50 Years of the Todd Foundation
December 2022 marks 50 years of the Todd Foundation, and $100 million of donations to New Zealand communities. Foundation Trustees and Staff decided to mark the occasion by creating a timeline and short film reflecting on changes and milestones over those years. We hope you enjoy this look back at 50 years of giving in Aotearoa New Zealand....
November 7, 2022Reflections on Funding Youth Employment
Seumas Fantham reflects on eight years of funding youth employment initiatives in Aotearoa. When I first started at the Todd Foundation, I held the youth portfolio. I had also come from a youth development background, so had many years’ experience walking alongside young people in their journey to employment. If they were successful, it was a stepping stone towards independence, and if not then they were cast back to the stigmatising label of being a NEET, a category that defines you bas...
August 25, 2022Youth Inspire - empowering young people in the Hutt Valley
The impetus for Youth Inspire (YI) came from a deep concern amongst key Wainuiomata community members that young people were being neglected in terms of education and employment opportunities. YI is part of the Mayor’s Taskforce for Jobs and the organisation has strong partnerships with Hutt City Council and local Wainuiomata community and business. According to the YI website, “our focus is to see all young people under 25 engaged in meaningful employment, training, or education.” Y...
August 8, 2022Trust Tairāwhiti and the Licence to Work Youth Employability Programme
As a cross sector, business led initiative, Licence to Work (LTW) is intended to respond to business and industry concerns that young people may not be developing the employability skills they need to succeed in the workplace. It is particularly beneficial for those transitioning directly to the workforce from school or training (15-24 years), and people returning to work. This programme is delivered in local schools by school-based facilitators as well as an independent external facilitator.&nb...
August 8, 2022Growing the Eastern Bay of Plenty - Toi EDA and Youth Employability
Acknowledging the unique communities, contexts, common agendas and opportunities across the Eastern Bay of Plenty, Toi EDA has built and supported cross-sector partnerships that create and support connections between education, industry, iwi, rangatahi and communities. Toi EDA focus on several youth employability projects, such as Link Up and Licence to Work programmes in Bay of Plenty schools, driver's licencing support, and fit-for-work programmes. They have also encouraged employer enga...
August 8, 2022Tāiki e! Tairāwhiti's First Impact House
In their own words, Tāiki e! describes themselves as Tairāwhiti’s first impact house; a collaborative space with a shared agenda for social and environmental action. They ‘lead with aroha’ and are focused on bringing people together who are passionate about creating systemic change by using collaborative design principles and entrepreneurial thinking. Growing and supporting rangatahi, whānau and communities in Tairāwhiti is the focus of Tāiki e!, which is led by Cain Kerehoma and Rena...
August 8, 2022Helping Christchurch Rangatahi to Blossom
A story about youth leadership programmes in Christchurch....
May 16, 2022Measuring Levels of Food Insecurity to Help End It
To move beyond the food parcel model to food security we first need to measure what's being distributed....
May 16, 2022Building Warm, Dry Whare for East Coast Whānau
Read about housing innovation from our community partners Hikurangi Enterprises....
May 16, 2022How Funding Systems Change is Changing Us
Staff reflections on being funders of systemic change....
May 16, 2022Our Learning Partners Point and Associates
Read about our new approach to evaluating long-term change....
May 15, 2022Working together to build food security in the Hutt Valley
A partnership forged between two Wellington organisations to provide food to people in the Hutt Valley during the Covid-19 lockdown has led both of them in exciting – and unexpected – directions.Tākiri Mai te Ata Whānau Ora Collective and Common Unity Project Aotearoa (CUPA) teamed up during the lockdown to provide groceries, fresh produce and freshly cooked meals after local foodbanks temporarily closed down. Tākiri Mai te Ata, a collective of seven health, housing, and social servi...
