President’s message

Kia ora koutou

As I write this message many of you, your team members and colleagues who are Auckland-based will be facing a few days of working from home for the second time this year already. If the disruption of ‘yo-yo’ lockdowns is getting to you, remember that a chat with an Educate Plus colleague who ‘gets it’, is just an email or a phone call away. Please reach out to our friendly, efficient Chapter Manager, Kate Eatts, at manager.nz@educateplus.edu.au and Kate will happily point you in the direction of a fellow member who works in the same sector as you.

A welcome to all our new members who have joined the Educate Plus NZ Chapter whanau in the past four months or so. A reminder that the Member’s Resources section on the Educate Plus website contains a wealth of resources and information to support you whether you are a one-man-band or a fundraising, marketing or alumni relations specialist. We can’t recommend the recorded webinars and conference presentations highly enough. Also, if you are looking for information relating to the NZ Chapter, you’ll find our webpage here and the Facebook updates here.

As you progress through 2021, we’d love to hear of your ‘small wins’ that represent ‘big progress’ in your institution e.g. the surprise new contributor to your institution; the newly-introduced cost-effective system that’s making the world of difference to you and your team; the app you’ve discovered that’s saving time every day; the new marketing strategy that over-delivered on results and/or impact … you get the idea! If you’ve got a case of ‘small win, big progress’ to share, don’t be shy! Please get in touch with Kate Eatts or Committee member, Jennifer Roshan.

Don’t miss the ‘Upcoming Events’ section of this e-news for dates of upcoming networking events and opportunities to benefit from the expertise of our Chapter Partners. 

As always, our gratitude to our Chapter Partners who are all active members of the advancement sector in New Zealand. If you have a need for legal support (Duncan Cotterill), recruitment services (Execucare), fundraising consultancy (Giving Architects), admissions marketing support (Enquiry Tracker) or public notice data updates (NoticeMatch), please connect with them. Once again, Chapter Manager extraordinaire, Kate, or Committee member, Graeme Mullins, will happily provide an e-intro for you.

In closing, as we all face continuing uncertainty and disruption, I am reminded of the wise words of members of the ‘Healthy Headspace during 2021’ discussion panel at the recent Auckland networking event. The common thread of advice offered by Sarah Woodhams, Clive Pedley, Graeme Mullins and Naomi Wilde was to ‘take care of No.1’ that is, take regular screen breaks, ask for support, review your day-to-day situation and be prepared to make changes, be empathetic to the personal situations of your colleagues and, generally, be prepared to cut yourself (and your team members) some slack!

We look forward to connecting with you in-person within the next few weeks. In the meantime, take care of you and yours.

Ngā mihi māhana

Vicki Fowler
President, New Zealand Chapter