Out on the street for Pink Ribbon 2026

Each October, thousands of New Zealanders give a Saturday to Breast Cancer Foundation NZ's Pink Ribbon Street Appeal. This year the PurposeTech team was among them.

We build the platform volunteers use to sign up, choose a collection site and hear from their area coordinator. Usually we see the appeal from behind the screen: shift lists, coverage maps, the messages that go out the week before. This time we signed up through the same registration page as everyone else, which had a fresh design this year in the appeal's own colours, and turned up at a site with a bucket.

What we saw from the volunteer's side

The first thing Steven noticed was how generous people were. The second was the conversations. “Talking to people who've been affected by breast cancer was a reminder of how important volunteers are in supporting causes like this,” he said. “Hearing their stories brought home the personal impact behind the fundraising.”

It's a useful reminder for anyone who builds for charities. A volunteer's day is mostly people, not software, so the job of the software is to get them to the right corner at the right time and then get out of the way. And if you've been thinking about volunteering, an appeal like this is a good place to start: a few hours makes a real difference.

Why it matters now

Many charities are being asked to do more with less this year, and appeals carry a lot of the load. The pressure falls on the small teams behind them, coordinating thousands of volunteers in a single weekend. That's where we think technology, AI included, should earn its place: taking the admin off coordinators so their time goes to volunteers and supporters. The heart of an appeal is still a person with a bucket on a street corner, and we'd like to keep it that way.

For fundraising teams planning next year's appeal

• Start coordinators early. Your area coordinators carry the day. Give them their site lists and volunteer contacts weeks out, not days.
• Test every message. A message to two thousand volunteers can't be called back.
• Make it easy to say yes. Fewer fields on the sign-up form and a clear site and time get more volunteers through.

For technology leaders

• Know where volunteer data lives. Sign-ups hold names, phone numbers and sometimes health details. Ask any provider where it's stored, who can see it and how long it's kept.
• Connect it to your CRM. PurposeTech connects to Salesforce, so volunteer records flow into your supporter view and nobody re-keys data after the appeal.
• Check privacy obligations beyond New Zealand. If your volunteers or supporters are overseas, GDPR may apply alongside the Privacy Act.

Thank you

Thank you to every volunteer and area coordinator who gave their Saturday, and to the team at Breast Cancer Foundation NZ. It was a privilege to stand alongside you.

It's not too late to give: you can donate to Breast Cancer Foundation NZ. And if you'd like to collect next year, keep an eye on pinkribbonvolunteer.org.nz.