Take the 2022 State of the Sector Survey

Our fifth biennial State of the Sector Survey is now open. Comvoices is calling on all entities within the Community and Voluntary Sector to take part. The Snapshot survey is released every two years to provide a consistent snapshot of the financial and operational health of this Sector. “This fifth Comvoices Survey will not only provide us with an update …

The importance of home

by Chris Glaudel, Deputy Chief Executive, Community Housing Aotearoa Having a home is crucial to our ability to care for ourselves and our whānau. We particularly need somewhere good to retreat to as we manage the additional impacts created by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is where the country’s community housing providers come in. They house thousands of people in affordable …

Charities and community sector rely significantly on the generosity of volunteers

by Michelle Kitney, Chief Executive, Volunteering New Zealand COVID-19 has highlighted the need to understand the value, impact and potential of volunteering, and the infrastructure, that enables volunteers to enrich Aotearoa, New Zealand. Last year, Statistics New Zealand released the Non-profit institutions satellite account: 2018 (NPISA) This revealed some interesting facts about our volunteering landscape. It highlighted how the charitable and community …

Pressure Creating Diamonds: How Covid-19 impacted NZ’s community sector.

Media Release: 12 April 2021 As New Zealand’s community and voluntary sector played a street-by-street, home-by-home role in our COVID-19 response, the sector came under more pressure than ever before. Growing threats to the sector’s sustainability, and new insights on how Government can respond, are laid bare in the findings of 2020’s ‘State of the Sector’ survey, released by national …

A new era for the ComVoices network

ComVoices is pleased to announce the appointment of its new Chair, Rochelle Stewart-Allen from Hui E! Community Aotearoa. “It’s great to see Rochelle stepping up as Chair and bringing in her experience in building, supporting and driving community initiatives“, says outgoing Chair, Chris Glaudel from Community Housing Aotearoa.  ComVoices, as a national network of community and voluntary organisations, draws its strengths …

Breaking down barriers to social connection

by Louise Rees, Age Concern My mother tells stories of huddling in a bomb shelter with her whanau and neighbours, singing and joking as German bombs pounded our hometown of Swansea during the Second World War, flattening a large part of the town centre. New Zealand, like the rest of the world, is now caught up in another global crisis, …

2020 State of the Sector Survey Snapshot

View the Snapshot 2020 Full ReportView the Summary ReportView the Media Release While still fragile, the community and voluntary sector is generally more stable and viable than it was two years ago. The survey of 129 community and voluntary organisations shows that the sector continues to deal with increased demands, increasing costs and has been significantly impacted by COVID-19. This …

A Fresh Take on Apprenticeships

by Jane Wenman, Careerforce For many people, when they think of apprenticeships and apprentices, they’ll likely think of predominantly young people, and chances are they will also think hammers, nails, wrenches, wiring or u-bends. Chances are they won’t think of apprenticeships across the ‘softer’ professions such as those across health and wellbeing. This requires quite a shift in perception, and …

Learning What Works in Changing Times

by Janet Miller, Community Research So much change has occurred for those of us working in the Community Sector this year. Though many of us are well acquainted with the term ‘pivot’ we couldn’t have foreseen just how often it would be heard in NGO board meetings in 2020 to describe the many adjustments to our ways of working. We …

Everyday people achieving remarkable things

by Nicola Sutton, English Language Partners Celebrating the remarkable people, all across New Zealand, who set out to learn new skills alongside an already busy life, is one benefit of running the Festival of Adult Learning Ahurei Ākoranga.  Thang Shalom Innkuan is one such learner. “Back then, ‘I didn’t know how to do anything. No friends, just my family, I …