Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Licence needed for work use Learn More
Parliament

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | Video | Questions Of the Day | Search

 

Turia: Funding Information Service AGM

Hon Tariana Turia

Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector


Wednesday 17 November 2010; 5.30pm

Speech


Funding Information Service AGM and 20th Year Anniversary West Foyer; Parliament Buildings; Wellington

[check against delivery]


On behalf of Minister Turia, I want to pass on her sincere congratulations for this wonderful event – the occasion of twenty years of service and support provided by the Funding Information Service.

This location – Parliament Buildings, the House of Representatives – is the perfect setting to be thinking about the priorities and achievements championed by your organisation. And I am very pleased that some of my parliamentary colleagues have been able to attend, to recognise the very significant contribution the Funding Information Service provided throughout the land.

If there is one thing that I think we might all agree on is that funding needs to be focused on ensuring positive and measurable outcomes for communities. It is about making the difference – not just through the access to resources, but also in providing opportunities to work smarter and more efficiently.

I want to firstly acknowledge the present and past Board, members and staff of the Funding Information Service, in particular, Greg Bishop (the Chair), Kevin Haunui (General Manager) Andrea Goble, Jenny Gill and Ruth McKenzie.

I am delighted to be able to host your celebration of your history this evening, and to congratulate – and thank – the staff of the Funding Information Service for all their contributions to the community and voluntary sector.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Yours is a real success story. The service you provide truly gives effect to your operating principle: Manāki me te tiaki tangata - Nurturing and caring for people.

At its core, the success of your service can be summed up as providing a comprehensive, accurate central hub of funding information that is universally accessible to all New Zealanders.

Whether as an MP, a Minister, or a member of a neighbourhood, we often come across people with great ideas who are literally shining with the vision that they hold on behalf of the people they care for.

But all too often, that vision starts to fade, as they embark on the journey of finding funding to drive their ideas into practice.

Access to reliable, detailed information about funding sources has always been a vital need in the community and voluntary sector – but thanks to the initiative of three Wellington women some two decades ago, we are now in a much stronger position.

And so I mihi to Jennifer Gill, Andrea Goble and Brenda Smith, for your insight in recognising the need for centralised and accessible information about funding. I want to commend your leadership in wading through the quagmire of confused and convoluted funding paths, to find a solution.

Through your initiative, and that of the Roy McKenzie Foundation, the the Funding Information Service was born.

The goal then, as it is now, was to find a better way to serve community needs with comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date information that was gathered centrally and freely available.

The aspiration was to create more innovative and accessible philanthropy for fund seekers as well as a centralised record keeping for community funders.

In the journey you undertook, there were many conversations to be had with community organisations, community workers, tangata whenua and funders, collecting their feedback about what they would want to see in such a service. You met with funders; local authorities, and central government, encouraging them to make their own information available to the public.

And of course the contributions and support of the Department of Internal Affairs, Philanthropy New Zealand and the Manakau City Council were an invaluable part of your project. This collaborative approach has resulted in a service of great benefit to those who are helped by the community and voluntary sector, and indeed to the sector as a whole.

By 1992, the first database, FundView, was developed, which provided information about available funding for community and voluntary groups, whanau, hapu and iwi.

By October of that year, a pilot was running in Manukau City, Northland and the West Coast. At that time, subscribers received data on those technological treasures known as floppy disks. In fact it wasn’t until 1996 that the service went online. Since then, the Funding Information Service has led the way in using the internet to connect people to funding information.

FundView was formally launched by the then-Minister of Internal Affairs in 1993 with some 80 records.

Today, FundView contains over 600 funding schemes from local and central government, statutory and philanthropic trusts, gaming trusts and service organisations. It is an excellent example of what can be achieved through collaboration.

I want to particularly highlight the dedicated commitment that was demonstrated by the Service in making good of their promise to enable the FundView database to be accessed free of charge at a number of public libraries, district councils and Citizens Advice Bureaux, and at the nearest Department of Internal Affairs' Local Government and Community Branch office.

But of course, it didn’t just stop at being a one-stop-shop database.

There is a powerful incentive to support communities to support themselves. FundView encourages grant-seekers to be focused in looking for the appropriate funder. The service has also helped funders to become more strategic in their funding and to improve the presentation of their information.

In 1997, the Funding Information Service launched its second database, BreakOut, in specific response to an identified need for scholarship, grant and award funding for individual development. BreakOut is particularly useful for students, researchers, athletes, artists and others seeking to further their own professional development. And although it seems almost unbelievable, BreakOut has over 2,300 records. That’s a staggering amount of information brought together, to help and guide communities in becoming self-determining.

Not content with basking in the success of BreakOut and Fundview, in 2005 along came CorporateCitizens. This database, launched in partnership with Saints information, offers details of New Zealand businesses that are committed to building relationships with community and voluntary organisations.

The database contains information on around 150 New Zealand businesses that are looking for a mutually beneficial relationship with a voluntary organisation or community group. They may want to get involved with the community as a way to increase brand awareness or brand perception and to give back to the community.

Businesses that are interested in corporate community involvement may or may not be offering sponsorship or funding. They may use other ways to support community groups such as gifts in kind, mentoring, loans, volunteering, payroll giving and other similar initiatives.

I am really impressed by efforts the Funding Information Service continues to make to support a strong community and voluntary sector.

Your website is a literal treasure chest of tips for planning projects and writing funding applications. The website also has a media centre with up-to-date news from the community and voluntary sector as well as information about upcoming events and success stories from grant and scholarship receivers. All in all, it’s a very good news story.

And so, as the Minister of Community and Voluntary Sector I want to thank everyone involved in leading, driving and sustaining the Funding Information Service, for the support you provide for services that are best delivered by community and voluntary sector organisations.

In many ways, the work you are involved in is very much aligned with my priority and passion – to support communities to take ownership of the tools that affect them, and help them to find their own solutions.

We are all aware of the challenges that have come as a result of the economic downturn over the last 20 months. We've seen an overall reduction in philanthropic funding from many sources, particularly those that relied on investment income.

But during these times when resources have been stretched, we’ve also seen a greater willingness for collaboration between funders and community groups to work together to deliver services to which enable positive outcomes for our communities. In this environment, it’s more important than ever that there is thorough and accurate information available about funding opportunities.

Recently, I launched the Code of Funding Practice to help government funders and non-profit organisations work together when using public funds to benefit communities. The Code will help government and community parties to understand each other’s motivations and purpose. It is not prescriptive, but focuses on behaviours that lead to more productive relationships and help improve trust and achieve outcomes.

To stay resilient as a sector, we need to share ideas, resources and local solutions to build stronger, more resilient communities. Collaboration across the sector requires community organisations and funders to work together and have open and honest conversations.

As the history of your organisation demonstrates, voluntary organisations, businesses, local authorities, central government and individuals can come together to share their information and resources in the interests of supporting and assisting their communities.

Your service brings together all of these parties, and provides opportunities to work smarter and more efficiently. It opens up a world of knowledge that might otherwise be inaccessible and empowers individuals by enabling them to research and discover the information themselves.

Finally, I say happy 20th birthday and congratulations to everyone involved in the Funding Information Service for your initiative in bringing this service to communities.


ENDS

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

Featured News Channels