Issue 66, July 2015

The magazine of Philanthropy New Zealand

Philanthropy News

Helping Kiwis give a lotThe rise and rise of Givealittle

The role of the chairTips on running board meetings

Home truths for fundersGrantees list their pet peeves

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS

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Contents

The articles in Philanthropy News do not necessarily reflect the views of Philanthropy New Zealand.

Magazine design and layout by Fortyfive Design Studio Ltd. This magazine is printed on sustainably sourced paper.

From the Chief ExecutiveTe-na - koutou

Welcome to the winter issue of Philanthropy News – it’s hard to believe that we’re now halfway through the year.

Here at the Philanthropy New Zealand office we’re still on a high following the success of the Philanthropy Summit 2015 in April. Thanks so much to everyone who

came and many thanks, too, to our generous sponsors – we couldn’t have done it without you.

We’ve had some great feedback about the Summit – you can read more about it on pages 8 and 9. Many of you also provided us with really useful suggestions about the kinds of activities and support you’d like from Philanthropy New Zealand in the future. We’ll be using these suggestions to help frame our thinking as we develop our new strategy for 2015 to 2018 – we’ll be announcing the new strategy later in the year.

In the meantime we’ve been busy organising a great programme of events and professional development opportunities for our members. These include our popular annual Governance and Investment workshops being held in Wellington in August. This year we’ve expanded the workshops to include a one-day event just for chairs which will be facilitated by our governance expert Graeme Nahkies. You can read his take on the role of the chair on pages 12 and 13.

We have also been developing closer relationships with our sister organisations overseas. These include Philanthropy Australia, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) and Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR).

The good news is that we have negotiated some great deals with both GEO and SSIR which means you will have access to some of their excellent publications and resources. We’ll send you full details very soon.

And of course this year we celebrate our 25th anniversary. As Jennifer Gill points out on pages 6 and 7, philanthropy in New Zealand has changed a lot over the last 25 years. But here at Philanthropy New Zealand our core values have not changed; just as we were in 1990, we are the hub of philanthropy in New Zealand, and our goal is to promote generosity in all its forms.

Ka kite ano

Liz Gibbs

3 News & EventsThe latest news and events from Philanthropy New Zealand.

6 Celebrating 25 yearsPhilanthropy New Zealand turns 25 this year. Jennifer Gill takes a look at what’s changed – and what’s stayed the same – in philanthropy since 1990.

8 Thumbs up for the Philanthropy Summit 2015Our biennial conference for grantmakers held in Auckland in April was our biggest yet – and many of you also said it was the best.

10 Givealittle helps Kiwis give a lotCrowdfunding website Givealittle, which is owned by the Spark Foundation, continues to go from strength to strength.

11 Staying on top of your gameBritish philanthropic expert David Carrington, who will be visiting New Zealand in October, says traditional grantmaking is here to stay and funders need to keep aiming high.

12 The role of the chairGovernance expert Graeme Nahkies provides some tips about what chairs can do to help boards make the best possible decisions.

14 What funders need to hearThree of our Grantmaker members recently asked representatives from not-for-profit organisations what most frustrates them about the funding process. Find out what they said.

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News & Events

Giving New Zealand update Thanks to all of you who completed the Giving New Zealand survey which was sent out during May. Research company BERL is now analysing the responses to produce an updated version of Giving New Zealand: Philanthropic Funding 2011.

The updated report will provide a comprehensive overview of philanthropic funding in New Zealand from the perspective of grantmakers and funding managers as well as grant recipients

The data in the report is the only research of its kind in New Zealand and it is widely and regularly used. We are frequently asked for information from it – sometimes as often as once a week. It’s also quoted in speeches and used as baseline research in other pieces of work.

We’re looking forward to publishing the updated Giving New Zealand later this year. It will be launched at a Parliamentary breakfast on 22 September. There will also be launch events in Auckland on 23 September and Hamilton on 24 September.

Philanthropy New Zealand turns 25 this year, and we’ll be celebrating this later in the year. We’re planning an event to coincide with our AGM in early December – we’ll keep you posted with the details.

Building IT capacity in the not-for-profit sectorProviding funding to help not-for-profit organisations improve their IT systems and infrastructure makes sense. Organisations that are digitally proficient are more efficient and effective – and that’s good for the communities they work in.

But not all grantmakers feel confident when it comes to deciding which IT projects they should support. Is helping an organisation move onto the Cloud a good idea, or should they be investing in server infrastructure?

Two workshops being co-hosted by Philanthropy New Zealand and Microsoft New Zealand in Wellington and Auckland in July will help answer those questions – and many more. The workshops will be facilitated by Marcus Harvey, consulting and ICT services manager with Infoxchange, a social enterprise that helps hundreds of community organisations build their IT capacity.

“The message we get back is that some funders are less tech savvy than others, which makes it harder for them to tell the difference between a good proposal and a bad one,” he says.

The workshops will provide information about major computing trends, and how these are helping the not-for-profit sector change the way it works. They will also explore the biggest IT challenges facing the sector, and how funders can help address these.

