBS as a cornerstone organisation strengthening youth. Police National HQ coordinates youth partnerships with BBBS NZ nationally.
• Rotorua Lakes Councilcommunity partnerChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCouncil employees sponsored to mentor during work time through Mentors in Schools partnership with BBBS Rotorua
• Rotorua Policecommunity partnerChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPolice employees sponsored to mentor during work time through Mentors in Schools partnership with BBBS Rotorua
• Scion Researchcommunity partnerChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorResearch organisation employees sponsored to mentor during work time through Mentors in Schools programme
• Bupacommunity partnerChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCorporate partner sponsoring employees to mentor during work time in BBBS Rotorua school programmes
• P.F. Olsencommunity partnerChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCorporate partner sponsoring employees to mentor during work time in BBBS Rotorua school programmes
• Harcourts Rotoruacommunity partnerChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorReal estate company employees sponsored to mentor during work time through Mentors in Schools programme
• Rotary Club of Nelsoncommunity partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerMatch sponsor and community supporter for BBBS Nelson-Tasman programmes
• Safe Space Alliancecommunity partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Safe Space Alliance showing commitment to creating safe environments for mentees and mentors

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Graeme Dingle Foundation: A New Zealand youth development charity running school-based mentoring, leadership, and wellbeing programmes (e.g., Kiwi Can, Project K, Stars). Targets a similar school-aged demographic through structured adult-led programmes, competing for corporate sponsorship and Ministry of Youth Development funding with BBBSNZ.
• KidsCan: A New Zealand children's charity supporting low-decile schools and vulnerable children through food, clothing, and wellbeing programmes. While the model is material aid rather than mentoring, it targets a similar demographic of disadvantaged Kiwi children, partners with many of the same corporate sponsors, and competes for philanthropic funding.
• Life Education Trust (New Zealand): A New Zealand charity delivering health and wellbeing education to school-aged children via mobile classrooms and educator visits. Operates through regional trusts, partner schools, and corporate sponsorship — partially overlapping with BBBSNZ's school-based delivery model and competing for similar school partnership and government funding.
• Variety - the Children's Charity New Zealand: A New Zealand children's charity providing grants, programmes, and experiences for disadvantaged children. Operates a similar corporate-sponsored model (e.g., Variety Bash events) and targets an overlapping beneficiary base of Kiwi children facing adversity, partially competing for sponsor and donor mindshare.

Broad incumbents

• Plunket (Royal New Zealand Plunket Society): A long-established NZ charitable trust providing well-child health, family support and community services for children from birth to five. While focused on early childhood rather than school-age mentoring, Plunket operates at comparable national scale across regional branches, draws on similar volunteer and government funding pools, and serves overlapping whānau.
• Barnardo's New Zealand: One of New Zealand's largest children's charities, providing a broader portfolio of services including care, education, and support for vulnerable children and young people. While not a mentoring-only organisation, it overlaps heavily with BBBSNZ's target population (at-risk Kiwi kids) and competes for similar government, philanthropic, and corporate funding pools.

Direct peers

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ireland: The Irish BBBS affiliate operating the same volunteer youth mentoring model in schools and communities. Comparable in scale (charity-led, regional branches, corporate match sponsorship) and in target demographic (children and adolescents needing positive adult role models), making it a strong operational peer to BBBSNZ.
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of America: The largest national BBBS affiliate in the world and the originating organisation of the BBBS movement. Runs an identical volunteer youth mentoring model with school-based, community-based, and site-based programmes and corporate match sponsorship — directly comparable to BBBSNZ's programme design and funding model.
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada: The Canadian BBBS affiliate delivering school-based, community-based, and group mentoring programmes through a federated regional structure with corporate partners. Directly comparable in service offering, volunteer-driven model, and youth outcomes framework.
• Big Brothers Big Sisters Australia: The Australian affiliate of the global BBBS network. Operates the same volunteer one-to-one youth mentoring model (Big/parent, Little/child) across Australia with similar regional affiliate structure, corporate sponsorship programme, and school- and community-based delivery — the closest international analogue to BBBSNZ.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC0UKN9KU-MxNryx5dOwSRug
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/big-brothers-big-sisters-of-new-zealand

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Zealand