Terms Used by J R McKenzie Trust
Conditions that hold inequities in place
This is about finding the blockages that mean some communities always get less or always get left out. Those blockages can be ways of thinking or ways of doing things. They can be about who has a say, and who makes decisions
Conditions are things like behaviours, societal norms or societal structures that are unfair or not functioning well for some members of society. This creates or maintains inequity* (*see definition below).
Conditions that create unfairness or inequity may include things like:
Government policies
The design of mainstream services and practices (ways of working) that don’t work for everyone
How and where resources (money, knowledge, assets) are distributed
Who holds decision-making powers
Dominant attitudes and behaviours
IN SIMPLE TERMS
This is about finding the blockages that mean some communities always get less or always get left out. Those blockages can be ways of thinking or ways of doing things. They can be about who has a say, and who makes decisions.
Community innovation
Community innovation describes how a community knows what their people need to make their lives better and finds its own solutions to meet those needs.
Community innovation is a change that is championed by the community and results in benefits that are meaningful to the community¹.
Community innovation often occurs when community leaders or groups of engaged community members have ideas for initiatives that are wanted by the community and would make a strong and positive difference to quality of life for members of that community.
¹Tamarack Institute: https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/communityinnovation
Connected communities
A community is connected when you know each other, have each other’s backs, share an interest in strengthening the good things that hold your community together, and work together for a better future.
A community is a group of people with something in common – including the place that they live or some other type of shared identity e.g. cultural identity.
A connected community is one where people know each other and support one another, where people get involved in activities within the community, and where people know how to access support and where to go for help. Connected communities often have a strong sense of community identity and pride.
IN SIMPLE TERMS
A community is connected when you know each other, have each other’s backs, share an interest in strengthening the good things that hold your community together, and work together for a better future.
Equity and social justice
Equity describes when people have the same chance of a high quality of life. This is achieved by making sure that those who experience unfair conditions have access to better tools or supports to overcome them. This helps to bridge the gap with other people who don’t experience the same unfair conditions.
Social justice is similar to equity. In this case, equity is achieved changing the systems that create these unfair conditions so that they don’t exist anymore. This means that everyone could have equal access to the same tools and supports and still experience the same quality of life, because there are no other barriers in the way.
To describe what equity and social justice mean to JR McKenzie Trust, it is helpful to first describes what inequality means.
Inequality describes differences or imbalances in aspects of a people’s quality of life or access to opportunities. This means that some people experience a better quality of life than others.
Equality is sometimes described as the solution to inequality. Equality is when people have access to the same supports or tools as others. However, there may be other factors that mean everyone still doesn’t have the same quality of life or opportunities.
Inequity accounts for these other factors. It recognises that people don’t always have the same chance for a high quality of life even though they might have access to the same tools or supports. This is because of other unfair conditions* in society, like racism or bias, that put some people at a disadvantage (*see above for definition of conditions).
Equity describes when people have the same chance of a high quality of life. This is achieved by making sure that those who experience unfair conditions have access to better tools or supports to overcome them. This helps to bridge the gap with other people who don’t experience the same unfair conditions.
Social justice is similar to equity. In this case, equity is achieved changing the systems that create these unfair conditions so that they don’t exist anymore. This means that everyone could have equal access to the same tools and supports and still experience the same quality of life, because there are no other barriers in the way. This is JR McKenzie’s ultimate goal, because it protects the quality of life of future generations.
Flexible funding
Flexible funding is about being able to offer funding in a way that best helps people focus on and achieve their kaupapa/goals.
Flexible funding is about having a range of funding tools that can be used depending on what we want to achieve and what best suits the needs of ngā kaikōkiri* (*see definition below for ngā kaikōkiri).
Flexible funding also allows us to make changes as needed to get the best out of our partnerships with ngā kaikōkiri. This could include e.g. changing what funding will be used for if important new issues or opportunities have come up for ngā kaikōkiri.
Funding relationships
Funding relationships are about JR McKenzie Trust and ngā kaikōkiri walking together in partnership to support a kaupapa or goal
Relational funding partnerships are relationships with ngā kaikōkiri that are built around trust, understanding and respect.
This type of funding relationship is not transactional – meaning it is based on more than just dollars. By developing a closer relationship with ngā kaikōkiri we are able to fully understand how we can best support their mission.
Whakawhanaungatanga is a key part of relational funding partnerships. For us, this means building genuine and enduring relationships where everyone involved feels valued.
IN SIMPLE TERMS
Funding relationships are about JR McKenzie Trust and ngā kaikōkiri walking together in partnership to support a kaupapa or goal.
Institutions
By institutions we mean large organisations that play important public roles – including political institutions (the Government, local authorities, Crown entities, state services), educational institutions (tertiary education providers, schools), banks, funding bodies and religious institutions etc.
By institutions we mean large organisations that play important public roles – including political institutions (the Government, local authorities, Crown entities, state services), educational institutions (tertiary education providers, schools), banks, funding bodies and religious institutions etc.
Known (Indigenous) solutions or practices
This is about respecting Māori and Pacific ways of thinking and finding solutions for their people.
Known solutions are ways of thinking, being and working that draw on long-established Indigenous knowledge, beliefs or protocols.
For our Māori and Pacific communities of interest in particular, resourcing ngā kaikōkiri to implement ‘known’ solutions is one way that we can support self-determining communities* (*see below for definition of self-determining communities).
IN SIMPLE TERMS
This is about respecting Māori and Pacific ways of thinking and finding solutions for their people.
Mana-enhancing
Mana-enhancing is about making sure all of our interactions with ngā kaikōkiri make them feel trusted, listened to, respected and cared for.
