Just getting started...

Above: The Momentum Waikato team. L-R: Mark Servian, Andrea Jones, Dave Christiansen and Janice Lapwood. Absent Ruwani Perera.

By Dave Christiansen, new Executive Officer of Momentum Waikato.

I can scarcely believe it’s already over a month since I started at Momentum Waikato, and as with any occasion you start in a new organisation, there’s so much to learn!

To date though everything I have experienced here just confirms what I thought and hoped for when I first walked in the door.

Momentum has such an amazing team, so dedicated and incredibly effective – I am blown away by how much such a small crew can achieve. The word ‘passionate’ can easily be over-used, but it is absolutely the right one, and that includes our highly committed governance board too.

Mind you, when your vision and mission is to ‘build a better Waikato, for everyone, forever’, it’s hard not to get passionate about it.

As I get out and about and experience more and more of what Momentum is doing, two further things become clearer and clearer.

First and most importantly of all, we engage with an incredible array of amazing people out there, especially our donors, who’s generosity, vision and commitment to this region and its communities is outstanding and humbling. We may provide the vehicle that helps them achieve their philanthropic goals, but their generosity is ultimately what fuels everything we do.

Secondly, we receive such meaningful support – from donors of course, but also from so many others across the region too. That backing comes in many forms, but it is all so essential to our mission.

So, a massive thank you to everyone who gives, however you do it – I look forward to meeting and working with more and more of you in the future.

Finally, I think we have some really exciting developments coming up over the next few months as we continue to build our endowed funds and as we consider our potential next project.

Keep an eye open for that, as we get on with building an even better Waikato!