Vol.3 No.

49
Winter 2009
ISSN 1175–9151

The magazine of Philanthropy New Zealand

Supporting people
when times are
tough
 From the desk of the Executive Director

“Nobody foresaw the magnitude of the economic crisis or the rapidity with which it occurred...
This is a time, both in our country and around the world, of increasing need. When the economy is
this weak, there is huge need for philanthropic resources. There is also enormous opportunity to make
progress… This is an amazing opportunity for Americans. We can’t afford to squander it, because it’s a
once-in-a-generation opportunity”. (Judith Rodin Head of Rockefeller Foundation US – May magazine article)
Tena koutou katoa
As we go to print, I am travelling the country with the Regional I felt a commitment to understand community needs, but also see
Funders Forums. We have focused this series on maximising impact a strong need for us to work with partners to maximise impact, especially
in challenging times, as the Rockefeller Foundation says, ‘A crisis is a when organisations have diminished resources. Here’s a taste of the
terrible thing to waste’. The recession is having a significant impact on feedback from our forum sessions:
the work of grantmakers around the globe and it is forcing them into
What you’re looking to achieve:
new ways of thinking and acting. Forum facilitator Jenny Blagdon has
spent time reviewing the international horizon. She’s discovered that • “Networking and getting new ideas about how to cope with the
although there are differences in how countries are affected, there is impact of the recession on trusts was crucial. It was also great to
a common theme coming through: it is time to look beyond individual hear what to look for in fund seekers.”
interests and the resources of our own organisations and ask, “How can • “I want to share practical ideas around areas for collaborative
we solve problems in combination with others?” initiatives.”
The present challenges for the philanthropic sector is to meet new • “It was especially interesting to receive updates about how the
immediate needs (and they are often pressing) and to be creative and rest of the world is working... in particular the way others are
to work more effectively with our partners in the not-for-profit sector, working together to maximise their resources.”
business and government to maximise long term impact as well as meet • “I enjoyed hearing and seeing the passions of other people. It
short term demands. When financial resources become more scarce, makes you want to bring all that you learned back to your
our role to ‘be the venture capital of social change’ means that even organisation and makes you realise what you need to do to make
more consideration of how we undertake our work is imperative. It’s more of a difference to the lives of others.”
been most heartening to be out with you in the regions where those
• “Key players attended the forums and this enabled me to get some
challenges are being met head on.
useful contextual information.”

In this issue…
Page 4: Regional Funders Forums 2009
Pages 5: Tindall Foundation’s Scope report
Page 6: International conferences
Page 7: New ideas that work
Page 8: Building bridges, breaking down barriers
Page 11: Community Foundations
Page 14: Budgeting Services and AMP help
Page 15: The 2008 Global Financial Crisis
Page 18: The Effective Foundation
Cover image: Acorn Foundation helps fund Bay of Plenty CanTeen’s Summer Camp

2 Philanthropy New Zealand Toputanga Tuku Aroha o Aotearoa

 I recently listened to an insightful address on the Internet from
the President of the Monitor Institute, Katherine Fulton. Katherine
is a futurist, strategist, author, teacher and speaker working for social
change1. She talked about the future of philanthropy – and the future of
all of us in philanthropy; what she referred to as the ‘democratisation
of philanthropy’. ‘Acting our way into a new way of thinking’ rather
than what’s often done which is, ‘thinking our way into acting.’ She says
what’s happening around us is propelling strong citizen action, and she
talked of new tools and new pressures driving philanthropy in a different
direction. She discussed the emergence of trends such as:
• Peer to peer philanthropy exemplified by mass collaboration –
engaging lots of people around an issue and a goal that’s stated
• Aggregated giving
• Social innovation (extensively covered in this issue of Philanthropy
News)
• Online philanthropy marketplaces, and
• Competitions and social investing.
www.givealittle.co.nz, which uses an online giving marketplace to
engage lots of people and crystallise giving, is a New Zealand example
of what Katherine is speaking about.
Katherine also reminds us that philanthropy is about giving of
time and talent, not just money. “We have lived in this world where
little things are done for love and big things for money. Now we have
Wikipedia. Suddenly big things can be done for love.”
It is worth your time listening to Katherine’s address, it’s about 15
minutes long and the web address for it is at the bottom of the page. We
also have a copy of her book ‘The Future of Philanthropy’ available from
our office for members to borrow.
From Crisis to Opportunity, this economic crisis has ramifications
for us all, and for all we seek to support. We may need to do more with
less and it’s time to think carefully about the opportunities showing their
hand right now and the ones we have to dig a little deeper for – those
hiding in the gorse bushes.

