Community Trusts Professional Development Programme

Combined Community Trusts Professional Development Programme - strengthening the governance capability of the sector

Trustees of New Zealand’s community trusts provide the governance required for these substantial community assets. Acting as kaitiaki of the trusts’ endowments, and ensuring income is used well to meet community needs, is a big responsibility. That’s why the Centre is working in collaboration with eleven community trusts to offer trustees training and support to strengthen existing governance skills, and to improve the governance capability of the sector. The programme combines workshops with a series of knowledge and practice sessions to enable trustees to share ideas and practices from their governance journeys as they develop their governance skills. The programme is underpinned by the Centre’s Framework for Effective Governance.

Five workshops have been facilitated by CSI Associates Caren Rangi and Mata Cherrington since October last year. We did brief interviews with some of the trustees at one of the workshops last year on the value of their experience in the programme. Special thanks to our interviewees: Eastern & Central Community Trust’s Levi Walford (Ngāti Rākaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga); Otago Community Trust’s Bridget Tweed; Whanganui Community Foundation’s Mike Paki (Ngāti Apa); and Foundation North’s Naisi Chen.

Feedback from participants is that the value of the formal training is extended by the opportunity to learn from the experience of other trustees from around the motu. As Trust Waikato’s deputy chair, Vicky McLennan, commented in her review of the Chairing Community Trusts workshop, “the effectiveness of the workshop is reflected in the ongoing communication between the participants, who continue to share practice and seek advice regarding the challenges faced by their respective community trusts.”

Further workshops will be open to trustees later this year. An online Community of Knowledge & Practice platform will be available to trustees from September for regular sharing of information and development of effective governance practice for community trusts.

Governance with a philanthropic lens

The workshop experience

Feedback from participants on their workshop experience has been affirming of the value of a governance development programme with a specific focus on philanthropy.

Read more here.

Trustees on film

We recorded some vox pops with participants in the Community Trusts workshop held in Auckland. These provide an insight into participants personal insights from the workshop.

Read more here.

Chairing Community Trusts

The Chairing Community Trusts workshop run by the Centre for Social Impact in March was a particularly valuable development opportunity. This was in part due to its specific relevance and applicability and in part due to the thoughtful co-construction of the programme prior to the event.

Read more here.