Collaborating With Others

Back in 2019, Foundation North lauched a participatory grant-making intiative with a group of ten Pacific Leaders, each representing different sectors of the Pacific communities. The participants designed a $100,000 fund for projects to benefit Pacific young people, their families, and their communities in South Auckland. The aim was to work together to distribute funding in a way that is more responsive to Pacific communities’ aspirations, as well as helping to reach beyond the Foundation’s existing networks, and to deliver positive outcomes for the community.

Last year, in partnership with Ministry of Youth Development, a second Pacific Future Leaders participatory grant making panel was convened, with $200,000 of grant funding available. The Pacific leaders determined that there would be no closing dates until the funds were exhausted, and they took an inclusive approach to decision making. Applicants were invited to a talanoa session (either in-person or on Zoom) with the leaders who then met weekly to review applications, make decisions and make granting recommendations to the CEO. Pacific values were at the heart of the approach and provided a strong foundation for decision-making.

Fifty-nine applications were received and the leaders proposed that ‘real’, ‘inclusion’ and ‘open minded’ would be the criteria to assess funding applications. Thirty-two grants were approved, with the majority being youth-focused initiatives and spanning a range of sectors and geographic areas. Health was a priority for many applications, with a high number of projects working in education, the arts, and sport. Twenty-three of the approved projects were from groups new to Foundation North, a great step towards extending the reach of our support for Pacific communities in South Auckland.

As world leaders convened for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in December 2021, a majority of the Community Trusts of Aotearoa New Zealand signed a Funders Commitment on Climate Action, in recognition of the important role community funders play in building better outcomes for our environment and communities.

This commitment is the initial result from the formation of a Climate Change Working Group established by the Community Trusts’ Chief Executives with support from The Centre for Social Impact.

The working group aims to explore ways to work together on climate change issues, including how to support a just transition to a net zero world. Community Trusts regularly collaborate on important issues. Individually and collectively, they have already undertaken significant work relating to climate change and net zero emissions.

The seven-part commitment is guided by Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Mātaurangi Māori aspirations. It focuses on a just transition, collaboration, and leadership. Significantly, it includes reporting back to our communities and stakeholders the actions that signatories undertake.

South Auckland’s many diverse, ever-evolving geographic and demographic communities possess strong creative, cultural, and social capital, many of whom seek to ‘flip the narrative’ that has been imposed by wider society and the media. Catalytic and powerful in helping to shift this narrative are Ngahere Inc, a group of social enterprises who use their collaborative spaces, common values and co-designed programmes to enhance creativity and innovation in Manukau, South Auckland.

When Foundation North wanted to collaborate to honour and celebrate the mana of some of the kaupapa supported by our Community Innovation Fund for South Auckland, it was to Ngahere Inc and the team at Ngahere Talks that we gravitated. The importance of how we would share some of those stories sparked the idea for a podcast series.

Featuring some of South Auckland's most innovative community change-makers, and recorded in between lockdowns, Ka Tū Māia (Stand Brave) is all about truthful and equitable storytelling. Hosted by Ngahere Inc Founder and CEO, Manawa Udy, a range of courageous innovators generously share the highs and lows, the passion and the persistence, the mighty wins and the epic fails during their own entrepreneurial journeys.

Read more about the Ka Tū Māia podcasts and the Community Innovation Fund here.