Naku noa na
Robyn Scott
Executive Director
Philanthropy New Zealand

1. Katherine Fulton’s speech can be found at:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/katherine_fulton_you_are_the_future_of_philanthropy.html

3
 Social Innovation
New ideas that work
‘New ideas that work’ is one simple definition of social
innovation, says vivian Hutchinson, Executive Officer
of the Social Innovation Investment Group and the
New Zealand Social Entrepreneur Fellowship (NZSEF).
Speaking at the Philanthropy New Zealand Conference earlier
this year, vivian said that, the ideas don’t even have to be new; social
innovations may simply be combinations of existing ideas that haven’t
been used together before. Whatever the definition, the consensus
seems to be that social innovators aren’t generally that interested
in tweaking; incremental changes aren’t really what they are about.
Rather, social innovators want to fundamentally transform the way things
are done – or, as vivian says, “to permanently alter the perceptions,
behaviours and structures that are creating the tough problems they are
trying to solve”.
Moreover, vivian believes social innovators and entrepreneurs
don’t just want to organise problems, “they want to heal them”. In
doing so, they often create new organisations, programmes or schemes,
or a culture change in existing organisations.
“They explore innovations and role models that move beyond
just reacting to and managing the problems, towards being
pro-active and transforming them.”
Viv Maidaborn knows a bit about transforming problems. As Chief
Executive of CCS Disability Action, Viv was determined to make
New Zealand houses more accessible and useable for people across the
ages and stages of life.
“That pretty much started with my board saying to me ‘how do we
stop organising the problem of young disabled people not being able
to leave home because there’s no accessible housing, and reverting
back to institutional solutions, [and start] creating something
fundamentally different?’ We decided ‘something fundamentally
different’ was changing New Zealand’s housing stock.”
The innovative Lifetime Design strategy was born. It is now overseen
by a foundation and, with a certified trademark, is being successfully
marketed to the housing sector. To achieve the ‘Lifemark’ stamp of
approval, a design must pass a strict independent review to ensure it
meets ‘LifeStandards’ of usability, adaptability, accessibility, inclusion
and lifetime value. These standards ensure that a building can be used
at that moment as well as being easily adapted later as occupants’
needs change.
“We’re beginning to educate the New Zealand public about what it
would mean to have a house designed so that if you broke your leg you
could still use the toilet,” says Viv.
Social Entrepreneurs Ngahau Davis, Kim Workman and vivian
Hutchinson at the NZSEF retreat.
“Pretty basic stuff, but our pure market model hasn’t delivered
us houses that are designed for people, and we’re going to do
something about it.”
Viv is also a member of the New Zealand Social Entrepreneur
Fellowship, a peer learning community of New Zealand changemakers
who meet six-monthly to share their experience in creating and
supporting social innovation. For her, social innovation means stepping
outside of what she calls ‘the doing’ and focusing instead on what the
opportunities are.
“If there’s been one breakthrough in my thinking over my time with
the New Zealand Social Entrepreneur Fellowship, it’s been getting
to grips with what the core competencies that a particular group has,
or that accrue around a particular passion, and how can you work with
those competencies.
“It’s kind of like starting with ‘what is the resource, what is the
wealth?’, rather than ‘what’s the scarcity and what’s the problem?’ It
taught me quite a different way of approaching issues,” says Viv.
Small experiments
Geoff Mulgan, British social innovator and Director of the Young
Foundation believes that funding social entrepreneurs to carry out small
experiments is the way to effect real social change.
Geoff, who is a former advisor to Tony Blair, was brought to New
Zealand in April 2009 for the launch of the Centre for Social Innovation.
He met with public sector chief executives and briefed Finance Minister
Bill English. Speaking at the launch, he said he believes the current
slump is going to transform capitalism.
“Financial markets have become more detached from the real
economy… the world of making things, practical stuff and science.
“I think we’re going to see capitalism reconnect with the real
economy and also reconnect with social goals. There’s a burgeoning
field of social investment for example – about 10 percent of all
investments in the US.”
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7
 Social Innovation
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Geoff told Radio New Zealand National’s Kathryn Ryan that ageing
western societies are going to have to get used to spending much less.
He says capitalism will have to accommodate social needs just as it did
in the Great Depression with social welfare and employment security
and, this time round, it will also need to adapt to the ecological crisis.
“The smartest people in business recognise this quite clearly,
but some are hoping that with a few short, sharp measures we’ll get
back to where we were before. I think farsighted people realise this
is a once-in-a-lifetime change.”
Geoff says one of the keys to coping with this once-in-a-lifetime
change is allowing social innovators and entrepreneurs to experiment
with their ideas.
“At the moment we often have very competent departments…
highly competent people, trying to fix things for whole countries at
once. Whereas the more creative, imaginative way, is to spawn many,
many small innovations, small experiments, and watch what works and
then grow the ones which work. That’s exactly how we do science;
it’s how we do medicine: all of modern medicine is founded on this
principle.”
Geoff says the Young Foundation, operates in this way.
“Most of our projects start off very, very small, maybe a few
dozen, a few hundred people… and [then you] find out what
works. And if things work, then you take them up to a scale of a few
million people.”
Their initiatives have ranged from Neighbourhood Taskforces – a pilot
community development programme aimed at tackling neighbourhood
conflict in housing estates and bringing warring residents together to
work on a problem – to Studio Schools, an alternative school model for
teenagers alienated from mainstream education.
The Studio Schools project, which began as a one-class pilot for 23
teenagers in late 2007, has just received the go-ahead from the British
Government to open seven 300-pupil schools across England.
Young people are provided with qualifications and skills that align
with the national curriculum, but with a much stronger emphasis on
