Most of us have KiwiSaver and think about it as the money (hopefully) accumulating in the background to make sure future-us is sorted.
What a lot of us don’t tend to consider is how that money is invested in companies on our behalf. And for a lot of Kiwis, if we looked closely enough, we’d find it's invested in companies we’d rather not be backing. Companies like fossil fuel producers, weapons manufacturers and industries that degrade the oceans.
It's just how managed funds have worked for a long time - largely out of sight. But Mindful Money has been shining a light on where our money goes since 2019.
Radical Transparency
Mindful Money was founded in 2019 by Barry Coates, former Green MP, ex-Oxfam NZ director, and long-time climate campaigner and he was joined by Karen Swainson as COO who brought process rigour and a passion for sustainability. Mindful Money set out to do something simple but radical by telling New Zealanders what their money was actually invested in.
The result is a free, independent platform that lets you check your KiwiSaver or managed fund against a set of ethical criteria: fossil fuels, weapons, deforestation, ocean harm, human rights violations. Over half a million Kiwis have used it since launch and each year around 113,000 use their Fund Checker tool. By now the investment industry has really taken notice. Fund managers walk into meetings with Mindful Money's assessment of their funds already on the table.
As one financial adviser put it, when they analysed every research provider offering ethical investment analysis, none met their standards until they found Mindful Money.
A New Chapter
Mindful Money began as a small charity with a big idea. It's now a trusted institution with expertise through every level - a respected board, an expert investment committee, and a team who punch well above their weight.
In 2024, Barry invited Kate Vennell to move from the trustee board to the team as co-CEO, and with her came complementary energy and 20+ years experience in financial services. She focuses on making sure data about companies covered by the tool is based on robust evidence.
Look Beneath the Surface
Alongside their core platform work, Mindful Money has been running a campaign on the oceans. In their research, they discovered that $3 billion of New Zealand's KiwiSaver funds is invested in companies harming our marine environment, through overfishing, seabed mining, plastics, and carbon emissions that are warming and acidifying our oceans.
People love the ocean so it's an issue that lands much closer to home than the often more abstract language of emissions and portfolios. Connecting people’s love of the ocean to their savings and showing them that their KiwiSaver might be funding the companies damaging the places they care about is a powerful way in.
It's also a window into how Mindful Money thinks about their audiences and works to meet them where they’re at. The ocean is right there, whereas for many people climate still feels distant, abstract.
Mindful Money’s Influence
Barry co-authors an annual report with the Investor Group on Climate Change covering the climate performance of 27 New Zealand institutional investors, representing $263 billion in global assets under management.
Mindful Money’s six-monthly analysis of NZ fund holdings shows an encouraging long-term trend: New Zealand has materially lower fossil fuel holdings than comparable countries, a shift facilitated by the transparency that Mindful Money provides. In their early years they tracked $150 million moved as a direct result of their work. At scale, that causal chain becomes harder to isolate, but the direction of travel is clear.
Mindful Money’s data appears in so many places now - in boardrooms, in the media, in policy submissions. Pathfinder tells its clients to go look at Mindful Money. Booster says the majority of people looking for an SRI fund come via the platform.
And in a classic Kiwi small-world moment, Mindful Money conducted an ethical review of The Gift Trust's investment portfolio last year and The Gift Trust found it instrumental in further strengthening their approach to responsible investment. The Gift Trust is the organisation that holds The Climatics' fund. We didn't plan that connection, but we like it.
The Annual Gathering
Every year, Mindful Money hosts the NZ Ethical and Impact Investment Awards which is a conference and award ceremony that has become the flagship event for the ethical investment sector in Aotearoa. Over 200 people attended in person last year, with 34 entries across eight categories assessed by 24 independent industry specialists.
It’s both a celebration and a signal to fund managers, advisers, and the broader financial sector that ethical investment in New Zealand is a serious, growing, and scrutinised field.
The People Behind It
Mindful Money runs on lean resources. Seven part-time staff, 22 volunteers, nearly 3,000 volunteer hours in a single year. The volunteers range from data analysts, graphic designers, researchers, communications specialists. They are there because of a strong belief in the mission.
One long-term volunteer described the team as high-powered, passionate, and inspiring, and achieving so much with very little. Volunteers are part of that energy, helping them go the extra mile.
This loyalty reflects an organisation that treats its people well and helps them feel that their contribution is part of something with real impact.
Why The Climatics are Funding Mindful Money
Moving money is one of the most powerful levers ordinary people have for climate action. The problem is that without expert guidance, most people have no idea the lever exists, let alone how to pull it.
Mindful Money has spent 7 years building the infrastructure to make that lever accessible, and crucially, keeping it free and independent as a consumer tool. It’s become infrastructure for the whole ethical investment ecosystem, used by fund managers, financial advisers, journalists, and institutional investors alike. The trust they've accumulated with everyday New Zealanders and industry insiders along the way is a solid foundation that we’re proud to be backing.
Resource is their primary constraint. A grant from The Climatics goes toward helping more New Zealanders understand that their savings have a say in what kind of future gets built. These are conversations we’d like to see more of, and Mindful Money is well placed to have them.
Mindful Money is one of four organisations funded through The Climatics' 2026 funding round. Their work aligns with two of our focus areas: "Elevate the Story" and "Transform the Politics." Learn more at mindfulmoney.nz