The workshops will be held in Wellington on Tuesday 21 July and in Auckland on Wednesday 22 July. Visit our website for more details: www.giving.org.nz

Welcome to our KaumātuaWe’re delighted to introduce our Kauma-tua, Koro Montgomery (Monty) Ahie and Pekaira Rei. Many of you will have seen or met Koro Montgomery and Pekaira at the Philanthropy Summit 2015 held in Auckland in April.

They joined Philanthropy New Zealand last year to help us meet our current strategic goals. They attend meetings of our Ma-ori Advisory Committee and they also work closely with and advise our board and staff.

Koro Montgomery (Taranaki, Nga- Ruahine and Nga-ti Ruanui) is a retired mechanical engineer who is proud to serve as a Kauma-tua for several Wellington schools as well as for Philanthropy New Zealand. His interests include education and following the sporting fortunes of his family.

Pekaira (Nga- Ruahine-i-te-rangi, Te A- ti Awa, Taranaki Iwi, Nga- Rauru Kiitahi, Te A- ti Haunui-a--Pa-pa-rangi, Taranaki Wha-nui-ki-te-Upoko-o-te-Ika and Nga-ti Tama-ki-te-Tau Ihu), is a Taranaki Reo and History facilitator for Te Reo o Taranaki based in New Plymouth, and Out of Office Support Parliamentary Services for Te Tai Hau-a-- u-ru MP, Adrian Rurawhe.

Pekaira considers her Kauma-tua role with Koro Montgomery Ahie to be one of a cultural safety net, and the cornerstone of working towards building and strengthening relationships with Ma-ori in the philanthropic world.

Philanthropy New Zealand Kauma-tua Koro Montgomery Ahie (left) and Pekaira Rei.

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Community foundations in good health

New Zealand community foundations are joining the international Vital Signs movement which provides a “health check” of their local community, and helps guide funding decisions to make sure they meet local needs.

The Acorn Foundation in Tauranga published New Zealand’s first Vital Signs report in March. It identified housing and

lack of employment as the biggest public concerns in the Bay of Plenty. Hamilton-based Momentum Waikato will produce a Vital Signs report for the Waikato region later this year.

Vital Signs was first started by the Toronto Community Foundation in 2001, and it is now a valuable tool for community foundations around the world. Momentum Waikato chief executive Cheryl Reynolds and Acorn Foundation general manager Nicky Wilkins recently attended the Community Foundations of Canada conference in Calgary, along with 600 other professionals from the global community foundations movement.

Cheryl was particularly interested in getting information about how to produce a Vital Signs report. “One of the reasons I went to Canada was to learn as much as I could around best practice in carrying out the Vital Signs research.”

Community foundations are one of the world’s fastest growing forms of philanthropy, with the numbers increasing from just 500 in 2000 to 1500 now. New Zealand has 13 community foundations, with three new ones established in the last eight months – the Sunrise Foundation in Gisborne, the Eastern Bay Community Foundation in Whakatane and Te Karaka Community Foundation in Taranaki. The 13 foundations now have more than $40 million of funds under management.

Fellowship winnersTwo Philanthropy New Zealand members were among the 15 recipients of 2015 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowships, and both have now started their research, which will provide valuable information for the wider New Zealand philanthropic sector.

Community Trust of Southland chief executive John Prendergast – the entertaining MC of the Philanthropy Summit 2015 – is currently overseas looking at leadership in grantmaking trusts and foundations. He will visit a number of organisations in both Britain and the United States, including the Esmée Fairburn Foundation and the Trust for London.

He’s also finding out more about social finance, and will spend time with organisations such as the Dutch

ethical bank Triodos Bank and the social investment wholesaler Big Society Capital.

Lani Evans, a Philanthropy New Zealand board member, has now completed the first part of a study trip to the US and Europe where she is looking at devolved decision-making in the philanthropic sector.

Lani was one of the co-convenors of our

popular workshop on innovative and emerging practices at the Philanthropy Summit. She has been CEO of the Dunedin-based social enterprise Thankyou Payroll for the last two years, and is about to take up a new role as grants lead with the Vodafone Foundation. In her current role she has helped introduce several innovative practices, such as holding informal dinner parties where grantees can report back on what they’ve done.

You will have a chance to hear about what John and Lani have learned from their fellowships at a series of events we are organising later this year. We will send you the details once we have them.

John Prendergast is currently overseas looking at leadership in grantmaking trusts and foundations

Lani Evans

Cheryl Reynolds

Membership renewalMost of you will have received a membership renewal notice. Philanthropy New Zealand membership runs from July 1 each year, and the fees for the 2015-2016 year are due for payment on August 20.

As a Philanthropy New Zealand member you get the chance to meet and share experiences with other grantmakers, hear from international experts in the field, and attend regular professional development seminars. Many of these events are free; Philanthropy New Zealand members get a 30% discount on any fee-paying events or workshops. This includes our popular Governance and Investment Workshops being held in Wellington in August.

