Kia ora koutou, greetings everyone.

It’s hard to believe we’re so far into 2021 already, though here at your Community Foundation we know it’s going to be an exciting year for us.

Since my last newsletter update we had a very successful AGM, Anissa Bain has settled into her role as Trustee, and Gavin and Kim continue to drive us forward as we work to raise our profile. We also worked closely with Jason and Tanya at our local branch of Craigs Investment Partners for their Christmas Giving campaign, that resulted in timely grants being made to three important local charities. The impact from those grants reinforce everything the Community Foundation movement is about.

In the meantime, we’ve got a small number of big initiatives in planning stages and I look forward to Gavin or I sharing more about those when we can.

We had an all new environment focussed fund established in February, that confirms environmental matters are our most popular ‘living giving’ cause. It reminds us donors can give ‘in the way they want, when they want’, and the impact from living giving can happen much sooner than from future bequests. We’ll continue to improve that option being an easy way to support the causes you love.

I continue to thank Duncan Cotterill and BNZ as core sponsors providing operational funding, and also Malloch McClean, Avoca Design and Independent Auditors as key ‘in-kind’ supporters. We have other individuals and couples also providing operations funding support, they know who they are.

As last time, I hope you enjoy this newsletter, and please don’t hesitate to get in touch if there is anything more you’d like to know.

Ngā mihi, kind regards

Dave Ashcroft, Chair, [email protected]