Leaderboards ranking each kid on how much they raise, a tiered system of flashy prizes for the highest earners and a lack of transparency about where the money goes has parents asking questions about Jumping June.
Remember Jump Rope for Heart? If you’re an 80s baby, or have taught in New Zealand primary schools any time over the past three decades, then of course you do. The cute heart mascot, double-dutch at lunchtime. Writing down the sponsors from around the neighbourhood; $1 from Grandma, 50c from Bob over the back, the money corresponding to the length of time you skipped for.
In 2025, the New Zealand Heart Foundation’s charity drive – now called Jumping June – is a behemoth, collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars from school communities nationwide each year. But amid questions about how much money goes to the charity and exactly what it’s used for, parents and experts want to know how a fundraiser that looks more like a marketing campaign is able to operate in schools.
Managed by a for-profit company, the gamified fundraiser is run on an online platform, using sales techniques designed to appeal to children. These include leaderboards ranking each participating child by money raised, tiered prizes that include Playstations, smartwatches, trampolines and e-scooters for high-earning kids, and the ability to unlock “stickers” and “badges” – all with convenient, shareable links and printable QR codes for easy payment.
A Jumping June brochure shows the tiered prizes on offer for kids who raise lots of money
“This is very business-like practice with prize-driven behaviour, and children are the target here,” said Massey University senior lecturer in accountancy Cherrie Yang. “It’s really dangerous, and there are inequity problems, and that’s even before you look at transparency. Do parents have a full understanding of what their kids are doing, and do we have a tracking system after the money is donated? Is there a report?”
The Heart Foundation declined to answer The Spinoff’s questions about how much was raised during this year’s Jumping June event, and how much was paid to School Fun Run, the Queensland-headquartered company it contracts to run it. In past years, the highest-earning schools have raised up to $40,000, with recent online posts from various schools suggesting most raised in the range of $10,000-$20,000 in 2025.
The charity declined several requests for an interview with chief executive Clive Nelson, and would not break down what the funds raised would be used for. In a statement, it said: “The Jumping June event aligns closely with our charitable purpose and funds raised are used directly to fund life-saving heart research and a wide range of heart health initiatives in communities across New Zealand.”
More than 48,000 children from 230 schools took part, and participation was voluntary, the Heart Foundation said. Teachers, students and parents consistently shared “positive feedback” about the skipping challenge, designed to promote physical activity and educate students on healthy heart habits while raising funds for the Heart Foundation, it said.
After inquiries from The Spinoff, the charity said it was committed to being “inclusive and fair” and would be asking School Fun Run to review its reward structures.
The Heart Foundation’s financial report shows it raised $19.6 million in fundraising and lottery ticket sales in the 2024 financial year, of $40.9m total revenue. It says $17.6m is spent on grants and public health. There is no granular detail in any publicly available document as to how much school kids have raised in Jumping June or where the funds go. On its website, the charity says it is investing $4.2m in heart research in 2024, with a list of benefactors. The charity paid $2.09m in salaries to 11 staff in 2024, or an average of $190,000 each.
“I have no clue how much money went to the Heart Foundation, or what it was used for,” said one mother of a Wellington six-year-old, who begged to take part because they wanted a toy.
“Maybe it was something useful, I don’t know.”
Leaderboards rank each participating child by money raised, with badges and stickers they can unlock
‘It felt like gambling’
Is this kind of fundraiser ethical? Many spoken to by The Spinoff believe the practices could be considered exploitative, with concerns that children are being used as salespeople, bribery, reinforcing inequity in rewards tied to earnings, and a lack of overall transparency about what the fundraiser is and how the funds are spent.
The Ministry of Education received one complaint about Jumping June in 2025, released to The Spinoff under the Official Information Act. “This type of fundraising initiative as part of the school program is creating divide for those families at school less financially secure and can’t afford to contribute to these charities and organisations like other families may. The person that is suffering from this is the child who won’t receive as high value ‘prize’ or any prize at school as other children as it’s based on how much money they raise,” the complaint reads.
“It felt like a money grab without the education, and the whole thing was just this weird emotional bribery,” said one parent of a child at a Wellington school, whose six- and eight-year-old children came home waving a glossy flyer full of prizes and asking their dad to make them an online Jumping June account. He found it difficult to understand what the kids were meant to be doing – the flyers and online content talked about a “jump day”, but it wasn’t clear what the lead-up to this involved, and the kids couldn’t explain it.
But their motivation was obvious: the prizes. “It was transactional. The kids had their understanding blurred, and it wasn’t clear where the money went – does it go towards health promo, or towards the Playstation and all this other booty they’re offering the kids?”
Other parents expressed similar confusion. “To me it kind of felt like gambling,” said Jessica MacDonald, a busy Auckland mother who set up an account for her 10-year-old son without fully understanding what was involved. “At first I was like, oh, it’s just this rebranded thing I did in my childhood. He came home with this flashy brochure and I was like ‘What is this?’ and he was like ‘I don’t know’.”
But she became more uncomfortable as time went on. “He became so motivated by the prizes, I think the messaging was lost. I thought, where’s the money coming from for these prizes, and wouldn’t it be better going to the Heart Foundation than these kids? Not a kid having another robot they probably don’t need – and what about the ones without family support?”
As a bonus, he did learn to skip, she said. “Though I did wonder why that had to be a fundraising thing, and not a PE thing.”