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News & Events

UPCOMING EVENTS JulyTues 21 Auckland Funders’ Network (in association with Microsoft NZ)

Wed 22 Wellington Funders’ Network (in association with Microsoft NZ)

August Tues 4 Governance for Chairs, Wellington

Wed 5 & Governance and Investment Thurs 6 Workshops, Wellington

September Wed 16 Canterbury Recovery Funders’ Network

Tues 22 Giving New Zealand launch, Wellington

Wed 23 Giving New Zealand launch, Auckland

Thurs 24 Giving New Zealand launch, Hamilton

October Fri 9 Impact investing seminar with David Carrington, Auckland

November Wed 4 Environmental Funders’ Network, Auckland

Thurs 5 Youth Funders’ Network, Auckland

New leadership at Todd Congratulations to Christina Howard, who was recently appointed as executive director of the Todd Foundation. She replaces Kate Frykberg, who stepped down on 2 April after almost 10 years in the role.

Many of you will already know Christina, who has been a strategic advisor at the Foundation since 2010. She has a

PhD in social psychology and 20 years’ experience in community academic and government roles.

In other news from our members, two of them are celebrating significant birthdays this year. The Tindall Foundation is turning 20, and marked the occasion with a special event in Auckland in June. The Foundation has now distributed more than $135 million since it was established in 1995.

Meanwhile the JR McKenzie Trust is turning 75. The Trust was first set up by Sir John McKenzie in 1940 and since then it has given over $83 million to help New Zealanders in need. It will mark its 75th anniversary with an event at Parliament in September.

And the ASB Community Trust has had a change of name. It is now called Foundation North. The Trust was first set up in 1988 using assets from the sale of the ASB Savings Bank. Its endowment now sits at over $1 billion and last year it distributed $34.9 million in grants to support organisations and activities in the Auckland and Northland regions.

A new look for Philanthropy New ZealandMost of you will have noticed that our logo has changed. This is part of a wider re-brand carried out in partnership with Wellington company Fortyfive Design Studio.

An important part of our new brand is colour – we now have one main colour, a primary blue, that is used in most of our publications and resources.

The blue is used in conjunction with the textural imagery some of you will have seen in our new funders’ network mastheads: water for Auckland, fireworks for Wellington and stones for Canterbury. They are intended to evoke the ideas of light, life, nature and energy.

And to help give our brand a Kiwi flavour, we have chosen a New Zealand-designed typeface, Newzald, as our brand font. The circular qualities of many of its letters reflect the koru mark in our logo.

Christina Howard

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Celebrating 25 years Philanthropy New Zealand turns 25 in September. Jennifer Gill, who was a member of the original steering committee, takes a look at our history.

It’s 25 years since Sir Roy McKenzie called a meeting in Wellington to discuss setting up a New Zealand association of grantmaking trusts. While travelling in Australia Sir Roy had made contact with the Meyer Foundation and he had heard of the work being done by the Australian Association of Philanthropic Trusts (now Philanthropy Australia), established in 1987.

At that time there were few philanthropic membership organisations internationally. Others included the Council on Foundations in the USA (established in 1949), the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy (mid-1980s) the European Foundation Centre (1989), and the Association of Charitable Foundations UK (1989).

As a way of marking the 50th anniversary of the J R McKenzie Trust in 1990, Sir Roy called together a small group to establish a steering committee

and to prepare to launch the New Zealand Association of Philanthropic Trusts.

The move was also supported by Sir John Todd and the Todd Foundation, and John and Graeme Sutherland and the Sutherland Self Help Trust.

The steering committee met for the first time on 19 September 1990 and decided – among other things – to hold a conference the following year. According to the minutes of the meeting, the committee agreed that the two-day event would need careful structuring “to avoid being seen to be extravagant”.

The inaugural conference was held at the James Cook Hotel in Wellington in October 1991 with about 30 people present. The keynote speaker was Dame Sylvia Cartwright, and other speakers included Professor Hirini Moko Mead, who talked about the

significance of the philanthropic sector to the Ma-ori community.

The conference was the first time that more than just a few philanthropic trusts had met together; prior to this there had been some collaboration between the McKenzie, Todd and Sutherland Trusts but they had no contact with Trusts outside of Wellington, nor with the Trustee companies or the emergent community trusts.

By 1992 the newly formed association had more than 60 members. It also had a part-time secretary, and it shared office space with the Roy McKenzie Foundation and the Funding Information Service (now Generosity NZ), which Sir Roy set up that year.

In 2000, the New Zealand Association of Philanthropic Trusts changed its name to Philanthropy New Zealand. The organisation’s first website was established that

Top row (from left): Sir Roy and Lady Shirley McKenzie; Wellington-based members of the NZAPT in February 1992; Former chief executive Robyn Scott (left) and events manager Yvonne Trask at the 2007 conference. Second row (from left): Jennifer Gill and TV Williams at the 1994 conference; Aretu Koopu, Dan Lewis and Mary Stuart at the 1996 conference; Sir Roy McKenzie (centre) and others at the 1996 conference.

same year, and there was even talk of introducing online registrations for the next conference – though the minutes book is silent on whether this happened or not.

