About Us

The New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services Inc (the Federation) is a collective of community organisations sharing a common code of ethics, philosophy, and commitment to delivering top quality, free budgeting advice to family/whanau and individuals. The current membership comprises 148 budget services nationwide that employ more than 1200, mostly volunteer, staff.

Federation services field over 280,000 enquiries each year, well over a call a minute; Federation services will deliver more than 700 community education programmes to schools and community groups this year; and annually throughout Aotearoa-New Zealand, Federation services will support a family through debt crisis every 5 minutes.

Last year alone, over 28,000 clients saw a Federation budget adviser and more than 17,000 families were provided with ongoing and in-depth support, education, and advice. The clients seen by Federation advisers have overdue debts (arrears) of well over $200 million!

The community organisations outlined above are all budget services in various forms. Some members deliver budgeting help only, others are holistic organisations providing multiple services, still others are iwi-based or client-specific services providing support to their own communities. There are no rules about what constitutes a budget service, however the following common attributes bind member organisations together.

Budget services are legal entities in some form and all are predominantly volunteer organisations providing free, confidential, and non-judgemental budget advice to family/whanau and individuals in Aotearoa-New Zealand.

The Federation is a national, non-government organisation (NGO) and is the umbrella body for family budgeting in Aotearoa-New Zealand. The Federation national office provides training, support, and resources to its members and offers advocacy and advice. The office is run by a small, yet highly devoted staff of six and currently resides in the capital city Wellington where it has good access to many Government departments and corporate head offices. The Federation is governed by an experienced Board of dedicated volunteers.

© 2007 New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services Inc.