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Te Pūaha o te Ako
Knowledge Hub

Interested in building your leadership skills? Finding new ways to work, relate, and learn together? Our new Leadership through Restoration and Healing programme is for you.

What we do

The Centre for Social Impact supports grant-makers and funders to invest for social impact and community organisations and changemakers to enable inspiring and sustainable social change.

The Centre for Social Impact provides a unique hub of expertise for organisations committed to sustainable social change. Our team has a deep understanding of national and international social impact practice. This is supported by practical insights and knowledge gained from over ten years working with grantmakers, funders and community changemakers across Aotearoa.

For whānau Māori, we work in a Te Tiriti framework and collaborate to find solutions that are informed by principles and practices from te ao Māori.

Insights from our experience are shared through our knowledge and practice hub, Te Pūaha o te Ako. Through Te Pūaha o te Ako we support social change with information and engagement to build effective and impactful practice.

Our support can be accessed at any stage of an organisation’s social impact journey, from the development of a social change vision and strategy to evaluation of the social impact of initiatives.

Our work with grantmakers and fundersOur work with community organisations and changemakers

Our support can include:

  • Working with you to align your vision and mission with your social impact goals
  • Data analysis and research to inform your strategic thinking
  • Supporting the development of your grant-making strategies and evaluation frameworks
  • Assisting with community engagement
  • Supporting your partnership with your grantees
  • Identifying opportunities for collaboration and co-funding

Our support can include:

  • Supporting the development of your initiatives to meet the needs of your communities
  • Helping you clarify how and why change will happen and defining potential outcomes and areas of impact
  • Strengthening your organisational capacity in areas such as governance, operations, evaluation and monitoring, and strategic learning,
  • Helping you build effective partnerships with funders and grantmakers
  • Connecting you with corporate and specialist support

Our work

CSI Kauhautu Karinia Lee and CSI associates Tuihana Ohia and Dan Gerrard facilitating at a Pou Tuarā leadership circle, Kaupapa Māori wānanga.
CSI Kauhautu Karinia Lee and CSI associates Tuihana Ohia and Dan Gerrard facilitating at a Pou Tuarā leadership circle, Kaupapa Māori wānanga.
Discussion circle at a Pou Tuarā leadership circle, Tauiwi wānanga.
Discussion circle at a Pou Tuarā leadership circle, Tauiwi wānanga.
CSI associate Miranda Cassidy-O’Connell in conversation at the Future Search Facilitation Training weekend.
CSI associate Miranda Cassidy-O’Connell in conversation at the Future Search Facilitation Training weekend.
Healing Systems and Whole System Collaboration hui, 80+ community members come together for a learning event centred on new ways of building coherence and changing systems for good.
Healing Systems and Whole System Collaboration hui, 80+ community members come together for a learning event centred on new ways of building coherence and changing systems for good.
39 community members attend the Future Search facilitation training.
39 community members attend the Future Search facilitation training.

Some of our mahi for funders

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JR McKenzie Trust

In 2019, CSI supported family foundation, JR McKenzie Trust, to create its 10-year strategy Te Anga Rautaki. From 2021, CSI has acted as a learning partner with JR McKenzie Trust, co-developing an Impact Framework for the Trust and since 2023 preparing annual Impact and Insights Reports.

Foundation North Logo

Foundation North

Foundation North commissioned CSI to document the journey and impacts of Te Korowai o Waiheke's predator eradication efforts. The goal of Te Korowai o Waiheke, established in 2018, is to make Waiheke Island the world’s first predator-free urban island. 

Some of our mahi for community

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Belong Aotearoa

Belong Aotearoa strengthens belonging, inclusion, and wellbeing for refugee-background and migrant communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. Belong Aotearoa commissioned a report from the Centre for Social Impact (CSI) to demonstrate its impact between 2022 and 2024, along with key insights and implications. The findings provided a strong foundation for the next phase of the organisation’s work. 

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Wāhine Toa for Woman’s Refuge

The Centre for Social Impact developed the Wāhine Toa programme, a one-year leadership initiative for Women's Refuge. Over three years with three cohorts, it has supported refuge staff to develop their capacities as kaitiaki and kaiwhakatere (guardians and navigators), and to build skills to navigate personal, team, organisational, and global complexities. 

Read more about our mahi

Want to know more about what we do and how we can support you?

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