Over the past 25 years Philanthropy New Zealand has been lucky to have had a number of outstanding chief executives, starting with Jean Harton, who was employed in 1992 as a part-time board secretary. The first fulltime CEO was Bob Moffatt, who was appointed in 1993, followed by Martine Foster in 1998, Robyn Scott in 2002 and our current chief executive Liz Gibbs who has held the role since early 2013. Philanthropy New Zealand now has five part-time and one fulltime staff members, and it continues to share offices with the J R McKenzie Trust and Generosity NZ.

Philanthropy had been growing in New Zealand even before the association was formed. In 1964 Sir Roy commissioned the first Directory of New Zealand Philanthropic Trusts, which was produced by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. It listed 70 grantmaking trusts across New Zealand. The second edition, produced 15 years later, listed 146 grant makers and by 1992, the newly formed Funding Information Service had an initial listing of 350 philanthropic, government and local government funding schemes.

Huge changesThe changes over the last 25 years have been huge. They include the growth of family philanthropy, the growth of the trustee savings bank and energy trusts, an increase in corporate philanthropy, the emergence of Ma-ori philanthropy and significant changes in the trustee company sector.

During this time New Zealand has also seen the emergence of a philanthropic workforce, significant enough for there to now be an emergent career path in philanthropy. However, as yet there is no formal training in philanthropy or grantmaking

available in New Zealand, as there is in Australia, the US and Europe.

The growth of the organisation can be seen by comparing the number of people who attended the first conference – 30 – with the 450 who attended the most recent conference in Auckland in April this year. For the past 25 years, Philanthropy New Zealand has been the midwife of the sector, encouraging growth and innovation, providing education and leadership, promoting networking and espousing best practice.

The recent conference attracted an audience from throughout New Zealand. It also attracted a large Australian contingent, and there is a lot to be gained by both countries from a closer working relationship.

This year’s conference also attracted a group of outstanding international practitioners, whose presentations

complemented the workshops and presentations by New Zealanders who are working with their communities, harnessing philanthropic resources to apply innovative solutions to some of the most intractable issues facing this country.

Philanthropy New Zealand has also been responsible for commissioning research into the sector, most notably Giving New Zealand, the now-regular survey that measures philanthropic giving in New Zealand. Knowing the scale and scope of giving in this country has informed government, the not-for-profit sector and the grant giving philanthropic sector as a whole.

Over time Philanthropy New Zealand has emerged as a broker working with government on issues such as changes to tax deductability on

charitable donations introduced in 2008 – an issue that Sir Roy had raised with successive ministers of finance over the preceding 20 years.

Go-to organisationPhilanthropy New Zealand has become the organisation that new philanthropists turn to for advice when embarking on their personal philanthropy and it has demonstrated that it can play a critical role in the sector when required, bringing donors together at a regional level or on specific issues.

Following the Christchurch earthquakes Philanthropy New Zealand played an important role in bringing funders together and brokered partnerships between grantmakers that continue today as the earthquake rebuild continues.

From an initial membership of

fewer than 50 grantmaking trusts and foundations the organisation has 136 Grantmaker members and another 92 Community members (a new membership category for not-for-profit organisations established last year).

Compared to other countries New Zealand has a unique philanthropic sector with a predominance of statutory grantmaking organisations, in particular the community trusts established from the sale of the trustee savings banks and energy companies. Since its establishment Philanthropy New Zealand has played a critical role in uniting the sector, bringing diverse philanthropic grantmakers together, recognising the strengths of each but also the strength in working together.

Philanthropy New Zealand has also been responsible for commissioning research into the sector, most notably Giving New Zealand, the now-regular survey that measures philanthropic giving in New Zealand.

Thumbs up for the Philanthropy Summit 2015Our biennial conference for grantmakers, the Philanthropy Summit 2015: The Power of Strategic Giving, held at the University of Auckland on 15 and 16 April, was our biggest ever – and many of you also said it was the best.

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Social mediaBest tweet: We need to give young peeps positive examples of success and innovation to lift the perceptions that smother our hopes.Summit delegates really got into the social media spirit, and at one point the hashtag #philanthropysummit2015 was among the top five trending on Twitter – ahead of The Bachelor and John Key.

There were more than 300 Tweets using the hashtag during the course of the Summit. The winning tweeter was Philanthropy New Zealand board member Lani Evans.

Who cameA total of 454 people registered for the Summit. That includes our four international keynote speakers, our three New Zealand keynotes, and another 82 speakers who took part in 43 workshop sessions.

The majority of delegates were Philanthropy New Zealand members, but the Summit also attracted our largest-ever contingent of government representatives, as well as our largest-ever contingent of Australians – 20 people from a range of Australian philanthropic organisations.

Keynote speakers a hitYou loved our keynote speakers, with almost all of them getting solid excellent ratings.

Dame Anne Salmond was even described by one delegate as a national treasure.

“Your efforts to secure top speakers really paid dividends.”

“The calibre of the key note speakers was exceptional. Their addresses make me want to do better for my community.”

Media coverageWe had some great media coverage before and during the conference:• 2 radio interviews• 7 newspaper articles• 1 magazine article• 3 blog posts

Food rescueKiwiHarvest, our food rescue team at the Summit, collected the equivalent of 310 meals and delivered them to the Auckland City Mission’s drop-in centre during the two-day Summit and the one-day event for community organisations that followed it.

