Kia ora koutou, greetings everyone.

With another year underway I’ve got 5.4 million reasons to be delighted at your Community Foundation’s progress!

That’s the new value of our total Funds under Management, thanks to the enthusiasm and professionalism of EO Gavin Larsen, to the ongoing efforts of the Board, but especially to new donors whose vision for supporting our communities is truly incredible.  We cannot thank you enough.

We’ve also been reflecting on the various ways Community Foundation across the CFNZ network can generate success, which includes significant start-up donations and grants, long range success from bequest programmes, major trust transfers, and living-giving donations.  Here at the Top of the South we aspire to be excellent with all those, but there is no doubt living-giving donations are the accelerant to our own trajectory.  There’s certainly something extra special about walking alongside our donors as the causes they love are supported.

Those reflections and our pathway have added a spring to our step; to know how much more enjoyable it will be to continue our journey with our donors, and not in their memory.  So if you or someone you know wants to walk with us too, and actually see the difference you can make in your lifetime, please get in touch.

In this newsletter we’ll report on new funds, describe our support for The Tindall Foundation’s grants process, present information on the growing sense of philanthropy in Aotearoa New Zealand, and provide an update on the charity home being built by Signatures Homes and their supporters.  There is no shortage of work to keep Gavin and the combined team busy!

In the meantime, a reminder that the need for ongoing operational funding is as important to us as a funding charity as it is to recipient charities, so if you’d like to become an ops funding partner please get directly in touch.  We have semi-formal bronze-silver-gold-platinum programmes in place for organisations and individuals, though any support is welcome.  We also invite you to support our existing corporate supporters where you can; Signature Homes, Pitt & Moore, Craigs Investment Partners, Avoca Design, NBS, and Malloch McClean.

Once again, I look forward to sharing more of our successes with you as the year progresses.

Ngā mihi, kind regards

Dave Ashcroft, Chair, [email protected]