The other day I witnessed a minor shopping-mall accident where someone reversed out of a car-park without looking and drove into the back of a passing car. The reversing car was a new 4WD; the car passing by was a beaten-up old sedan. The driver of the 4WD was Pākehā (white); the couple in the…
Continue reading →If you are based in Auckland and want to help build a thoughtfully generous Aotearoa New Zealand, have a look at the job ad for a Philanthropic Advisor for Philanthropy NZ. This is a new role with lots of scope to engage deeply and grow generosity – and Philanthropy NZ is a great little organisation…
Continue reading →I will be leaving my role as Executive Director of the Todd Foundation on April 2 this year (more on this below), so if you are looking for a really great role in New Zealand philanthropy, check out the job ad, or talk to recruitment agent Annabel McCallum from Jackson Stone. Applications close on Monday…
Continue reading →Funders, both government and philanthropic, often have a strong focus on measuring the outcomes, impact and effectiveness of the initiatives they fund. Which is great – but is that focus equally directed at measuring the outcomes, impact and effectiveness of ourselves as funders? Often the answer is no – and there’s some good reasons for…
Continue reading →In my spare time I sing in a small world-music choir called Womansong. Last week at practice, Karen, one of our members, suggested that we add simple dance moves to an Arabic song we sing (Lamma Bada Yatathanna). We followed and quickly picked up Karen’s graceful arm movements, which were perfect for the song. But…
Continue reading →Community funding often isn’t as transparent as it should be; games get played and thorny issues are sometimes unacknowledged and often unaddressed. I explored some of this recently at a breakfast meeting with the Fundraising Institute in Auckland: – here is my presentation: “Beyond the game, through the thorny issues and towards thriving communities.” The…
Continue reading →I have never had to walk 10 kilometres then catch a train in order to work at a minimum wage job. I haven’t gone hungry so I can feed my kids like Tina, nor have I been one of a family of eight in a cold, damp, two-bedroom flat like Helen. Instead I have led…
Continue reading →I was part of a story on TV1’s Seven Sharp programme today asking “are kiwis givers?” See the clip here. Journalist Emma Keeling did a very nice job of talking about philanthropy and the Todd Foundation funded Y-men project, (which gets unemployed young men into work and training as ECE teachers in kindergartens), was inspiring. …
Continue reading →The relationship between funders, not-for-profit organisations and the people and communities served tends to look like this: FUNDERS (government and non-government)… decide funding (which, when and how much) for: NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS, who… decide services (to whom, when and how much) for: PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES In other words we have something of a hierarchy. I am…
Continue reading →When Dave and I moved back on Aotearoa New Zealand in 1990 from the San Fransisco Bay area, one reason for returning was that we felt uncomfortable that the US was so wealthy yet had so many homeless people begging on the streets. That sort of thing didn’t happen in NZ. That was then. This…
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