Andrew Whiley saying he was “blindsided” by Volunteer South’s dire situation is “simply untrue”, a former manager of the organisation says. The manager, who oversaw Volunteer South from May 2025 to January this year, said former chair Andrew Whiley’s remarks did not make sense in light of the fact she had prepared a turnaround plan for the organisation, and they were facing significant losses. ‘Completely blindsided’: Whiley shocked by charity’s plight Mr Whiley, in response, said in a May 29 report the new Volunteer South board acknowledged the previous board, which Mr Whiley had overseen, had left the organisation in a fully funded position. It was when he heard last week that Volunteer South was preparing to close because of the state of its finances, that he was “blindsided”, he said. But the manager said the finances of the organisation were never truly shown to the new board. The finances were not audited last year and there were debts that would have shown the organisation was not liquid, if audited, she said. “They had already been running a deficit in 2024, and again in 2025, and it was apparent to me that we couldn’t continue. “So I presented a proposal whereby the brand remained and we integrated with Dunedin Community House and they provided back room services.” The former manager said her role would be “collapsed” in the proposal to free up more funds. “It was essentially about shared services, so they would do all the administration and manage the recruitment and the financial side of things, and also manage the grant funding.” She said she was particularly disturbed by some aspects of Volunteer South’s accounts. “The funding was being used to pay for staff salaries as opposed to activities that the community trust were purchasing in advance. “But unfortunately, the board under Andrew Whiley’s leadership declined to action, or declined to report, on the proposal that I presented. “It is simply untrue that they were somehow blindsided.” Volunteer South is a charitable trust supporting volunteers and community organisations across Dunedin, Coastal Otago, Central Otago, Queenstown Lakes and Southland. It grew out of the Dunedin Volunteer Centre established in 1986, and Volunteering Central established in 2011. “There is no doubt that I support the organisation,” the former manager said. “I think that, in some way, shape or form, it’s been around for 40 years, and it’s advocating for volunteers to support a lot of organisations. “But there needs to be a sort of a rethink about how this might be configured, which is what I was trying to do [with the turnaround plan].” Former Dunedin Community House chief executive Rob Riddell Tìgeir said he worked with the former manager of Volunteer South on the turnaround plan. His memory of it was that it was “solid”. “It was about recognising shared objectives.” The new Volunteer South board came into effect in May. One of the new trustees, Alan Somerville, said they were aware of the previous manager’s proposed turnaround plan. A Volunteer South merger with an organisation such as Dunedin Community House was something they were still exploring, Mr Somerville said. “We are talking to relevant parties to see if that’s a possible future for these services.” He did not want to comment on the previous board, but did want to pay tribute to Volunteer South’s staff and volunteers, most of whom would see their roles wind up at the end of this week. The Otago Daily Times put the manager’s points to Mr Whiley, who said, when contacted on Wednesday, the board was very aware of the challenging funding environment and worked hard to secure funds for the year ahead of the new board taking over. Grant money was paid for staff salaries when allowed by the conditions of the grant. — additional reporting by Steve Hepburn
