1. What is the fundamental change the Trust will make?

A shift away from small, short term grants to fewer, significantly larger, multi-year grants. We hope this will contribute to long- term sustainable change in communities, and make for a more socially just and inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand.  You can see the Trust's vision here.

2. Our organisation has received funding from the J R McKenzie Trust in the past, will we still qualify for funding?

Our values remain the same. The Trust will look into any future application that you make and, if your organisation satisfies each of the Trust’s criteria for funding, it will be given full consideration for funding in the future. The five criteria are:

1. Purpose: aims to build a socially just and inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand;

2. Priority target: focuses on one of our priority target groups (disadvantaged children and their families , and Māori development );

3. Approaches: uses one or more of our preferred ways of working (capacity development, Māori development and social change);

4. Effectiveness of approach: planned activities are likely to lead to the above results;

5.Capability: the organisation is capable of carrying out the planned activities.

3. What do you mean by “social justice and inclusion”?

For us, social justice and social inclusion refer to long term changes or ways of doing things that will improve the prospects or participation of disadvantaged people in an ongoing way.

Being disadvantaged means having significantly less choice, opportunity and control over one’s life than others in society. People may be disadvantaged by income and material circumstances, social status, health and well-being concerns, or by being discriminated against or marginalised.

4. What do you mean when you talk about ‘priority target groups’?

These are sectors of the community that we feel we can support best through our funding. This means we are likely to prioritise funding applications from organisations who work with and for:

•  Māori
• Disadvantaged children and their families .

Applications with a focus on other marginalised groups may also be considered. This might include groups which are clearly disadvantaged, and often “unpopular” causes, unlikely to attract support or assistance from other sources.

5. What do you mean when you talk about ‘ways of working’?

Based on our research and discussions, we believe these activities exemplify the Trust’s vision. We expect applicants to be engaging in at least one of the following:

• Capacity development: activities that strengthen leadership, participation, community skills and resources
• Māori development: tino rangitiratanga, self-determined development activities
• Social change: advocacy and other work towards systemic change in society.

6. Our organisation is currently receiving funding from the J R McKenzie Trust. Is this in jeopardy?

The Trust will honour all of its current commitments for the period agreed. Those on annual funding will be eligible to reapply in 2010 under the new criteria. Those on a multi-year funding arrangement will be able to reapply once the current arrangement is completed.

7. How do we apply for funding in the future?

This will be a two-stage process:

• The first stage is a brief Outline Application to give us an idea of what you do and what you’d like to achieve.
• Some applicants will be invited to put in a Full Application with quite a lot more detail. We hope to visit all organisations that reach the second stage, and will make final decisions based on discussions with you and others as well as your proposal.

We will continue to support both specific ‘projects’ and overall operating costs for organisations with goals in line with our vision. We’ll also look for other ways to add value to the work of organisations that we support with funding, including seeking opportunities to work in partnership with others.

As you can imagine, there is a lot changing at this end. It is quite likely that we’ll make some adjustments to the process as we go.

8. How often can we apply?

As is the case now, we’ll accept one application per year from any organisation.

9. Why has the Trust made these changes?

The Trust has undertaken a major review of its role, purpose and processes for grant making. The aim of the review was to ensure we continue to fulfil our mandate and contribute the most value to our communities in the future.

The review considered the vastly changed circumstances for the Trust. Thirty years ago the Trust was one of the largest non-government funders in New Zealand, casting its net very wide. Now, its funding makes up less than a quarter of one percent of all non-government funding going to community organisations.

Careful consideration of what the Trust is best placed to do, with its particular mix of resources and attributes, has driven a shift in focus. Instead of providing ‘top-ups’ to community groups, we will now focus on working with them in long-term partnerships to build the problem-solving infrastructure of the community in a way that mobilises all its diverse parts – tackling causes of social distress, and assisting iwi, hapū, whānau, and communities to work together and lead their own solutions.

10. How is this a better way forward?

The new approach seeks to make more impact and enable sustainable change in communities through long-term partnerships. This way forward allows us to stay true to our core value of social inclusion and work strategically with organisations that share this value. It also enables us to play to our strengths – for example, while our financial resources are limited, in common with other private trusts we face fewer constraints on the ways in which we can operate relative to many other funders.

It is exciting for us to anticipate working in partnership with community organisations with objectives aligned with our vision for “a socially just and inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand”.

11. Is there now a smaller chance of receiving a grant from the Trust than there was before the changes were made?

Yes, the Trust will allocate fewer grants. However, recipients selected will receive more money over a longer period of time. In this way, we believe we can create the greatest impact with the resources we have available to us.

12. If our application is successful, will anything more be required of us on an ongoing basis?

With larger individual grants we will be expecting higher levels of self-reflection, learning, reporting and accountability. We expect to be in “learning mode” too.

Specific requirements will be negotiated with successful applicants.

13. What will happen to the fund categories that the Trust has used in recent years: National, Regional, Innovative, and Chair’s Fund?

The money available for grants will no longer be split up in this way.

In the past, we did not accept applications from groups affiliated to a national network or organisation, but only their national office. We are suspending this policy and will see what happens to the volume of applications.

The Chair is still able to make limited grants between funding rounds when waiting till the next round is not feasible.

14. What will happen to the Deaf Development Fund?

There will not be any changes to the Deaf Development Fund.

15. What will happen to the J R McKenzie Youth Education Fund?

There will not be any changes to the Youth Education Fund. Although established by the same person, this is separate to the J R McKenzie Trust, and administered entirely through the Rotary movement.

16. What will happen to Te Kāwai Toro?

This initiative will continue to guide the Trust’s engagement with Māori communities and its contribution towards Māori development. The focus on Māori development is increasing.

17. What will happen to the See Here project?

The See Here project is not affected by the changes described here.