News

The Christchurch Foundation is proud to announce its partnership with the donor, Joy Shivas, in establishing the Women's Entrepreneurship Fund. This initiative aims to provide scholarships and grants to female entrepreneurs, empowering them to shape our future through their innovative ventures. Joy Shivas recognizes the pivotal role of entrepreneurs in driving progress in our city and is dedicated to supporting more women to engage in this vital work.

We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Shirley Boys School, as they transfer $100,000 from the CV Gallagher Trust into a Donor Advised Fund with The Christchurch Foundation. This strategic move aims to reduce operational costs and expand the availability of scholarships, allowing us to help them make even bigger impact on the lives of deserving students.

The Christchurch Foundation was set up to ensure that philanthropy in Canterbury could operate in a cohesive and effective way that has impact. With this in mind, we are looking for Patrons who want to be part of that legacy.

Our thoughts and immense aroha are with all NZ communities affected by cyclone Gabrielle, and other adverse weather events, over the past month. We are channeling all strength to you as you negotiate the challenging days, weeks and months ahead.

Nimble funding is exactly what our communities need right now. We know that it’s hard for individuals to know how to give donations well in an emergency situation, to know that your thoughtful gesture of care is going to the right place and will really make a difference. Effective funding into communities is what Community Foundations do. They have deep roots into communities, they have the knowledge and expertise to respond. See some of the best ways you can help with community response and resilience for the future here.
https://communityfoundations.org.nz/latest-news/cyclone-gabrielle-response-and-recovery

In New Zealand, only about 1 in 5 start-ups are led by women. The majority of venture capital goes to men.

The Christchurch Foundation is lucky enough to work with an incredible donor, Joy Shivas who will be giving several scholarships of $10,000 to female entrepreneurs. Joy knows that our future will be forged by today’s entrepreneurs, and she is passionate about supporting more women to get involved in this important mahi.

Read more to apply for one of our scholarships.

The Christchurch Foundation has secured the services of Rose Challies to develop a comprehensive framework that can measure and report back on the work the Foundation does.

On December 14th we held our AGM and released our inaugural Impact Report for the 2022FY (ending 30 June). 

This year was for us, like many, mixed.  The global pandemic impacted our planned activity but also provided us with opportunities to support our community when it needed it most.

We are excited to welcome Andy Ellis as our Ambassador for the Green Philanthropy fund.

Last week we launched the Green Philanthropy Fund to help support the innovators in Waitaha Canterbury.

We have collaborated with The Spirits Workshop (makers of Curiosity Gin) to create a series of three gins inspired and flavoured by Canterbury, the first of which can be purchased online at 03gin.nz.

One of our key areas of support is to help foster Canterbury’s future leaders. Nadia Edmond is only 21 but she is an inspiring young women, who we think is a courageous leader and someone to watch as part of our city’s future. As a 3rd year engineering student she has shown courage and determination in supporting her peers through gender discrimination and struggles with mental health.

Michele started Christchurch Paeony to provide a natural pathway to social inclusion, especially for older Chinese women in Christchurch. As a member of the Horticultural society, she was asked to create a New interest club, and she long been encouraging them to be more socially inclusive.