Monitoring and Learning

Our value of Ako expresses the desire to have a learning mindset and also speaks to the reciprocity of learning; the responsibility and opportunity to share learning with others.

Using phone and email surveys, as well as focus groups and interviews, a comprehensive review of applicants’ experience of the Foundation North funding journey was carried out by Verian, with findings available in June 2024. This revealed that not all applicants, including some priority communities, experience this journey in the same way, and that there is work for us to do to improve the parts of the journey that are causing friction. This body of learning from our priority communities is enabling us to focus on how to improve our processes. Some changes made to date have included an interactive ChatBot for our website, and quicker signalling to new applicants if their request is not a good fit with our strategy. Other improvements are under development and we are working closely with our priority communities to ensure we respond to the valuable feedback received.

Led by our Kaihautū Ngātahi, our staff participate in monthly Ātamai sessions, with the specific aim this year of deepening our knowledge and understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and how it applies to our everyday mahi at Foundation North. This theme was initiated in April 2024, when our entire staff cohort, including our Kaumātua Kevin Prime, participated in a two-day noho marae at Te Taumata o Kupe, Te Mahurehure Marae’s education centre at Point Chevalier.

Our Trustees also had the opportunity to expand their knowledge of te ao Māori this year; attending the Combined Community Trusts annual wānanga on Te Tiriti o Waitangi (this year hosted by Rātā Foundation at Ōtautahi), and participating in a workshop hosted by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei to learn about the history of central Tāmaki Makaurau, as well as the area of Rimutahi (Ponsonby) where Foundation North’s offices stand.

The bi-annual Combined Community Trusts conference was held in Invercargill in November 2024, hosted by Community Trust Southland. Trustees and staff benefited from the chance to learn, network and share insights, and Centre for Social Impact (CSI) Associates facilitated workshop sessions on advocacy, understanding impact, future search and how to more equitably partner with communities to drive systems change.

A Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Framework guides our continually evolving practice. The framework includes tracking internal and external data; outcomes harvesting to understand the impact of our grants; a biennial applicant survey and ‘real-time’ survey to understand how communities experience interacting with us; sharing grantee stories and case studies; staff learning programme; and ongoing discussions with stakeholders to get external feedback. This year an inaugural Impact and Insights report consolidated findings across these MEL elements for Trustees and staff reflection.

As sector interest in participatory philanthropy grows in Aotearoa and internationally, Foundation North shared our five-year experience of participatory grantmaking so far by publishing a summary report.

Drawing on insights and learnings gained from working alongside Foundation North and other clients, the Centre for Social Impact offers a koha of ako to advance community sector and philanthropic practice in Aotearoa, with ripples flowing internationally. Read more at Te Pūaha o te Ako, CSI’s free online knowledge hub.

Publications through the year included Effective Funding Practices, which highlighted enabling and mana enhancing funding practices, drawing on insights gained through community engagement with Foundation North’s priority communities in 2023/24 as part of our strategy review processes.

To help funders like us explore what advocacy is, why funders should consider advocacy, and how it can be applied, CSI developed a comprehensive resource on advocacy that unpacks how a range of advocacy activities might help amplify community voice and make progress on issues that matter to funders and the communities they support.

CSI’s Te Tiriti o Waitangi resource provides a kete for funders looking to honour te Tiriti through partnership and genuine power-sharing. Like many other resources, this kete will be added to over time – as was the case with a new animation complementing existing reports CSI published in 2022 in the Understanding Impact series.