practical work and entrepreneurialism. Students will work in, and run,
businesses and social enterprises directly serving customers. Every
student will have a personal coach; there will be mixed age teams; and
the schools will have many of the features of a workplace.
“We’ve persuaded government to back these with money because
the trials we ran showed these to be much more successful at engaging
precisely the teenagers who were dropping out of school, getting
them better qualifications, better skills, and [making them] more
employable – and therefore saving money for government in the long
run,” says Geoff.
8 Philanthropy New Zealand Toputanga Tuku Aroha o Aotearoa
Changemakers
If allowing social entrepreneurs to experiment is the way forward
for tackling the toughest social problems, then bringing social
entrepreneurs from around the world together to collaborate on those
same problems is an even more powerful tool.
Changemakers, an initiative of the Ashoka global social entrepreneur
network, sets up online thematic ‘collaborative competitions’ where
groups and individuals from around the world can present their ideas for
change in a particular complex social area.
The competitions are sponsored by organisations and individuals
who have an interest in addressing the issues involved and entries
are posted online at www.changemakers.net for anyone to view and
comment on.
A panel of key decision-makers and philanthropic investors assesses
the applications and picks the 10-12 finalists, then the online community
votes for its top three finalists who are brought together to collaborate
on an overall plan.
Recent competitions have included themes as diverse as how to
provide clean water to people in developing nations, affordable housing,
how to reduce domestic violence and market-based solutions for low-
income communities.
The three winners each receive US$5,000, although there are
occasionally much larger prize pools. For example, US$25,000 was
offered as seed funding this year to the two best new ideas for inspiring
a better world through media and technology.
Most importantly, the competitions introduce social entrepreneurs
to each other: they see how their work and concerns overlap and
they inspire each other. They also create new partnerships that
might otherwise never have been thought of. Past competitions have
succeeded in teaming up India’s largest bank with one of India’s largest
rural women’s programmes, thousands of rural farmers with low-cost
health care providers and a Thai affordable housing solution with the
world’s largest cement manufacturer.
As the Changemakers website points out, these are just three
examples of the strength inherent in a change-making community and
they signal the way an entire sector can broaden its focus and integrate a
powerful set of solutions and stakeholders bent on change.
 Philanthropy in Action
Building bridges, breaking
down barriers
When a Hutt Valley high school started losing the
fight against gang activity and violence they took an
innovative approach to creating solutions that had
gang members playing a crucial role.
In late 2006, Board members and staff at the Hutt Valley college
were growing concerned about the increasing violence, drug use and
recruitment of students into gangs; about 15 percent of their student
population had connections with a gang.
Kim Workman (Ngati Kahungunu, Rangitaane), Director of the
Rethinking Crime and Punishment project (and former National Director
of Prison Fellowship) was a member of the school’s Board of Trustees.
He says, “There was a cycle developing where men coming out of prison
were asking Prison Fellowship to help them with their children who were
getting into trouble at school.
“And we said ‘we have no expertise’ and they said ‘yeah, but we
trust you’.”
Kim says, “We started to think about taking a strengths-based
approach, asking the parents of these students whom we wanted to be
involved in the school, ‘how do we get you there?’.”
In February 2007, Kim, the principal, representatives from the
Board, staff and the whanau of school pupils met at a community
meeting. They agreed that Kerry, a member of the whanau community
and at the time a voluntary part-time community worker, would be
appointed as a co-ordinator of the school marae and act as a liaison
between the school and whanau.
“We could see that Kerry had potential,” says Kim.
“And she was known and accepted by the whanau, which
was crucial. The families in the community were frightened of the
bureaucracy and the hierarchy at the school; it was beyond their
comprehension so they wouldn’t enter the grounds.
“Kerry became someone who could answer their questions;
‘who’s the dean?’ or ‘what does it mean when you get a
yellow card?’.”
Kim and Prison Fellowship developed a ‘restorative integration’
model, aimed at getting gang-linked whanau involved in socially
proactive ways of school life. Government department Te Puni Kokiri
(TPK) funded the initiative as an action research project, aimed at
increasing Maori participation in the school.
And so began a gradual process for the College. The first initiative
was getting gang members to help out on the barbecue at a school sports
day. It was a safe thing for them to do, because they were separate but
in a group and was a step towards getting them helping with fundraising
and sports coaching.
Kim says Kerry was pivotal to the success of the initiative because
she was a go-between. She mediated between the kids and the staff,
and she helped the staff to understand the dynamics at home for their
students.
From there, Roopu Ahwina, a group that meets monthly was set up
as an opportunity for families to “spill their guts about what was wrong
with the school”. A restorative justice programme was introduced as an
alternative to suspension or expulsion and other agencies later came
on board too, including Barnardos, who invited the men to help with a
community garden. Respected kaumatua and kuia were also introduced
to the whanau.
Three years on, the school has managed to eliminate graffiti and
significantly reduce drug use. The Kapa Haka group has grown fourfold,
and suspensions have dropped from 38 in 2007 to 10 in 2008. And
Kim reports that there is no longer evidence of gang prospecting within
the school.
Kim says, “A lot of other things happened too – kids stopped
wearing their [gang] colours, more children are staying at school
in Year 11 and 12 and the whanau are now relaxed participants in
school life and attend school functions more frequently.”
The wider whanau are now the school’s most successful fundraisers,
bringing in around $1600 a month for the school from their hangi sales,
which buys Kapa Haka uniforms, and helps pays for annual trips to marae
in places like Ruatoria or Matataa.
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9
 Philanthropy in Action

