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…
Continue reading →One of my board roles is for Conscious Consumers, a social enterprise which to date has accredited 175 cafes, restaurants and suppliers in twelve cities and towns across Aotearoa NZ according to twelve different ethical and sustainable practices. It’s been inspiring to watch a local, volunteer-led initiative idea grow into a nationwide organisation with smart…
Continue reading →Four experts share their approach and strategies Positive social change can start at the kitchen table – family by family, community by community. It can also start in the legislative chamber – law by law, policy by policy. Best of all is when they occur simultaneously, informing and reinforcing each other. At the Todd Foundation’s…
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