While Barnardos’ mahi is most evident through our frontline services for tamariki, rangatahi, and their whānau, the efforts of the people in back-office roles is just as important to making sure Barnardos achieves its vision that every child shines bright. Balancing the books and ensuring every cent is spent appropriately is critical to that aim through being accountable to our funders and the people we serve. One of the people who helps us do this is financial accountant James Fulton.

A keen sports fan, James used to run and played tennis and cricket at school. However, a devastating diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 18 meant he has had to be a fan rather than a participant ever since and now enjoys football as an ardent supporter of Ipswich Town.

Despite needing to have both hips replaced at the ages of 26 and 31, he counts himself lucky that he was diagnosed early and found an effective combination of medications to manage the condition. As a result, he has been able to work full time in his chosen career and lives an active life walking the Wellington waterfront, fostering kittens, baking bread, playing bridge, and travelling overseas. He also shares a strong bond with his nieces and nephews, being close to whom is what brought him home to Wellington – and to Barnardos – just before COVID-19 sent us all into lockdown.

Working in Guernsey

“I lived overseas for 10 years, seven in London and three in Guernsey, a small island in the Channel between England and France known for tourism and offshore finance,” he says. Having ended up working in Guernsey accidentally, securing a job in the insurance industry through a tip from a friend, he gained some much-desired private sector experience. Before that, he had worked for a local authority in the London Borough of Ealing, at accounting firm Coopers and Lybrand in Palmerston North, and at Audit New Zealand.

“Guernsey is a mix of English and French. Its judicial system is French and it has feudal politics, but its culture feels like an English village. It was fought over by both for a thousand years. I’d been promised a tropical climate but it was freezing cold, windy and snowy when I arrived!”

Balancing the books at Barnardos

James now enjoys supporting frontline staff across the motu and making a difference through his approach to work. He says, “I grew up with my parents’ pre-Baby Boomer values of thrift, living a simple life, and helping others. My father worked with a lot of poor families and I try to bring those values into my role in finance.

“Growing up as a young man, the culture in New Zealand was for men to play sport and be strong and good with their hands. Arthritis took both of these away from me, but on the positive side it makes you think about how to contribute and fit into New Zealand society in other ways. One is through working for a great cause, such as Barnardos. Above all, it’s about being optimistic and looking at what you have rather than don’t have.

“It feels good that I can help children every day as I don’t have kids myself. We need good checks and balances to make sure our funding from government, donations, and parents’ fees is being spent wisely to make sure we help young people improve their lives.”

If he could wave a magic wand, he would reduce the gap between rich and poor and see the number of children living in material hardship decrease because “poverty causes major stress in homes and has a huge impact on outcomes in young people’s lives."

Rheumatoid arthritis no barrier to James living life to the full