Events

Governance Bites: Better Board Decision Making

Facilitator: Garth Nowland-Foreman, from LEAD Centre for Not for Profit Governance and Leadership
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, 1049 Colombo Street, St Albans

Non-profit boards only have authority as a group. What’s the different dynamics between individual and group decision-making? And what key difference in approach is required when making routine decision, and when looking to innovate to at least ensure we know what all the options are (beyond the same old-same old)? How can understanding the three key ‘mindsets’ that people can bring to governance decision-making help us make better decisions, and help us ensure we are asking the right questions. This session will provide participants with two useful tools that will help you in making better group decisions.

RSVP: Registrations essential, via email

Coffee & Chats Networking Event

Venue: Purple Weka Cafe, 48 Fitzgerald Ave, Christchurch

Join us on a monthly basis as we gather in an informal, relaxed setting to 'catch up' and network with others from local not-for-profit groups. This is an opportunity to share experiences and support each other as we navigate the ever-changing community sector.

RSVP: Via email

Micro-Volunteering Project: We've Got You Covered Canterbury

Venue: Christchurch Community House, 213 Lichfield Street
Cost: Free event

This year, starting on Micro-Volunteering Day (15 April) and culminating on World Wide Knit in Public Day (10 June), you are invited to join with us to Knit with Purpose, and make peggy square blankets for organisations in need.

This is a project for the young and young at heart, the knitting newbies and the seasoned pros. All blankets will be donated to our local community organisations to be put to good use.

How can you get involved?

• knit a peggy square – as many or as few as you like! (Here's our easy pattern)
• Knit a whole peggy square blanket!
• Sew donated peggy squares together into blankets
• Donate wool for others to knit with

On World Wide Knit in Public Day, we will come together to finish our knitting, and sew together as many peggy square blankets as we can muster! All completed blankets will then be donated to those in need in our community through local organisations.

Micro-Volunteering Day 2023

Microvolunteering is bite-sized, on-demand, no commitment actions that benefit a worthy cause. Microvolunteering Day is recognised every year on April 15th and enables worthy causes and individuals to join together in a synchronised effort to better the world via bite-sized actions.

Learn more about MicroVolunteering here

Tautoko Workshop: The Do's and Don'ts of Volunteer Reimbursement

Facilitator: Daryl, from IRD
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, Colombo Street (parking off Caledonian Road)

RSVP: Via email

Workshop: Evaluating Your Organisation

Facilitator: Departent of Internal Affairs (DIA)
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, Colombo Street (parking off Caledonian Road)
Cost: Free event

Learn how to tell the story about what your organisation does, and the difference it makes.

RSVP: Via email

Coffee & Chats Networking Event

Venue: Purple Weka Cafe, 48 Fitzgerald Ave, Christchurch

Join us on a monthly basis as we gather in an informal, relaxed setting to 'catch up' and network with others from local not-for-profit groups. This is an opportunity to share experiences and support each other as we navigate the ever-changing community sector.

RSVP: Via email

Governance Bites: Keeping it Legal

Facilitator: Garth Nowland-Foreman, from LEAD Centre for Not for Profit Governance and Leadership
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, 1049 Colombo Street, St Albans

While staying on the right side of the law is not the end of your work as a non-profit board member, it is a good place to start. In this session we will briefly look at how laws (written and unwritten) impact on your organisation. We will also remind ourselves what being incorporated means, why it is important, and how to avoid losing its crucial protections. Finally, we will uncover why Conflicts of Interest are not a problem, but how we deal with them can be if we don’t follow three simple rules.

RSVP: Registrations essential, via email

Tautoko Workshop: Engaging Youth

Facilitator: Tim Perry, Rerenga Awa Canterbury Youth Workers Collective
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, Colombo Street (parking off Caledonian Road)
Cost: Free event

RSVP: Via email

Coffee & Chats Networking Event

Venue: Purple Weka Cafe, 48 Fitzgerald Ave, Christchurch

Join us on a monthly basis as we gather in an informal, relaxed setting to 'catch up' and network with others from local not-for-profit groups. This is an opportunity to share experiences and support each other as we navigate the ever-changing community sector.

