Building connected communities

Eleanor Cater
CEO
4 May 2026

There's something energetic - and empowering - about a room full of people whose job is to believe in their communities. Our network’s upcoming sector conference in September - Building Connected Communities | Te hanga i ngā hapori tūhono – I am certain will be no different.

It could feel hopeless: New Zealand's social cohesion is fraying. Trust in institutions is declining. Economic inequality is widening. Disinformation spreads faster than facts. And in Aotearoa NZ, as economist Shamubeel Eaqub will explore on day one, those pressures are playing out in real communities, in real neighbourhoods, in real lives. The question isn't whether this is happening, it’s what will we do about it?

I believe that community foundations have something really valuable to offer the world right now: hope. And a model of philanthropy that is genuinely place-based, able to be influenced by te ao Māori, and oriented toward long-term community wellbeing rather than short-term fixes. Dedicated sessions on te ao Māori perspectives and connected communities will be a reminder that the approaches we need aren't always imported ones; some of the clearest thinking about collective wellbeing, intergenerational responsibility, and relational giving exists right here.

The conference ends with a deliberately big question: what is our place in the world, and what is next for the international community foundations movement? This will be a live conversation about where Aotearoa NZ sits, not as a passive recipient of global trends, but as an active participant shaping what community philanthropy looks like here, our place at bottom of the planet.

Perhaps the most important thread we are weaving through this hui is that social cohesion doesn't just happen, it's built - through relationships, through trust, through sustained investment in the connective tissue of community life. At a time when so much is pulling communities apart, our network of people coming together in Hamilton in September are collectively, perhaps quietly and in their own local ways, building more connected communities.

The CFANZ 2026 Conference takes place 13–15 September at Claudelands, Kirikiriroa Hamilton.

Thank you to Craigs Investment Partners as our Lead Conference Partner as well as all our members, sponsors and supporters for helping us to make it happen!

Go to the conference website here >>