For Fay Fuller, this opportunity offered an avenue to deepen our understanding of First Nation’s informed and led philanthropy in Aotearoa, and to continue to build our understanding of the role we can play in contributing to and supporting the growth of First Nation’s philanthropy here in Australia.
The tour started in Auckland at Te Māhurehure Marae where we were connected with our tour partners Robyn Scott and Ngaere Hauiti-Parapara (JR McKenzie) and Kate Cherrington and Te Pūoho Kātene (Tapuwae Roa) and were joined by members from the Tindall Foundation, Foundation North and Weave (a collection of eight family foundations).
After a moving Powhiri (cultural welcome) and the sharing of kai (food) we learnt about the significance of Marae’s across Aotearoa and the specific journey of the Te Māhurehure Marae itself.
After sharing a little about ourselves and our organisations, we came together to explore concepts including, how equity is expressed in our organisations, what decolonising philanthropic practice looks like within our organisations and how philanthropy is understood within the context of our communities.
“It was an incredible welcome into the world we would be experiencing across the week. Deeply grounded in culture and we left with a profound feeling of connection”.
Day two, in Auckland, we joined the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, who through a whānau-centred approach, support whānau (family groups), as collective decision-makers who determine their goals and aspirations when it comes to wellbeing. Whānau Ora builds solid quantitative data around holistic wellbeing for the Maori community while keeping community and culture at the centre of what they do; seamlessly melding data and culture together to tell the story of what is happening in their communities.
The following day we toured Papatūānuku Kōkiri Marae, an urban Marae established to bring together all Maori within the region, recognising that many Maori didn’t know, or were disconnected from, their Iwi.
Papatūānuku Kōkiri Marae have created a place that was for all community to come to care for their taha tinana (physical health), taha wairua (spiritual health), taha whānau (family health), and taha hinengaro (mental health). Attached to the Marae was a large market garden that sustains all of the local community with fresh healthy food.
“This place had gravity - attracting and pulling in both people and opportunities. It did so by being clear and uncompromising about who they were and what they stood for”.
In Christchurch we met with Tokona Te Raki who are using social innovation in pursuit of equity in education, employment, and income for Māori. They were born out of a decision by multiple Iwi to pool capital from treaty reparations, mobilising this and drawing upon the past and their culture to imagine a world where all Māori are inspired by their futures, confident in their culture, prosperous in their careers, and succeeding as Māori.
Here we met with several young people who were going through a two-year apprenticeship process to become social change leaders for the future.
Our final stop was in Wellington where we joined a JR McKenzie community partner event, a hui (community gathering) of Ngā Kaikōkiri (community champions/ leaders/ mentors) where, in small groups, we explored what authentic engagement looks and feels like and how we can work collaboratively in service to kaupapa (what we know is right, just, connected and principled).
Our final stop was a visit to Te Wānanga o Raukawa in Ōtaki, a Maori led and focussed higher education institute. Te Wānanga o Raukawa was established 25 years ago by the local Iwi when they came to a realisation that no one under the age of 30 in the local Iwi spoke te reo Māori. Initially working out of sheds and portable classrooms, the local Iwi went about sharing and learning language with their Iwi; it is now a beautiful university-like institution with culture deeply at the centre. Here, western and Maori degrees are merged, they aren’t training lawyers - they’re training Maori lawyers through specifically designed courses that incorporate the knowledge and aspirations of Maori at the heart.
“The way they created partnerships was fascinating - they saw opportunity where others saw waste. They didn’t approach partnering with ego, they just focussed on what was best for the community and got on with serving it”.
Coming away from the study tour some experiences have really stayed with us and informed some key learnings and reflections:
Places where communities can come together create gravity - pulling in people and opportunities for community.
A rich ecosystem of infrastructure/ places is needed to support the richness of Indigenous cultures to be expressed (and for Indigenous communities to grow and thrive). These are places of culture, connection, innovation, learning and enterprise.
Generational thinking leads to generational change - there are no quick fixes. We need to hurry up and slow our thinking down - casting our nets and ambitions wide to make deep and lasting change.
Not all Indigenous Led philanthropy looks the same. We should be proud of the work we have done here in Australia but continue to explore how philanthropy can show up differently.
Relationships are the cornerstone of philanthropic work, focussing only on the money will ultimately lead to failure.
Over the coming months, we are looking forward to bringing you a few deeper dives on some of these reflections, exploring the different approaches to First Nations Philanthropy in Australia and Aotearoa and reflecting on what can be achieved when we invest in people, place, and possibility over services or quick fix responses.