RSVP: Via email

World Wide Knit in Public Day: We've Got You Covered Canterbury

Venue: Christchurch Community House, 213 Lichfield Street
Cost: Free event

This year, as part of a new initiative, you are invited to join with us to Knit with Purpose, and make peggy square blankets for organisations in need. This project kicked off on Micro-Volunteering Day (15 April) and now, for World Wide Knit in Public Day, we will come together to finish our knitting, and sew together as many peggy square blankets as we can muster!

This is a project for the young and young at heart, the knitting newbies and the seasoned pros. All blankets will be donated to our local community organisations to be put to good use.

How can you get involved?

• knit a peggy square – as many or as few as you like! (Here's our easy pattern)
• Knit a whole peggy square blanket!
• Sew donated peggy squares together into blankets
• Donate wool for others to knit with

RSVP: Via Facebook or email Tammy

Governance Bites: Confident Oversight of Finances

Facilitator: Garth Nowland-Foreman, from LEAD Centre for Not for Profit Governance and Leadership
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, 1049 Colombo Street, St Albans

What exactly is the board’s role in oversight of the finances? What are Treasurers actually responsible for? How can you properly fulfil your obligations without micro-managing? What should we look for in financial reporting? What are the financial ‘red flags’ we need to keep an eye out for? What does every board member need to know about their finances? Why can’t we just rely on the audit or review?

RSVP: Registrations essential, via email

National Volunteer Week 2023

Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu National Volunteer Week celebrates the collective contribution of all volunteers who enrich Aotearoa New Zealand.

Governance Bites: The Board’s Role as a Great Employer

Facilitator: Garth Nowland-Foreman, from LEAD Centre for Not for Profit Governance and Leadership
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, 1049 Colombo Street, St Albans

What can the board delegate, and what does it need to stay on top of? How do we balance our role in arms-length, independent supervision, and the need for engaged, collaborative support? How do we effectively balance a culture of checking and of cheer-leading? What are the critical elements of a ‘good employer’, and how does it become great? And what does that look like, when staff and volunteers are remote?

RSVP: Registrations essential, via email

Tautoko Workshop: Policies & Procedures

Facilitator: Departent of Internal Affairs (DIA)
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, Colombo Street (parking off Caledonian Road)
Cost: Free event

RSVP: Via email

Governance Bites: The Secret of Effective Meetings

Facilitator: Garth Nowland-Foreman, from LEAD Centre for Not for Profit Governance and Leadership
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, 1049 Colombo Street, St Albans

As they say, it’s easy to “take minutes and waste hours”. Typical agendas actually make good meetings more difficult, and who knows the difference between individual decision-making vs the group decision-making needed on boards? Can we be more efficient at our meetings? Maybe even more effective? And perhaps even actually enjoy them? It’s all possible and this participatory workshop will offer several practical tools to help make it happen.

RSVP: Registrations essential, via email

Tautoko Workshop: Supporting the Community Sector

Topic: How would UC's PACE (Professional and Community Engagement) work for your organisation?
Facilitator: Freddie & Renae, UC PACE Team
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, Colombo Street (parking off Caledonian Road)
Cost: Free event

The University of Canterbury's PACE programme is an opportunity for your organisation to come up with a brief for a student or group of students to work on as part of their own study. Professional and Community Engagement (PACE) studies involves students working on projects with both businesses and community organisations.

PACE is an ideal way for a student to complement their degree by gaining real workplace experience and utilising skills learned in classes, so building CVs while studying and gaining credit.

For a community organisation, it's an opportunity to bring a student or student group on board for a specific project with fresh eyes and knowledge that may not be available within your organisation's existing team.

Join us to hear from the UC PACE team who will talk about the basics of PACE, expectations, what a good project looks like .. and answer your questions on this programme.

