May 2025: New Kaikōkiri Announced
The J R McKenzie Trust is pleased to announce its most recent funding recipients.
New Settlers Family and Community Trust
$200K
New Settlers Family and Community Trust (NFACT) aims to help new settlers and their families thrive within their communities and wider society through a range of targeted community-based services and initiatives. This funding will support the delivery of microenterprise programme, NFACT Creative, which aims to enable refugees and migrants become more independent through learning to market their goods and support their employability. The focus is on fostering creative arts and crafts skills, in areas such as cooking, curtain making, soft furnishings, embroidery, and clothing.
$200K
Thrive Whanganui is focused on growing entrepreneurship capability in the Whanganui, Ruapehu, and Rangitikei regions. It is committed to creating opportunities for vulnerable communities through enabling access to business planning upskilling to people who have historically been excluded from entrepreneurship and business kōrero. This funding will support the delivery of the Thrive Whaikaha initiative which offers a supportive community among entrepreneurs within the disabled community, providing a comprehensive programme to connect, engage, and develop business ideas.
$150K
The purpose of Hui E! Community Aotearoa is to support communities through kōrero, hui, and āwhina. This funding will support the delivery of the Community Constellation initiative and provide resources and infrastructure for collaboration and collective actions across communities. This includes the provision of support and formalised collaboration in the form of working groups, twice yearly in-person hui, collective actions, and a collective research project.
$130K
Action Education (Action Ed) uses spoken word poetry as a mechanism to enable young people across Aotearoa New Zealand to express their authenticity, develop youth voice and leadership skills, self-advocate, strengthen identity, and develop self-esteem. This funding will support Action Ed as it undertakes an organisational transformation, separating its governance and operational activities from its sister organisation, and becoming fully independent.
$150K
The Kura Cares Charity mission is to accelerate and amplify the living standards of whānau living in low social-economic areas in Tāmaki Makaurau by prioritising Hauora principles. This holistic approach includes mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical wellbeing, emphasising family and community connections. Through this comprehensive framework, it aims to foster resilience, health, and prosperity in its communities. This funding will support the employment of essential programme staff so that community impact can be strengthened.
$160K
The dream of 4 A Better City is to gather like-minded people from all walks of life to work together to develop community projects that will help all the people of the Hutt Valley, Wellington grow to become a mentally, socially, economically and spiritually stronger community. This funding will support the employment of a manager focused on developing a city-wide organic waste collection and processing service, turning waste into nutrient rich compost. This project will ultimately support the reintegration of newly released prisoners back into the community as they participate in delivering the service.
Te Reanga Ipurangi – Ōtaki Education Trust
$50K
A collective of funders have come together with leaders in the Ōtaki community to trial a new way of funding Māori-led initiatives via a collaboration called the Ōtaki Funder Collab Pilot, with Te Reanga Ipurangi – Ōtaki Education Trust acting as fundholder. This funding will support Māori-led sport and kapa haka in the region enabling more people to participate and increasing whānau ora.
Doctrine of Discovery – The Gift Trust
$61K
The Gift Trust will act as the fundholder for this kaupapa. This funding will support the delivery of workshop training to grow the pool of Doctrine of Discovery educators, which offers insights into the mechanics of colonial racism, by illustrating how colonial ideas of entitlement and racial hierarchy became embedded in the social psyche. Through learning about the early laws which set the context for racism to be codified into foreign relations between Europe and the peoples of various indigenous nations during the "Age of Discovery", people will be equipped to assist in the dismantling of the Doctrine.
Āteanui Ltd
$70K
Āteanui Ltd is a whānau company established in 2019 to provide an educational kaupapa to community businesses based in Kaikohe at no cost. This funding will provide further support for the growth of indigenous gardening enterprises focused on Peruperu, and support Āteanui Ltd to host Wā Kōrero with local business owners to share mentoring tips with start-up entrepreneurs, and provide wānanga sessions featuring guest speakers.
Indigishare
$100K
IndigiShare exists to revitalise and empower indigenous economies through a platform of partnership. Its aim is to build economic resilience today to pave the way for sustained self-reliance and wellbeing for generations of tomorrow. This funding will support this mahi and the further development of Te Aka Matua, IndigiShare’s business growth and development programme designed specifically for Pakihi Māori and Māori entrepreneurs.
Walk Together NZ Ltd
$200K
Walk Together NZ is an evolving social good cooperative committed to supporting leaders, collectives, and organisations to navigate systemic change through intercultural leadership development, intercultural facilitation, and culturally-responsive approaches to systemic transformation. This funding will support the scaling of this kaupapa, strengthening capacity and capability in intercultural facilitation, mentoring, and systemic change navigation among Pasefika and Māori leaders.
Campfire Studios
$250K
Delivered by Campfire Studios, DigiKōr (Digital Kōrero) equips Māori and Pasifika youth with confidence, communication skills, and cultural connection through podcasting. As Aotearoa New Zealand’s first NZQA-approved NCEA Level 2 programme, DigiKōr provides an alternative, skills-based learning pathway that strengthens identity, fosters community ties, and prepares young people for the future. This funding will support the upskilling of teachers to help educators integrate podcasting into classrooms; an expansion of the DigiKōr Podcasting Portal; and community storytelling initiatives.
The National Youth and Justice Coalition
$300K
The National Youth and Justice Coalition is a coalition of organisations and individuals committed to and united by a shared vision of driving meaningful change across the justice, youth, and children’s sectors. The coalition aims to transform Aotearoa New Zealand’s justice system by centring equity, lived experience, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi; shifting narratives; advocating for systemic reform; and empowering communities to lead change. This funding will support this kaupapa.
Taimahi Trust
$105K
Taimahi Trust aims to positively change the lives of rangatahi with learning and intellectual disabilities through training and development in its not-for-profit enterprises, growing their self-determination and changing attitudes about disability. This funding will support Taimahi Trust to shape up its systems change workstream in line with its strategic plan; develop its systems change approach and framework; build relationships in this space; and subsequently begin implementation of its advocacy work.
Te Kawa o Rongo
$140K
Te Kawa o Rongo Charitable Trust is a rangatahi-focused organisation seeking to nurture rangatahi tāne with the goal of reconnecting Māori youth with their culture and identity. This funding will support the Trust to provide rangatahi tāne Māori in Taranaki with employment opportunities, through the creation of a social enterprise. They will be enabled to acquire skills and qualifications, in addition to being engaged fulltime employment and receiving fair remuneration.