In May, we held our biennial Funding Mangers Workshop at picturesque Long Bay, in Auckland. Forty Funding Managers came from across the country to spend two days together to talk about how they work, share what they have learned and discuss what is happening at a grass roots level in the communities they serve. The workshop was a great chance for our staff and trustees to meet new Funding Managers and catch up with long-standing ones.
Evan Fray, National Programme Director at ADRA NZ, talks about the two –day Funding Manager workshop and why he values the time to share and network with others who work with the Tindall Foundation to distribute money on our behalf.
I think the Funding Manager workshops are extremely valuable. This is the third time I have been and it is always great to see new faces. The networking aspect is excellent. I like to listen to what others are saying, learning and doing. Sharing experiences with others in groups is extremely important. You get quite positively charged after listening to the things that everyone else is doing. I was thinking, “Wow these people have guts and they have got some good things going on”.
The venue in Long Bay is great. Every time we have been there it seems that it rains while we are inside and at break time and it stops. Then it is wonderful. Who wouldn’t enjoy a venue like that?
It is really nice to talk to others who do similar things across the country. At lunch and dinner and in our social breaks it was nice to talk others about how they work. The workshop is really about the sharing of positive information.
The relationship between The Tindall Foundation and the Funding Managers is a “high trust” thing. It’s a pretty unique relationship and everything is run on good, sound logical sequences. The relationship between the two is seamless.
Evan Fray (left) helps with the Christchurch recovery programme