Empowering young people in Aotearoa to build strong financial foundations
We’re here to help create brighter financial futures for young people in Aotearoa New Zealand. By making financial education more accessible, inclusive and impactful, we’re supporting our next generation to have greater choice and wider opportunities to live the lives they aspire to.
Why are we developing this initiative?
In Aotearoa New Zealand, young people have the lowest score of any age group across multiple financial capability indicators, including knowledge, experience, and confidence. While financial knowledge and skills tend to increase with age, financial mistakes made early in life put our youth at risk of negative long-term outcomes if their behaviour does not change in time.
Evidence shows that continuous, early life financial education lays the foundation for future financial wellbeing. Experts agree that the earlier children start, the better. However, in 2023, fewer than 25% of school age children in New Zealand accessed any structured financial education and programmes were delivered unevenly across the country.
We want to help change that.
How will our mahi support young people?
Financial education programmes with good tools and methodologies do already exist, but currently they are unevenly delivered. In collaboration with financial education providers, impact partners and sector organisations, this initiative will focus on identifying and funding more of what is working to build financial skills.
We will measure impact, identify gaps – and those who can fill them – and share our findings to help inform future policy and investments that support the best solutions for tamariki and rangatahi to be scaled.
In this way, we aim to amplify the impact and reach of your philanthropic gifts to help ensure that every young person in Aotearoa New Zealand has access to the financial foundations they need to navigate life and achieve their goals.
What We Do
Every young person in Aotearoa New Zealand has access to quality financial education so they can acquire the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to build lasting financial wellbeing and resilience.
Our Vision
Every young person in Aotearoa New Zealand has access to quality financial education so they can acquire the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to build lasting financial wellbeing and resilience.
Kate Coles,
Executive Director
Kate brings over 20 years of experience building impact-focused partnerships globally to the initiative. Her work spans human rights, economic empowerment, financial inclusion, and climate change and has always been guided by a strong commitment to supporting and driving positive change. Recently, this included working with a network of over 300 of the world’s most influential companies to build effective, multi-stakeholder collaborations to tackle key sustainable development challenges.
Prior to joining AMPLIFY Kate worked alongside Booster Financial Services to establish, and subsequently lead, Booster Foundation, which focuses on building the financial resilience of New Zealanders. Kate provides strategic guidance to not-for-profits around the world on building sustainable business models and designing programmes and collaborations for impact.
David Kneebone,
Investment Committee
David is an internationally recognised leader in financial education, with executive roles in New Zealand and Asia. He was the Executive Director of the Retirement Commission, where he facilitated the first two versions of the country’s national financial literacy strategy, championed research-driven approaches, and helped develop widely used public initiatives such as the Sorted platform. David also served as General Manager of Hong Kong’s Investor and Financial Education Council, chaired Massey University’s Fin-Ed Centre and co-chaired the OECD’s working group of financial education standards, implementation and evaluation. He has extensive experience building strategic, evidence-based partnerships and programmes that help people make better financial decisions and drive lasting behaviour change.
Sasha Lockley,
Investment Committee
Sasha Lockley is a fintech founder and social entrepreneur with a strong background in finance, governance, and impact. As the co-founder and CEO of social lender Money Sweetspot, she is passionate about financial inclusion and is an advocate for financial system change. She arrived in Aotearoa nearly 20 years ago with KPMG and has held executive roles in financial services and corporate environments, and leadership and advisory positions in purpose-driven start-ups. She is also an Edmund Hillary Fellow, and a mentor in residence at University of Auckland Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Sasha currently chairs Thriving Communities Aotearoa and has served as a Chair and Trustee for several financial wellbeing and social purpose organisations. She holds a Master’s in Advanced Leadership Practice from Massey University (Dist’n) and a BSc in Applied Accounting (1st Honours) from Oxford Brookes University.
David Tikao,
Investment Committee
David Tikao (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu) is the Investment Manager of Endowments at Ngāi Tahu Holdings and a leader in sustainable investment and iwi development. With over 20 years in international finance, David also has broad experience in philanthropy and governance across Aotearoa. He has served as Executive Director of Whai Rawa, sits on the governance group at sustainable finance initiatives for Toitū Tahua: Centre for Sustainable Finance, Chairs the Massey Fin-Ed Centre and sits as trustee or board member for several philanthropic and environmental organisations. David holds an MBA from Massey University and is a graduate of the First Nations’ Futures Programme at Stanford University.