CEO's Report

Our respect and gratitude to community initiatives, large and small, that continually lead out resiliently on their aspirations; and, as the community trust for Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Tai Tokerau, our unwavering dedication to being alongside them - recognising and responding to changing community realities.

Our 2022/2023 year began with the relaxing of measures under the Orange COVID setting. We were excited by the return to meeting kanohi ki te kanohi and felt liberated by an end to alerts and frameworks. However, the journey of life is seldom linear; messy times were to persist, with many twists and turns destined to keep uncertainty to the fore.

Yet, despite this we can report one of the most satisfying years of granting to our communities, with Trustees approving a record of over $70m in funding support ($52.6m in the 2021/22 year). This included major grants for community building projects, on top of our signature funding programmes. We partnered with Creative New Zealand on the Asian Artists’ Fund, and the Ministry of Pacific Peoples on the Pacific Youth Future Makers initiative. Both examples of how philanthropy can innovate using participatory funding pathways, which are designed and rolled out by those serving in their communities directly.

We have continued to work with Māori in a relational way: supporting Ngāti Kuri to sustain and scale Te Karanga ō te Taiao, ensuring they can maintain their role as kaitiaki for the natural environment; also brokering connections for Ngāti Tamaterā to explore the possibility of shellfish deployments in their rohe; and deepening our connection with many other Iwi and hāpu groups across the motu.

Seeing our support reach our priority communities, in all weathers, is why we are here. We joined with others to provide COVID-related support, as well as relief following flooding and extreme weather events, including Cyclone Gabrielle.

With leadership from the Foundation’s board, our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitingi continues to be activated across the organisation. It is great to see this commitment being led out and demonstrated by Trustees, with fulsome and meaningful discussions around the board table. We appreciate and acknowledge that this is a gradual journey which our organisation is at the start of, and I mihi to Tukaha Milne (our Principal Māori Advisor and acting Kaihautū) for guiding us as we seek to deepen our understanding and uphold Te Tiriti in our behaviours and everyday mahi.

Another significant strategic focus this year has been climate action. We have identified four levers around which we will take action: our investments, granting, internal operations and our collective actions with other funders and partners. We recognise that climate action is above all a people issue, requiring systems innovation – the policies, behaviours, resource flows, power and mindsets that ultimately make up how we live and thrive.

To sum up, this year we have seen disruption but not interruption: we have been able to pivot and made changes to our processes to service our communities better. We continue to take steps to improve that service – with real time surveys, intel from our engagement team and our monitoring, evaluation and learning activities.

My thanks go to the staff, Trustees, CSI associates and all our advisors and community groups for making this one of Foundation North’s most memorable years since its inception in 1988.