Top row (clockwise from left): John Slater, a trustee at Foundation North, and Nicola Brehaut from DIA; Kate Tindall (left) of the Tindall Foundation and Genevieve Timmons of Philanthropy Australia; Iain Hines of the JR McKenzie Trust. Middle row (from left): Keynote speakers Ta – Mark Solomon, Dame Anne Salmond, Justin Rockefeller and Mae Hong. Bottom row (from left): One of our student helpers Nico Doodeman; The po-whiri to welcome Summit attendees held at the University of Auckland marae.

Many thanks to our key sponsors: AMP Capital, BNZ, Perpetual Guardian and the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust.

What you saidAlmost everyone (97%) who attended the Summit rated it as either excellent or very good – and we got some fantastic feedback:

“Inspiring content, some brilliant speakers and very professionally run. Well done!”

“This was the third Philanthropy New Zealand conference I’ve been to and, quite simply, it was the best.”

Who attended the Summit

Community Trusts 29%

Corporate 16%

Government 15%

Australian Trusts 5%

Energy Trusts 4%

Family Trusts/Individual Philanthropists 13%

Other 18% (including: Maori Trusts 3%; Community Foundations 2%; Trustee Company 2%; Social Enterprise 2%)

Summit buzzwordsTwo buzzwords quickly emerged at the Summit – “acupuncture points” and “wicked problems”.

The first came courtesy of our opening keynote speaker Justin Rockefeller. The term “acupuncture point” is one he and fellow board members at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund use to describe what they look for when deciding what projects to support in order to meet the fund’s goals.

Soon Summit attendees were promising to look for their own acupuncture points, and by the end of the first day they were keen to apply them to “wicked problems”, a term used by keynote speaker Mae Hong.

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Givealittle helps Kiwis give a lotThe crowdfunding website Givealittle is on track to raise $18 million in the current financial year – including more than $1 million to help victims of the devastating earthquake in Nepal in April.

has also been larger, with an average of $114 compared with the site’s 2014 average of $66.”

She says that outpouring of generosity is probably partly a reflection of the strong links and enduring fondness New Zealanders have for Nepal through its connection with Sir Ed. But she says the earthquake also marked a change in thinking about the

role of Givealittle among many of New Zealand’s larger charities, who now recognise that the site is an effective complement to their mainstream fundraising activities.

When Cyclone Pam devastated Vanuatu in March, Givealittle staff had to prompt the charities they knew would be involved in dealing with the emergency to set up fundraising pages on the site. “We knew that people would come to Givealittle with a desire to help.”

Just five weeks later, when disaster hit in Nepal, no prompting was required. Within four days

Two days after the disastrous earthquake in Nepal on April 25, the Himalayan Trust had set up a donation page on the online crowdfunding website Givealittle. A month later, more than 2,000 people had used the page to donate over $300,000 to the Trust, which was set up by Sir Edmund Hillary in 1960 and focuses mainly on health and education.

“Givealittle is such an amazing way to reach out to a lot of people who don’t otherwise know you,” says Trust general manager Prue Smith, who travelled to Nepal in late May to work on the rebuilding programme that will be funded by the money raised through Givealittle.

The Trust’s Rebuild Appeal page on the Givealittle site was one of an estimated 167 set up within days of the earthquake that have collectively raised more than $1 million to help victims in Nepal.

According to Lynne Le Gros, general manager of the Spark Foundation which owns Givealittle, the response to the earthquake was the fastest and most generous they have yet seen to an international disaster. “It has had the biggest number of pages for one cause, and the size of the donations

New Zealanders had contributed more than $207,000 to earthquake recovery through Givealittle – a result Lynne described at the time as “gobsmacking”.

That response is just one of many milestones Givealittle has reached since the Spark Foundation bought the site in November 2012. In May last year total donations hit the $10 million

mark. By January this year that figure had doubled, and the site has now surpassed its goal of $15 million in donations in the current financial year, and is on track to reach $18 million.

One of the unique features of Givealittle is that it does not charge any fees. Instead Spark pays all the administration costs – about $1 million last year. Lynne says zero fees are a unique part of the site’s marketing proposition; they also reflect Spark’s commitment as a company to encouraging and promoting generosity.

“We’re not doing it for the badge – we genuinely want to be generous, and help kiwis, and make this a great country.”

The public profile of Givealittle is now so high that at times it can feel as if has cornered the generosity market. But as Lynne points out, the money it raises is only a tiny fraction of all charitable giving. “We do punch above our weight in terms of visibility – we are a small fish in a very big sea of options.”

And for her, it’s not all about the money; she also gets a lot of pleasure out of reading the messages people leave on the site. “We are processing a lot of money, but we are also transferring a lot of love.”

We are processing a lot of money, but we are also transferring a lot of love.

The Givealittle homepage featuring the Nepal earthquake appeals.

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Staying on top of your gameBritish philanthropic expert David Carrington, who will be visiting New Zealand in October, says traditional grantmaking is here to stay and funders need to keep aiming high.