Mana-enhancing relationships exist when both parties feel seen, understood, trusted and valued for who they are and what they bring into the relationship. All of our interactions, processes and procedures should be mana enhancing for ngā kaikōkiri.
As a Trust we need to constantly reflect on our ways of working to make sure they are authentically mana-enhancing for ngā kaikōkiri. To be a fit partner for ngā kaikōkiri, we must understand the power we have as a funder and make efforts to share this power more equally and authentically with ngā kaikōkiri.
Our Trust’s values of whakamana tāngata (respect) and manaaki (care for others) are key foundations for building mana-enhancing partnerships.
IN SIMPLE TERMS
Mana-enhancing is about making sure all of our interactions with ngā kaikōkiri make them feel trusted, listened to, respected and cared for.
Ngā kaikōkiri
Ngā kaikōkiri – the leaders and champions who work to create a better life for their communities.
Ngā kaikōkiri are community champions and leaders.
Ngā means more than two people.
Kai, when placed at the front of a verb, becomes the person who carries out that action.
Kōkiri means to champion (a cause), promote, advocate and lead.
So, ‘ngā kaikōkiri’ means the people who champion, promote, advocate and lead – in this case, together with their communities.
We are using the ‘ngā kaikōkiri’ to replace the term ‘grantees’ which means ‘belonging to the granter’. We believe ngā kaikōkiri better reflects their mana of our community champions and the esteem in which we hold them and their work. It also reflects our desire to be more conscious about the power that we hold as funders and our responsibility to share power with communities
IN SIMPLE TERMS
Ngā kaikōkiri – the leaders and champions who work to create a better life for their communities.
Outcomes and impact
An outcome is a measurable change that happens because of your work towards a goal, for your community.
Every outcome helps move your community towards impact, which means making a difference for the long-term.
Outcomes describe the meaningful changes that happen as a direct result of an initiative – such as changes in knowledge, skills, behaviour, attitudes or environmental conditions. Outcome statements describe what changes as a result of the initiative, and who experiences this change.
Impact describes the broader changes that an initiative might contribute towards in the long-term. Often, there are other factors that may also contribute to that impact. This means that the link between the initiative and the impact is less direct and harder to measure than the shorter-term outcomes.
An example an outcome from a youth training programme might be increased youth employment.
A long-term impact of this programme and outcome might be increased quality of life as a result of secure employment and income. There is reasonable potential for this impact to happen, but it may take longer to see and be more difficult to track over time.
IN SIMPLE TERMS
An outcome is a measurable change that happens because of your work towards a goal, for your community.
Every outcome helps move your community towards impact, which means making a difference for the long-term.
Readiness
This is about working with ngā kaikōkiri to decide when the time is right to start a funding relationship.
Thinking about ‘readiness’ helps J R McKenzie Trust and ngā kaikōkiri think through whether the time is right for a funding partnership. This involves thinking about the stage of development an initiative might be in and the type of funding and relationship that would best suit this stage of development.
IN SIMPLE TERMS
This is about working with ngā kaikōkiri to decide when the time is right to start a funding relationship.
Self-determining communities
This is about your community making the decisions and taking the action that works for you.
Self-determining communities are communities that have control over their own choices and resources. Community members are actively leading decision-making about the things that affect them – both now and in the future.
Self-determination relates to the concepts of tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake in Te Ao Māori.
IN SIMPLE TERMS
This is about your community making the decisions and taking the action that works for you.
Systems-focused solutions; systemic thinking; systems change
Systems thinking is about getting to the roots of what is not working in your community – and what is – to understand what causes problems and to find solutions.
Systemic thinking and solutions refer to ways of thinking and working that have potential to solve a chronic or long-term issue that is experienced by a whole community or population.
It’s about getting to the root cause of the issue by thinking about it as if it were a system or machine – looking at all the moving parts and finding the key ones that need be improved in order to make things work better.
In communities, systemic thinking means looking at what isn’t working well for people and what the causes of this might be; as well as looking at what does work well for people and therefore what the solutions could be.
IN SIMPLE TERMS
Systems thinking is about getting to the roots of what is not working in your community – and what is – to understand what causes problems and to find solutions.
Te Pae Tata; Te Pae Tawhiti
Te Pae Tata allows us to stay open to applications from ngā kaikōkiri who are interested in a relationship with us.
Te Pae Tawhiti is about us going out and finding ngā kaikōkiri who share our vision, and then exploring what a partnership with them could look like.
Our funding pathways have been developed with reference to a whakataukī that we relate to our overall vision and how we journey towards it:
Ko te pae tawhiti, whāia, kia tata
Ko te pae tata, whakamaua, kia tīna
Secure the horizons that are close to hand and pursue the more distant horizons so that we may arrive to our destination together
Our funding relationships will be identified and initiated through two key pathways:
Te Pae Tata: Casting our net for opportunities
Te Pae Tawhiti: Intentional navigation towards the success of our vision
IN SIMPLE TERMS
Te Pae Tata allows us to stay open to applications from ngā kaikōkiri who are interested in a relationship with us.
Te Pae Tawhiti is about us going out and finding ngā kaikōkiri who share our vision, and then exploring what a partnership with them could look like.
Transformational change
Transformational change is change that makes a major difference to the quality of life for people today – and for the next generation.
Transformational change describes a major positive shift or change that goes further than small one-off changes or slow, incremental changes. It describes different ways of thinking and working that transforms the lives and wellbeing of people, whānau – and sometimes whole communities.
Transformational change sometimes includes systems change*.
*see definition of systems change
IN SIMPLE TERMS
Transformational change is change that makes a major difference to the quality of life for people today – and for the next generation.