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While Kim is quick to acknowledge there are other programmes

that have no doubt contributed to the improvements, he believes the
key to the turnaround in the school’s gang community has been simply
engaging with that community.
“I think it’s important that people move away from the idea
that you’re dealing with offenders and gang associates, to the idea
that you’re dealing with parents who, more than anything, want to
be accepted as contributing members of the community,” says Kim.
He also points out that working to engage gang families is the
opposite of what most schools do – “generally they work hard at keeping
gangs out.” And he acknowledges there are still many challenges facing
the school.
TPK’s funding finished at the end of June, and Kim is currently
looking for a new funder. He says that sadly, ideas like this often don’t
hold great appeal for grantmakers.
“One of the difficulties we have in this work is that funders are
looking for particular outcomes that they’ve identified, which might be
around education or community development.
“But my experience has been that the programmes that are really
innovative and different and have a bit of cutting edge to them, often
relate to more than one outcome and often across sectors. Often you
start off doing something like this and get improvements in a lot of
other areas.
“Three gang associates are currently studying for Diplomas in Social
Work and Community Work, while another 20 work as unpaid volunteers
in a whole range of activities; it starts to challenge the stereotypes
around gangs,” says Kim.
“This kind of capacity building of leaders is where real
change occurs.
“If you can identify leaders in a group and develop their
expertise, they can then become mentors and role models
to the larger group. That is the most effective way of getting
transformational change.”

10 Philanthropy New Zealand Toputanga Tuku Aroha o Aotearoa