You might think that a high-profile grantmaking organisation committed to reducing the harm caused by alcohol and helping people affected by conflict would avoid investing its assets in dubious industries such as alcohol and arms manufacturing.

But that is not always the case. In 2013, it was revealed that the feel-good British charity Comic Relief – which raises money through events such as Red Nose Day then distributes it to other charities – had investments in weapons firms, and alcohol and tobacco companies.

As British philanthropic consultant David Carrington points out, the revelations didn’t go down well.

“They had to change their investment policies – it certainly put their reputation as a good guy under threat.”

It was a PR disaster for Comic Relief but Carrington – who will speak at an impact investing seminar in Auckland in October – says that until recently most philanthropic foundations gave little thought to whether their investments aligned with their mission.

“Ten or 15 years ago, most trustees would have sat there and nodded when their investment advisor said the financial return was the only thing that matters. Now many are asking their advisors to look at the social and environmental and other impacts of their investments.”

The rise of programme-related investing is just one of the changes he’s observed during 45 years working in the philanthropic and charitable sector. He says it’s partly driven by a demand from the public for more

transparency in the way the sector operates – especially as government funding comes under pressure.

“The role of philanthropy is becoming more complicated and more prominent, and there is more of a spotlight on the behaviour and the standards and the quality of the work foundations do.”

But some of the change is driven by sector itself, particularly by the new generation of philanthropists. Compared with their predecessors they are more focused on measuring the impact of what they do, and more

open to examining their practices and learning from their mistakes.

“They are asking themselves questions such as whether their systems are designed to give money as quickly and effectively as possible, or whether they’re designed to make the administrative process risk-free.”

During his long career Carrington has done everything from frontline social work to running large philanthropic foundations. More recently he has become involved in social impact investing. He is currently a member of the supervisory board of Triodos Bank, a Dutch “ethical bank” that lends to and invests in organisations that benefit people and the environment.

He is also a director of Big Society Capital, which was established by the British government in 2012 to act as a wholesale funder for social investment

David Carrington will speak at an impact investing seminar in Auckland on 9 October. Keep an eye on our website for more details: www.giving.org.nz

organisations. It now has assets of £359 million, most of it from dormant bank accounts.

Carrington says social impact investing is another way of funding not-for-profit organisations, particularly those with the potential to develop for-profit activities that will help them to become more sustainable. “It’s about trying to confront the reality that for too many charitable organisations the funding they have at the moment keeps them small and vulnerable.”

But he says social impact investing will not replace traditional

grantmaking. “Grants will always be the primary source of income for most organisations.”

That makes it even more important for grantmakers to use their funds as effectively and as purposefully as possible.

“You should be aiming higher because you will get so much more out of it. If you are responsible for philanthropic funds then the adventurous opportunities for you are huge. You have the independence and the potential for creativity in the way you use those funds, which ought to be enormously exciting.”

Above David Carrington. Credit: Fergus Burnett

If you are responsible for philanthropic funds then the adventurous opportunities for you are huge.

The role of the chairWhat is the role of the chair? Governance expert Graeme Nahkies provides some tips about what chairs can do to help boards make the best possible decisions.

A board’s meeting style and practices are often deeply ingrained and enduring. However, some common practices have long since passed their use-by date or are simply inappropriate, such as the expectation that the chair will be at the centre of every aspect of the board’s discourse. Do we really need a chair to direct the conversational traffic like some sort of policeman on point duty?

The chair always has the job of ensuring there is order and shape to a board discussion so that important matters are properly considered. In most boardrooms, however, no good purpose is served by the chair being actively involved in every question or exchange of information. This turns a board meeting into a form of tennis match: serve and return, serve and return, with the chair on one side of the net and the rest of the board on the other. How tedious, unnecessary and unproductive!

When board members wish to pick up on something someone else has said, there should be no need to preface their response with the oft-heard phase “through you Mister/Madame Chair”. This is tipping the hat to the authority of the chair but is mostly a meaningless and irrelevant piece of ritual.

This assertion is based on a very fundamental assumption: that a good board meeting is like a stimulating conversation which progressively increases the awareness and understanding (of board members and executives alike) and reveals and applies the board’s collective wisdom. This type of iterative, learning conversation requires the chair to facilitate an organic and flexible dialogue.

The challenge for the chair is to draw out the best each board member has to offer and help the group to stitch this together. The outcome is

then a collective consciousness that represents far more than just the sum of each individual’s thoughts.

A highly structured, parliamentary-style ‘debate’, on the other hand, is much more akin to a boxing match. The chair, like a referee, has the primary task of imposing order and discipline. This may be unavoidable in some governance environments, such as when boards are very large or highly politicised and divided. But it is largely out of place in most boardroom settings.

Boards that can operate as a high-functioning work group are less likely to have a failure of governance. When a board cannot apply a sufficient level of understanding and collective consciousness to organisational performance it cannot fulfil its ultimate accountability for organisational well-being. This leaves a leadership vacuum that the chief executive and management team must inevitably fill.