May 3, 2021Te Hiko: Sparking and Supporting Community Solutions to Complex Problems
After more than 30 years of working alongside communities in Porirua and the Hutt Valley, Wesley Community Action knows the power of letting communities take the lead when it comes to solving complex problems such as poverty and food insecurity.“We have learned that community-led development is where real, profound change can happen,” says community innovation lead Kena Duignan.At the heart of this way of working is the belief that people are the experts in their own lives. Rather ...
May 3, 2021Being Human, Systems-focused, and Learning
Our journey to better outcomes for children, whānau and communities. There are no quick fixes to complex issues such as reducing inequality or responding to the long-term social and economic effects of Covid-19; areas where the Todd Foundation aims to make an impact. How do we embrace complexity, learn from it, and continually improve the way we serve the leaders in our communities who are driving change? How can we best work collaboratively to catalyse and support longer-term social chan...
May 3, 2021How to fund the future – a regional perspective
ToiEDA Workforce Development Manager, Barbara MacLennan, shares her thoughts on how funders can support future generations....
December 9, 2020Developing a new approach to supporting Māori-led solutions
Project Hoake – an example of how funders can listen to communities, develop shared tikanga/values leading to mana enhancing relationships....
December 1, 2020Fairer futures for children and whānau
We’re exploring ways that we can support efforts to address poverty and inequality in Aotearoa New Zealand.Our Fairer Futures change initiative supports community-led action to shift the social and economic conditions contributing to poverty and inequality in Aotearoa New Zealand and to enhance opportunities for children and whānau to reach their aspirations....
November 19, 2020Inclusive Aotearoa Collective: Developing a national strategy to build a socially inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand
Most New Zealanders were deeply shocked by the Christchurch mosque attacks on 15 March 2019.For human-rights activist Anjum Rahman they confirmed her view that we need a national strategy to ensure that Aotearoa New Zealand is a place where everyone feels they belong – regardless of their ethnic background, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability status. “We’d been talking about it before the attack, but afterwards it became evident that it was imperative,” she says. ...
May 4, 2020Driving Change: Working together to help all young New Zealanders get a driver licence
For young New Zealanders a driver license is more than just a license to get on the road. It’s a license to get a job and to participate fully in society.However, at present up to 90,000 young people face barriers to getting a license. They often have no legal driver to teach them, and no legal car to practice in. If they drive anyway, they risk being caught up in the criminal justice system.Now the Driving Change Network, a collaborative project funded by the Todd Foundation, the Vodafone New...
May 1, 2020Lifting Our Aspirations
Stories of strategic philanthropy in Aotearoa and beyond ...
April 18, 2020Funding Youth Employment Initiatives from 2014 to 2019
In 2014, we started researching youth employment issues and solutions in New Zealand and overseas. We were becoming increasingly aware of the difficulties many young people face in finding their first stable job. With the changing nature of work many of the traditional pathways to employment are in decline.Based on what’s worked elsewhere, we saw that successful approaches:offer continuing support for young people to be ‘work ready’ for a changing economyensure employers and comm...
February 3, 2020Whyora Taranaki
Whyora is an employment pathways programme targeted at Māori students in the Taranaki region. This initiative is a partnership between local Iwi, the Taranaki District Health Board, and the Ministry of Social Development. Māori are under-represented in the health and disability workforce in almost every specialist area and Whyora’s vision is to ensure Taranaki has “a competent, skilled Māori health and disability workforce, equal in proportion to its population, who can provide...
November 5, 2019A New Heart for Giving
Christina Howard, our former Executive Director, shares her thoughts about philanthropy in this article by Margie Cooney for Denizen magazine....
October 14, 2019Youth Inspire - Lower Hutt
Based in Wainuiomata and Naenae, Youth Inspire collaborates across the public and private sectors to support young people into pathways of employment, study, training, and soft skills as well as driver licencing. Through Licence to Work and Driver Licencing programmes Youth Inspire provides a responsive approach to wrap around young people not currently engaged in employment, education or training. Youth Inspire has strong local community and employer connectio...
July 1, 2019Top 10 tips for community-led development
Todd Foundation and Inspiring Communities share their top 10 tips on enabling and supporting community-led development...
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