Duffy Books in Homes is the trading name of The Alan Duff Charitable Foundation. It is a New Zealand registered, literacy-focused

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ...

which has links to similar organisations in the United States and Australia.

History

The programme was conceived in 1992 when the author

Alan Duff Alan Duff (born 26 October 1950) is a New Zealand novelist and newspaper columnist. He is best known as the author of the novel '' Once Were Warriors'' (1990), which was made into a film of the same name in 1994. Biography Alan Duff was bo ...

visited Camberley School in Hastings, New Zealand. According to Principal Peter Johnstone "Alan was appalled to see so many children come from bookless homes." Following a meeting with philanthropist Christine Fernyhough in 1994 the Alan Duff Charitable Foundation was legally formed. The official launch of the programme (then known as Books in Homes) took place at Tairangi School in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

on 24 August 1995 and was attended by then

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Jim Bolger James Brendan Bolger ( ; born 31 May 1935) is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was born to an Irish immigrant family in Ōpunake, Taran ...

. The programme began with 80 schools, 16,000 students and 14 sponsors. In 2020 the programme reported almost 510 schools, over 200 Early Childhood Centres, over 100,000 students and more than 200 funding partners and supporters. In 2019 the programme celebrated its 25th year and 13 millionth gifted book with respective events at

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...

with Governor-General of New Zealand Dame

Patsy Reddy Dame Patricia Lee Reddy (born 17 May 1954) is a New Zealand lawyer and businesswoman who served as the 21st governor-general of New Zealand from 2016 to 2021. Before becoming governor-general, Reddy was a partner of a law firm, headed a majo ...

and

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand (King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by hi ...

with Prime Minister

Jacinda Ardern Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...

. Notable personalities who were once students in Duffy Books in Homes schools include BMX rider Sarah Walker and

Miss World New Zealand New Zealand has contested 46 Miss World pageants since that pageant's inception in 1951. No New Zealander has won the Miss World title, although two have placed first runner-up. History The peak of the national pageant's popularity was in the ...

2010

Cody Yerkovich Cody Carlece Yerkovich is a former beauty queen, model and humanitarian advocate, she was the winner of the 2010 Miss New Zealand contest. She comes from Kaitaia in New Zealand's north. She is of Māori, German and Croatian heritage. At Auckland' ...

Operations

The programme has a stated aim of inspiring "a love of books in Duffy children so they become adults who inspire a love of reading." Its core function is as a form of book club in which students at low

decile In descriptive statistics, a decile is any of the nine values that divide the sorted data into ten equal parts, so that each part represents 1/10 of the sample or population. A decile is one possible form of a quantile; others include the quartile ...

primary and intermediate schools in New Zealand order books from a brochure which are then presented at role model assemblies at the end of three school terms. Each child participating receives a minimum of five new books each year. Additional components of the programme include annual awards for parents and grandparents, effort in reading and writing and excellence in attitude. There are also weekly book awards for good behaviour. Two troupes of performers visit the majority of schools in the programme annually to perform a literacy-focused stage show. In 2021 the Duffy Theatre performs a show entitled 'Duffy in Bubble Trouble'. The programme is also offered to

early childhood education Early childhood education (ECE), also known as nursery education, is a branch of education theory that relates to the teaching of children (formally and informally) from birth up to the age of eight. Traditionally, this is up to the equival ...

centres under the name 'Ready 4 Reading'.

Funding

Duff stipulated that schools bear some of the cost of funding the programme themselves. Schools fund approximately one third of the cost of the programme with the remaining costs being met by the New Zealand Government and private

sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...

. Major supporters include

Mainfreight Mainfreight Limited is a New Zealand logistics and transport company headquartered in Auckland. Mainfreight commenced operations in Auckland in 1978 and is one of the largest freight companies in New Zealand. It has been listed on the New Zealan ...

, Scholastic,

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewat ...

Carter Holt Harvey __NOTOC__ Carter Holt Harvey Limited is a privately-owned New Zealand-based company controlled by Rank Group Limited, the corporate vehicle of the country's richest man, Graeme Hart. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, the company has three main div ...

, Rotary, Latitude Financial Services and

The Warehouse The Warehouse Group (TWG) was founded by Stephen Tindall in 1982, and is the largest retail group operating in New Zealand. It is a corporate group that consists of The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery, Torpedo7, Noel Leeming, 1-day and TheMar ...

Results

Research undertaken in 1996 and 1997 by Dr Warwick Elley suggested that year 5 and 6 children in eight schools "improved (their reading ability) by 35% more than they would have without the Duffy Programme."

References

{{Reflist

External links

New Zealand Herald article
Educational charities Educational foundations Children's charities based in New Zealand