Jane, the parent to the Wellington six-year-old, said she was baking for another school fundraising event when she read about Jumping June in the school newsletter. “It was like, ‘We’re doing Jumping June,’ and then, ‘By the way there’s a fundraising process but you don’t have to,’ and then, ‘But it would be great if you could.’ Then when the brochure came home I was like, ‘Hang on, what is this materialistic bullshit?’”
It felt like parents were being guilted, and the kids’ participation was driven by selfish motivation, she said. “When I think back, the 40-hour famine was a bit weird too, but at least we were 12. Here it’s like, why are you asking six-year-olds to be salespeople?”
Jane’s partner made an account for her child so he wouldn’t be the only one without a toy when they were given out at school, knowing he would be upset if he missed out, she said. “But no way was I sharing it with my networks.”
Katherine Raskob, chief executive of the Fundraising Institute Australia, the body that represents commercial fundraisers in New Zealand and Australia, said the level of confusion around Jumping June was disappointing.
“They should absolutely be clear with donors. We have a principles-based code, and the guidance for children under 18 means seeking permission from parents – and it must be explicit – and transparency on the fundraising activity and reporting.
“The reason we do this is to build trust, so this is a bit of a dismay.”
Jumping June at Khandallah School in Wellington (Photo: Supplied)
‘The kids couldn’t skip before this’
Teachers and schools cannot fault the provision of free skipping ropes, and the incentive for kids to skip. “As soon as the ropes arrived they were out there, trying new tricks, so from a health and activity point of view it was a huge success,” said Lawrence Area School principal Dave Bagwell, of his 130-pupil school in South Otago. “They all jumped on a particular day, it was all built up to the one day, and they sent us the ropes and the prizes.”
The farming community was supportive, and he said he didn’t think there was an equity issue with the prizes – as far as he knows everyone got one, he said. Are the kids still skipping at lunchtimes now? “It’s not like it was, but there are pockets.”
Khandallah School assistant principal Linda Kingston said the Wellington school raised more than $12,000 and there were visible health benefits for the children, many of whom did not previously know how to skip. Resources for teachers included online lessons to show them how, and 300 new skipping ropes.
“We had 20 decent skipping ropes before this. What was surprising was that most of the children could not skip, even the older kids. We were starting from scratch, watching them do these weird things with the ropes. On a daily basis we were skipping, then kids were choosing to skip at lunch,” she said. “Their coordination and fitness was improving so much.”
The Jumping June website
In the lead-up, kids got house points if they joined up to the online fundraiser, and showed their skills in assembly. Kids had a great time on the day, with dress-ups, music and competitions, she said, in an event that was more inclusive than cross country. “They got fitter, and they had fun.”
She was in “two minds” about the prizes, which she said were a motivating factor for some, and which some parents complained about afterwards. However, Kingston said she had not made a big deal about them, though she did give a personal thank you to some of the children who raised the most.
“I handed out the prizes quite low-key, so it wasn’t a big public thing. To the child, I would say, ‘Thank you so much, you’ve done so well,’ knowing full well the kids didn’t raise the money, their relatives did. The parents were working hard sending out the links, and when it came to selecting the prizes we relied on the parents to do that.”
They are thinking of doing a school fun run next year, and Jumping June every two years. “The online platform is amazing, it took the headache out of the logistics side of things.”
In response to questions from The Spinoff, Ministry of Education acting operations and integration leader Pamela Cohen said it was not responsible for overseeing partnerships between charities and schools. These decisions were made at a school board level and should be done in consultation with parents, she said.
“Where schools do choose to support charitable causes, including fundraising events like Pink Shirt Day or natural disaster appeals, the purpose of the fundraising must be clearly communicated.
“Any prizes offered by external organisations should be managed independently from school activities to avoid confusion and maintain equity among students.”
The ministry had no contracts with the Heart Foundation.
Is this in the kids’ best interests?
School Fun Run, registered in New Zealand as the School Fundraising Group Ltd and in Australia as The Fundraising Group (Australia) Pty Ltd, is best known for the school fun run fundraising events it runs in both countries. In these fundraisers, 40% goes to the company and 60% to the school. Asked what percentage of Jumping June was pocketed, chief executive Brendan Hopp said the Heart Foundation was a client and should be contacted directly.
Concerns about children’s involvement in these fundraisers came up “rarely” and the feedback from schools and families was “overwhelmingly positive”, he said. “Prizes are part of a goal-setting framework, which helps kids learn the value of effort and working toward a goal.
“The fundraising page is created and shared by the parent, not the child. This gives parents full control over who takes part and who sees their fundraising page. Children are not asked to sell anything. There’s no product, no money handling, and no obligation to fundraise at all. It’s all opt-in and fully inclusive.”
Leaderboards could be turned off at school level, he said, and the online nature of the fundraising meant money could more easily come from outside of the school community. “Our model often benefits low-decile [schools in low-income communities] the most, as donations come from extended networks, not the local community, and schools don’t need a budget to take part.”
In New Zealand, there is a long-standing tradition of involving kids in fundraising. Massey University professor of education John O’Neill said encouraging charitable giving could be good for kids. However, he urged those considering getting involved in any fundraiser – in this case, raising money and awareness for heart health – to ensure the key purpose doesn’t become distorted.
“It’s a strong part of Kiwi culture, the idea that fundraising is inherently good because it demonstrates self-responsibility and the willingness to get involved. But is participating in this in the kids’ best interests?” he asked.
“In this case, the kids are being incentivised to participate because of the goodies at the end of it, and all the work is being done by the parents and the school. The organisation itself is engaging in a fairly superficial way, but it stands to gain a considerable amount.”