Can local generosity help mend a fraying society?
Published on 29 September, 2026
Originally published in the Waikato Business News, Tuesday 29 September 2026.
By Eleanor Cater, Community Foundations of Aotearoa New Zealand - CFANZ
When over a hundred people from community foundations around the country gathered in Kirikiriroa Hamilton in mid-September, the conversation kept returning to one uncomfortable question - is New Zealand still holding together?
The two-day conference ‘Building Connected Communities – Te Hanga i Ngā Hapori Tūhono’ landed as the evidence on declining social cohesion is getting harder to ignore.
Economist Shamubeel Eaqub opened with data showing New Zealanders' trust and connection to one another is declining at pace.
Shamubeel Eaqub speaking at the CFANZ Conference. Photo: Mike Walen / KeyImagery.
Jenny Nand from the Waikato Intercultural Fund team presented on their efforts to rebuild cohesion and reminded us that safeguarding social cohesion is everyone’s responsibility.
For community foundations like your local Momentum Waikato, those findings matter.
Alongside CFANZ’s own BERL ‘Giving in Aotearoa New Zealand 2026’ research, the conference made clear that cohesion and generosity are closely linked, because people give to what they can see and where they belong.
That reframes what community foundations are for - not simply moving money to causes but also helping build the trust and connection that make generosity possible, and shifting power to the local grassroots.
Leonard Gardner speaks at CFANZ Conference Dinner at BNZ Theatre. Photo: Mike Walen / KeyImagery.
The conference dinner, held at the new BNZ Theatre initiated by Momentum Waikato, was themed ‘Spotlight on you and all you do for New Zealand communities’. Former Momentum Chair Leonard Gardner told the Theatre's story as one of community foundations’ civic leadership and convening role in bringing local players together to create essential community spaces.
Not everything at the conference was heavy going. Dr Jeremy Mayall of Creative Waikato asserted creativity is a pre-condition for community life, led delegates in throwing balls of wool to each other to show our national networking, and ridiculously got us all to each draw a duck - moments that did more for the room's sense of connection than any formal session.
The most significant conversations centred on partnership with tangata whenua. Hon. Nanaia Mahuta urged delegates to weigh economic decisions against the interests of mokopuna and future generations and to invest in the kaupapa that matters to iwi and hapū.
Nanaia Mahuta speaks at the CFANZ Conference. Photo: Mike Walen / KeyImagery.
Maria Huata offered what many called the standout message - that aroha needs māia, courage, to become manaaki, genuine care in action. Many of us operate with aroha and manaaki for community, what's often missing is the māia to walk alongside tangata whenua, listen deeply, and support local aspirations to thrive.
Grant Blackwell, Chief Scientist at the Climate Change Commission, noted New Zealand spends around $4 billion a year responding to now-regular climate emergencies, with only three cents in the dollar going toward prevention, and pointed to the critical all-of-community role of marae during disasters.
A powerful session warned that AI cannot tell a community what to care about, but its infrastructure can be locally governed rather than imported wholesale.
Lawyer Steven Moe provocatively asked - what could foundations achieve by committing some of their assets directly to community impact, not just market return?
The inherent question throughout was whether community foundations just remain well-meaning facilitators of generosity or find the courage to purposefully lead on the issues piling up on our own doorsteps.
For all of us working in this space it will take māia, more courage than comfort to find out, because the current political climate is telling us our communities increasingly need to find their own ways of forging their own future.
Eleanor Cater speaking at the conference. Photo: Mike Walen / KeyImagery.
