Building Capacity and Capability

A variety of capacity and capability building approaches helps build stronger community organisations and enhance impact.

The Centre for Social Impact (CSI) was established by the Foundation in 2014, to strengthen the impact of the community sector, and help grant makers and funders better enable sustained social change through their investment. The Centre’s knowledge hub, Te Pūaha o te Ako funded by Foundation North, provides free access to information, training and resources to support community organisations and changemakers on their social impact journey.

To celebrate ten years of CSI partnering with community organisations and funders, ten podcasts were created in the TenforTen series – community leaders from across the motu in conversation with CSI shared their wisdom, their perspective on our society, their mahi, and their hopes for the future. Browse the collection here

Over the reporting year, there were 13 Te Pūaha Talks - webinars on topics covering communications, wellness, evaluation through a Pacific lens, climate action, effective collaboration and te reo o te taiao (the language of the environment). Attended by 787 participants, 85% rated the webinars very or extremely helpful, with 88% rating the webinars’ quality either very good or excellent.

In direct response to community feedback on the kinds of support most needed in the sector, the Centre’s Associates last year compiled key guidance toolkits which are freely available from Te Pūaha o te Ako. These include the Funding Guide (the most accessed resource of the year), the Core Skills Toolkit and the Capability Support Wheel. Associates introduce these kete in this video.

As well as CSI, other organisations play an important part in our capacity and capability framework, helping deliver dedicated programmes to benefit our priority communities. Examples from the year included:

• Auckland North Community and Development (ANCAD) whose training programmes were channelled towards Pacific communities
• Asians Supporting Tino Rangatiratanga and Kūwaha Ltd, who provided two-day Te Tiriti o Waitangi workshops as part of the Asian Artists’ Fund – opportunities for artists of Asian descent in Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Tai Tokerau to engage more deeply with their position as Tangata Tiriti in Aotearoa.

Our funding for tailored support enabled Foundation North grantee organisations to receive strengthened capacity and capability in areas like strategy development, impact evaluation and communication. Partners such as Ākina and Community Governance Aotearoa were also funded to upskill organisations in social enterprise and governance.