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To create an environment in which a learning discussion can flourish the chair has to pursue three objectives in particular:

Protect & encourage the expression of differences

The chair has an important role in helping board members whose comments depart from the consensus of the moment, or whose proposals conflict with hitherto firmly held convictions and traditions of the board, to express their views. The chair must make it clear that he or she will encourage and support an honest exploration of an idea or proposition even when other members of the board may find it ‘off the wall’ or even threatening.

When an individual’s comments are treated seriously and built into the thread of the discussion he or she is likely to feel valued. Over time, discussion participants develop a sense of trust in each other which is a vital ingredient for an effective group decision-making environment.

Provide intellectual challenge

Treating boardroom comments with respect does not mean accepting them at face value. Board members sometimes float verbal hot air balloons. Unsubstantiated assertions and glib conclusions are common and it often falls to the chair to deflate these, but in a constructive and conversation-advancing manner.

That means chairs must be skilled in the use of language. Effective discussion leaders make good use of questions and the conditional tense:• ‘Does this approach seem right?’• ‘Might this be the route to take?’• ‘Should the evidence lead us to this

conclusion?’This leaves manoeuvring room for all discussion participants and eschews the type of false absolutes (such as “It is wrong to subsidise low-cost housing”) often heard in boardroom discussions.

Graeme Nahkies is director of Boardworks International. He will be one of the facilitators at our annual Governance and Investment workshops in Wellington on August 5 & 6. He will also lead a one-day event specifically for chairs of trusts and foundations on Tuesday 4 August. You can find out more about the workshops on our website: www.giving.org.nz

1 3 Help members to be heardThe chair must also ensure that all board members get a fair go. Given short meetings and long agendas, chairs often feel pressured to keep the meeting moving. Undue haste can produce (or allow) damaging cut-offs that are both disrespectful and prevent participants from completing their arguments.

The chair has a special responsibility to ensure that board members, as well as executives advising the board, have the opportunity to complete the expression of their thoughts. This makes it more likely that the group as a whole will understood their basic intent. At the same time, the chair needs to be continuously alert to implications of what is not said and to ensure that is added to the mix.

It is not simply a question of how the chair handles the process of the board’s dialogue. In creating a positive, productive boardroom discussion environment the chair must also ensure that the right values are in place.

Three basic values are vital – separately and in combination these values are critical factors in determining the tone and outcome of engagement between board members. They are:

• CivilityCourtesy in working with one’s associates is a simple but powerful virtue. Politeness and respect sets a cooperative tone and encourages the openness that is essential to creating a situation in which people are willing to help one another by sharing experience and insights.

• A willingness to take risksApplying, both individually and collectively, a willingness to take risks not only helps directors and management understand the issues being addressed, but also encourages people to think about and contribute a much wider range of ideas. It encourages board members and managers to speak up, to question long accepted assumptions and shibboleths. A board needs brave, as well as adroit, directors.

• An appreciation of diversityDiversity around the board table – in individuals’ backgrounds, personalities, thinking and learning styles, frames of inquiry and spectrums of interpretation – helps a board to avoid the rigidity of single-track thinking about single-point destinations.

When the chair both endorses and models a set of positive, functional values, the board will usually follow and adopt them.

Order in the boardroom is important but it should not be the primary goal of the chair in discussion leadership. The chair should be judged by the quality of the outcome of the discussion – of the information supplied and the ideas generated, by the effective evaluation and integration of those ideas and the ownership or commitment to the outcome of the board’s deliberations.

Putting the right values in place

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What funders need to hearWhat do grantseekers find most frustrating about the funding process? Three of our Grantmaker members recently asked a group of representatives from not-for-profit organisations to answer that question.

Several clear, common messages about how funders could make life easier for grantees emerged from a workshop at our conference for community organisations held in Auckland on Friday 17 April.

Participants at the Disruptive Conversation: What Funders Need to Hear workshop were surprisingly unanimous about what they think funders could do to help make the funding process as effective and efficient as possible for everyone involved.

They include making funding criteria clearer; making online application forms more user-friendly; simplifying the reporting process; providing more multi-year grants and funding for operating expenses, and providing feedback about why applications have been declined.

“These are messages that funders need to hear and act on,” says Philanthropy New Zealand board chair Kate Frykberg, who was one of three funders who took part in the workshop held during the Philanthropy Summit 2015: Understanding the 21st Century Donor, a one-day event which followed our two-day conference for grantmakers in April.

Kate, who recently stepped down after almost 10 years as executive director of the Todd Foundation, has long been committed to finding ways of improving the funding process for

both grantmakers and grantees. She co-convened the workshop to help break down some of the barriers that can exist between the two groups.

“We often hear community organisations referring to funders as being ‘on the other side of the fence’ and saying how difficult it is to have an honest dialogue for fear of losing funding,” she says. “But we are not on opposite sides of the fence at all – we are all working for the good of our communities.”

For fellow funder Hilary Sumpter,

CEO of the Auckland Communities Foundation, the messages that emerged from the workshop came as no surprise. After 10 years working on the ‘other side of the fence’ in the not-for-profit sector, she is familiar with the frustrations that can be associated with applying for funding – in particular the burden of reporting and accountability.

“It can be very frustrating and really impactful on recipients.”

