A glimpse of mana motuhake

Recently a group of us had the privilege of seeing mana motuhake [Māori self determination] first hand.  And it was beautiful. Let’s start with this term “mana motuhake” – what does it really mean?  Te Aka online dictionary defines it as “separate identity, autonomy, self-government, self-determination, independence, sovereignty, authority – mana through self-determination and control…

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Girl from Karanema

I’m in a Wellington cafe, at a coffee meeting with a colleague from Ngāti Kahungunu.  We are both born in Hastings, so that is a nice start.   Then after a while he says, “Actually, I am not really from Hastings, I am from Flaxmere.”  And I say, “Actually I am not really from Hastings either,…

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Is your philanthropic foundation extractive?

There’s a lot of discussion in the farming world about the importance of moving away from extractive practices and instead embracing regenerative agriculture – here’s a recent relevant story from the Waikato.   Might some of these same considerations apply to philanthropy? Let me start with a couple of dictionary definitions: extractive: the withdrawal of [natural]…

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How to be a transparent funder

We’re pretty lucky, us funders.  We don’t usually pay tax. We can’t easily go broke.  We rarely receive public criticism.  And, unlike the US, where private foundations are required to give away at least 5% of their investment assets per year, funders in Aotearoa NZ are subject to few legislative requirements. In other words, we…

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Being the best we can be

On International Women’s  Day I spoke on a panel with Dame Susan Devoy and Melissa Clark-Reynolds on the topic “being the best we can be” at a function hosted by Kapiti Chamber of Commerce and Kapiti Rotary .  Here is my speech: Ki ngā maunga, ngā awa, me ngā tāngata whenua hoki o te rohe…

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