RSVP: Via email

Governance Bites: Getting the Right People on Board and Helping the Wrong people Overboard

Facilitator: Garth Nowland-Foreman, from LEAD Centre for Not for Profit Governance and Leadership
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, 1049 Colombo Street, St Albans

All you need to know about recruiting non-profit and community board members. What makes a good board member, where do you find them, and how do you get them interested in your organisation? What are the three biggest traps in recruitment? And how do you get the most of new board members after they are on-board? And then … this is the tough stuff … despite our best intentions and event efforts, we can still end up with the wrong people on board for various reasons. How do you tackle the difficult tasks of ‘sacking’ board member? After all, board members are ‘just volunteers’. How do you actually get the result you need, but also still act with some grace? How can succession planning actually happen in practice in small organisations, and how do you deal with ‘founder syndrome’ when founders have out-lasted their value for the organisation and may even be holding it back?

RSVP: Registrations essential, via email

Tautoko Workshop: Fingers in the Till - Checklist for Health & Safety and Fraud

Facilitator: Parry Field Lawyers
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, Colombo Street (parking off Caledonian Road)
Cost: Free event

RSVP: Via email

Governance Bites: Not for Profits Getting Real about Strategy

Facilitator: Garth Nowland-Foreman, from LEAD Centre for Not for Profit Governance and Leadership
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, 1049 Colombo Street, St Albans

Everyone wants to be strategic these days. It is used to refer to deceit and trickery in reality TV shows. As an adjective it makes any object or activity sound very important. But does it actually have any practical meaning left? What is a strategy and how is it different from a plan? Where does mot strategy come from, and what is a realistic approach to developing a strategy for your organisation? And what really is the Board’s role in strategy (especially where there also is staff)? Participation in non-profit boards provides individuals with an opportunity to influence impact in our city. This workshop offers practical tools and approaches to help a board lead organisation strategy.

RSVP: Registrations essential, via email

Tautoko Workshop: Digital Accessibility

Facilitator: Departent of Internal Affairs (DIA)
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, Colombo Street (parking off Caledonian Road)
Cost: Free event

RSVP: Via email

International Volunteer Managers' Day 2023

International Volunteer Managers Day is an international event held annually on 5 November.

International Volunteer Manager's Day Workshop

Topic: Unpacking the Gifts of Good Supervision
Facilitator: Rachel Hawthorne, Transforming Conversations Supervision Services
Venue: St Albans Community Centre (Wardle Room), Colombo Street (Edgware Village end). On-site parking accessible from Caledonian Road.
Cost: Free event

This interactive workshop will delve into the what, why, and how of good supervision in a way that will assist you to gain the most from your supervision conversations. WHAT is supervision? WHAT can I expect? WHAT does ‘good’ supervision look like? We’ll unpack and demystify the process. WHY should I bother? We’ll explore the benefits and possibilities! HOW do I get the most out of supervision? We’ll discuss how to prepare, how to maximise, and how to evaluate the impact of supervision.

RSVP: Via email

Governance Bites: Keeping Board members engaged and the role of the Chair

Facilitator: Garth Nowland-Foreman, from LEAD Centre for Not for Profit Governance and Leadership
Venue: St Albans Community Centre, 1049 Colombo Street, St Albans

Chairs have one of the most demanding jobs in a non-profit. What is realistic and what are the essentials? Can we look again at sharing roles around the board table? One of the key roles of a chair is to facilitate the board as a group – especially in its core role as group decision-makers. And given participation is the purpose if you are going to bother calling a meeting, how can a chair best facilitate real participation that will energise and enthuse board members, and get the best possible decisions from a diverse group? We will look at some practical tools and frameworks to help make this happen in real world non-profit boards.

RSVP: Registrations essential, via email

International Volunteer Day 2023

International Volunteer Day (IVD) is an international event run by UN Volunteers and celebrated every year on 5 December. The purpose of IVD is to recognize and support the spirit of volunteerism to help create a better future. It champions the impact volunteers have in communities, nationally and globally.