She welcomes the growing popularity of round-table reporting, which not only eliminates the need for written reports, but also provides not-for-profit organisations with the chance

to find out what other organisations are up to. And she says funders need to ask themselves what the purpose of evaluation and accountability reports really is.“If they’re not helping the charity to do

their job better for the community then what is the point of them?”

Workshop attendee Robyn Scott, who has made the opposite journey – she was previously chief executive of Philanthropy New Zealand and now heads the not-for-profit organisation Age Concern – agrees.

“The reports are tedious to write, especially as it seems they often don’t get read. It’s good to see some funders being a bit more creative about accountability by introducing things like round-table reporting.”

She also finds it frustrating that online application forms lack an autofill function which means it’s often necessary to copy and paste ‘top sheet’ information such as an organisation’s name and contact details every time you make an online application. “It would be great if there was some way you could standardise that so you don’t have to start fresh very time.”

Fellow attendee Richard Aston,

From left: Robyn Scott of Age Concern; Hilary Sumpter of the Auckland Communities Foundation; Kate Frykberg, Philanthropy New Zealand board chair; Richard Aston of Big Buddy.

“We are not on the opposite sides of the fence at all – we are all working for the good of our communities.”

15Philanthropy News | Issue 66

CEO of Big Buddy, an organisation that provides mentoring to fatherless boys, gets particularly annoyed at being asked for top sheet information by funders he has a long-standing relationship with. He says there’s scope for funders to work together to develop a shared and more effective back-end for online application forms.“They seem to be quite buggy.

Why not develop one really good one, rather than a lot of really cheap ones?”

He’d also like to see some kind of accreditation system introduced for not-for-profit organisations similar to the one run by the British-based Mentoring and Befriending Foundation, which accredits charities as approved providers. “A system like that could streamline the process and put your application onto a fast track.”

As for the fact that many funders are not prepared to fund operating costs and are reluctant to provide untagged funds, Richard describes it as “madness”.

“I came into the not-for-profit world out of a business background, where the idea is to have really great staff and provide them with the resources to supply great services. I don’t

understand why the same thing doesn’t happen in the not-for-profit world – why can you get funding for one thing but not another?”

Like almost everyone who attended the workshop, Richard would also like to get clearer information about funding criteria – and more feedback about why an application has been declined.

“If you get an explanation about why you’ve been turned down then you won’t waste your time – or theirs – the next time. It would be useful to know if you made a mistake in your application, or even if they just don’t like you or what you’re trying to do.”

Robyn Scott can see the value of providing feedback about unsuccessful applications, though she wonders how easy it would be to do from a logistical point of view.“Just getting a generic response

is not particularly helpful, but I’m not sure how practical giving more detailed feedback is from a time perspective. Perhaps funders could be more available for a phone call or a conversation, which would make it easier to get more information about why you were declined.”

CAPTIONS

1Make your funding criteria clear so we don’t waste our time – and yours – by applying for grants we will never qualify for.

2Streamline the online application process and, at the very least, find a way of saving basic information so we don’t have to provide it for every application, regardless of whether we’ve been funded by you before or not.

3Tell us why you didn’t fund us. There is a big difference between being declined for funding because we don’t fit the criteria and being declined because we made a mistake or you already fund an organisation doing something similar.

4Find better ways of managing the reporting process such as roundtable reporting, and be more flexible about measuring outcomes.

5Give more multi-year grants and more grants for operating costs – you can’t run a car without a decent engine.

TOP FIVEmessages from grantseekers to funders

Almost 160 people attended our one-day conference for not-for-profit organisations held in Auckland on Friday 17 April.

The Philanthropy Summit 2015: Understanding the 21st Century Donor provided attendees with information about the changing philanthropic landscape, and what not-for-profit organisations might need to do to adapt to these changes.

Our overseas speakers, Mae Hong and Peter Hero went down particularly well, with most attendees who completed our feedback survey rating them as either excellent or very good.

We got some great feedback from the conference:

“A rare and valuable opportunity to hear from funders about what they want.”

“Great day and I left with lots of takeaways, thoughts around our organisation’s growth and how to do things better.”We’re currently planning some great events for Community members in the next few months. Keep an eye on our website for details: www.giving.org.nz

Thank you to our key sponsors Philanthropy New Zealand Board members

Chairperson Kate Frykberg, Thinktank Charitable Trust

Deputy Chair Kim McWilliams, Auckland Medical Research Foundation

Members Annette Culpan, Lani Evans, Jonny Gritt, Murray Jones (Dove Charitable Trust), Sandra Kai Fong (Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust), Rongo Kirkwood (Trust Waikato), Jennifer Walsh (Te Ru-nanga o Nga-i Tahu)

Philanthropy New Zealand is the hub of philanthropy in Aotearoa/New Zealand. We provide thought leadership and practical help for everyone with an interest in giving to make the world a better place. Our members include private philanthropists; family, community and corporate foundations; and iwi and community trusts.

We also have a Community membership category for not-for-profit organisations that deliver services into the community.

Join nowTo become a Grantmaker or Commmunity member or to find out more go to www.giving.org.nz