Every Shoebox Christmas project across Aotearoa starts the same way: someone decides their community deserves a choice Christmas, and puts their hand up to make it happen. You don't need charity experience, a big team, or a big budget. You need a community you care about and a bit of time.
Shoebox Christmas Aotearoa runs on Koha Tree, the platform that makes it possible for anyone, a school coordinator, a marae, a workplace, a youth group, a whānau, to lead their own local gift-matching project. You decide who it serves. Koha Tree handles the sign-ups, matching, and communication with kaituku (gifters), so you can focus on your community.
Anyone with a heart for their community can lead a project, including:
School coordinators organising support for their students
Marae and community group leaders addressing local needs
Workplace teams wanting to give back together
Rangatahi building leadership experience, see leading Shoebox Christmas as a learning pathway
Whānau members supporting their extended family and neighbours
Schools and social services, see can a school or social service lead their own project
If you can see a need in your community and you're willing to coordinate, you're exactly who this is for.
Most Christmas shoebox appeals are centrally run: you pack a box, drop it off, and a national organisation takes it from there. There's nothing wrong with that, but it means your community has no say in who receives the gifts, how they're matched, or what your local project actually looks like.
Koha Tree is different. Shoebox Christmas Aotearoa is community-led: as the kaiwhakahaere kaupapa (project leader), you decide who your project serves, from tamariki at your local kōhanga reo to kaumātua in your neighbourhood. Koha Tree gives you the platform, sign-ups, matching, and communication with kaituku, so leading a project takes a fraction of the admin a from-scratch appeal would.
Plan your project. Decide what need you're addressing, how many people you can realistically support, and your timeline.
Create your project profile on Koha Tree. Give it a clear name, an honest description of the need, and key dates for registration, collection and distribution.
Set clear guidelines. Spell out gift requirements, cultural considerations, and how kaituku should prepare and label their koha.
Launch and manage it. Respond to kaituku and volunteers, track registrations, and adjust as you go.
For the full step-by-step guide, including planning checklists and tips from experienced coordinators, see [leading your own Shoebox Christmas project] (insert the URL of the existing support page here once you have it — I don't have a live link for it, so I haven't guessed one).
You're not doing this alone. Every Shoebox Christmas project leader gets:
Mentoring from experienced coordinators who've run projects before
Platform training on using Koha Tree's tools
A community of other coordinators facing similar challenges
Technical support if anything on the platform goes wrong
Emergency backup if you need extra help close to the deadline
Do I need to be part of a registered charity to lead a project? No. Schools, marae, workplaces, youth groups and whānau all lead projects on Koha Tree without needing charity status of their own.
How many families or tamariki can I support? That's entirely up to you and what your community can realistically coordinate. Start with a number you're confident you can manage well, you can always grow a project in future years.
Can rangatahi lead their own project? Yes. Leading a Shoebox Christmas project is also used as a leadership learning pathway for rangatahi, see leading Shoebox Christmas as a learning pathway.
What does it cost to lead a project? (I don't have a confirmed figure for this, flagging rather than guessing. Worth adding once you've confirmed it, cost is a common search and FAQ-snippet question, so leaving it out entirely is a missed opportunity.)
What if I don't have any experience running a community project? You don't need any. Every project leader gets mentoring from experienced coordinators and training on the platform, so you're supported from your very first project.
Your leadership strengthens your whole community. When you step up to coordinate a Shoebox Christmas project, you're not just addressing a specific need, you're building the connections and capability that make your community more resilient and caring.
Sign up on Koha Tree to create your project profile, or get in touch with the team first if you'd like to talk it through.
