Kia ora koutou,
In May we celebrated with our Foundation North colleagues, the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Centre as the Foundation’s social business. It was a time to acknowledge our whakapapa, in particular Jenny Gill, who as Foundation North CEO at the time, guided the formation of the Centre, and Alison Taylor, our first Head of Centre. Alison developed the model, built relationships across the sector and helped the sector see what the Centre could offer. It was also Alison who built our network model, and identified our first associates – the pool of talent that we draw on to create bespoke teams to work alongside social sector grantmakers, funders and changemakers to help them achieve impact and learn. My speech at the celebration is available here.
The Centre has clearly met a need for a sector focused on making a difference for our communities. Since 2014, in addition to our work with the Foundation, the Centre has worked with over 80 other organisations, and delivered nearly 200 significant projects. From research, to strategy development and evaluation, to initiatives to strengthen sector governance, to capability building with community organisations, our team has delivered an impressive range of initiatives. These diverse relationships and projects have enriched and informed our practice.
To mark our anniversary, we will soon launch a series of ten podcast interviews with sector leaders, rangatahi, and influencers. The Ten x Ten podcast series is our anniversary contribution to sector thinking about our communities, their needs, what we’re seeing, what we’re learning, and how we are empowering systems change for a more equitable and inclusive Aotearoa.
Karinia Lee, Head of Centre | Kaihautu
Centre for Social Impact
Te Pūaha Talks has an exciting range of online capability workshops and webinars scheduled for the coming months. This programme of free events, supported by Foundation North, has been designed and curated based on what people working in social impact have told us they want.
Each event is an opportunity to learn from people who are leaders, innovators, and influencers in their areas of expertise. The aim is to help participants build their knowledge and confidence to apply what they learn to their own community organisation or area of practice. Details of what is on offer, and links for registration, are available here.
Our Matariki webinars with CSI Associate Tuihana Ohia begin this week. Registrations are still open for these workshops where Tuihana will use the Te Whare Tapa Whā wellbeing model developed by Sir Mason Durie to guide us through a process of rest, reflection, and resetting for the year ahead. More information and registration is available here.
Sustaining the social impact journey – for funders, community organisations and changemakers
Our community of funders, community organisations and changemakers continue to inspire our team at CSI. As we head towards Matariki, we thought we would give you a preview of what we will be offering through Te Pūaha o te Ako as our knowledge hub sector to help sustain you throughout the rest of 2024. This includes continuing to collaborate with JR McKenzie Trust to enable funders to get together to co-design and support positive action; support for funders and changemakers around effective advocacy; new resources to support monitoring and evaluation from both a funder and a community partner perspective, and; a leadership circle, an online facilitated meeting place for leaders focused on well-being, connection and peer support. More details are available here.
Te Pūaha top-up!
If you have missed our recent Te Pūaha Talks, recordings and resources are available online. Shifting Culture and Power through Mana-Enhancing Partnerships featured guest speakers Dr Katie Bruce from HuiE!, Jenn Chowaniec from Wayne Francis Charitable Trust, Niall Fay from Fay Fuller Foundation, Maria Ramsay from Toi Foundation and Gael Surgenor from Peter McKenzie Project. This webinar is an opportunity to hear about the experiences of their organisations on their journeys to centre equity, share power and decolonise practice.
Our first Creative Communications webinar featured Bee Stevenson, Mihi Blake (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngai Tuhoe, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Awa) and Tilly van Eeden from award-winning communications studio, Māia. Bee, Mihi and Tilly talked about the founding of Māia as a kaupapa-driven communications team, the ‘conscious communications framework’ which guides the development of their communications plans and brand strategies, and presented case studies of some of their cause-related and kaupapa Māori mahi.
I am Auckland – the voice of our rangatahi
This quote is from one of the young people featured in the I Am Auckland video. This was produced by CSI as part of our contribution to a review of Auckland Council’s I Am Auckland strategic action plan for children and young people. The purpose of the review, by the Council’s Community and Social Policy Department, was to evaluate the past three years of implementation and assess if the strategy is still fit-for-purpose to respond to current and future challenges and opportunities.
CSI associates, Sarah Greenaway, Sue Zimmerman, Sara Bennett and Aimee Kaio provided support to the review, including the evaluation of six of Council’s programmes for children and young people across Tāmaki Makaurau. This included video interviews which brought the voices of young Aucklanders ‘into the room’ with the formal report. The video is an insight into how our next generation are experiencing life in their city today – and what their hopes are for the future.
The Council’s report is available here. Watch the interviews with the tamariki and rangatahi here.
Funding our planet's future
The role that philanthropy can play in Aotearoa New Zealand's response to climate change was the focus of the May issue of Philanthropy New Zealand’s Philanthropy News. This included an article from Climate Action Co-Lead Arohanui West on supporting Māori-led climate and environmental initiatives. These include: Toi Kai Rawa, a regional Māori economic development agency, who is working to unlock the potential of Māori-owned land in the Bay of Plenty; and Para Kore: Educating and advocating from a Māori worldview, for a world without waste.
You can read Arohanui’s article on page 20, alongside articles from other sector leaders. Download the PDF report here.
Climate Action Aotearoa
Climate Action Aotearoa Co-Leads, Arohanui West and Esther Whitehead are pleased to announce that the Funders Commitment Annual Report 2024 is published. The report shares progress from the years 2022 to 2024, outlines the scope of work ahead and provides key recommendations across the five organisational levers of change for funders. Read the PDF report here.
Community Governance Aotearoa
Community Governance has lots of activity coming up over the coming months, from Good Governance Code Workshops, to the Empowering Chairs, Transforming Communities Live Event, to a board talk on artificial intelligence with Microsoft leaders Dan Te Whenua Walker (Global Partner Solutions) and Hilary Walton (Technology Strategist), as well as Ant McMahon (Technology Strategist, Target Gate Consulting). Details are available here.
Budget 2024; a perspective from HuiE!
In this article, Katie Bruce, Kaiwhakahaere Matua, Hui E! Community Aotearoa, considers the likely impact of the cuts across many Budget portfolios on ‘tangata whenua, community and voluntary sector, the invisible web that hold communities together…’
Collective Currents Conference
Registrations are now open for the Collective Currents Conference in Te Whanganui a Tara / Wellington, 24th and 25th of October 2024. Collective Currents is a collaboration between Community Networks Aotearoa (CNA) and Katoa Connect (previously The 20/20 Trust). The conference will address ‘change, innovation, and community impact’. Details on speakers and workshops are available here.