| Marion Davies Grants and Incentives Manager Auckland Council My role is Grants and Incentives Manager for Auckland Council. I have been in the role for five years and manage a busy team of eight grants advisors covering six grant activity areas. These activity areas are Environment, Heritage, Sport and Recreation, Arts, Events and Community. Over this time the grants spend has increased with more budget being allocated, in particular to environmental, heritage and community grants. The majority of grants are allocated by elected members and they are inevitably involved with their local communities, which can create a conflict of Interest for them. Auckland Council has an Ethics and Integrity Unit and we are able to utilise their expertise in supporting us with these challenges. I am happy to share our learnings and challenges and discuss how other councils deal with these issues. | |
| Nicola Gausel Community Contracts Adviser Nelson City Council Local Government Contestable Funding often requires officer assessment and a certain level of due diligence. Does the time investment in assessment versus the amount requested and then allocated stack up? How do you manage decision panels and to what level are officer assessments adopted? Nicola Gausel, Nelson City Council’s (NCC) Community Contracts Adviser will be facilitating a discussion around responses to these questions. Nicola is involved in NCC’s community funding space, including the oversight of the Community Investment Fund and coordinating and co-facilitating the Nelson Tasman Community Funders Network. She attended PNZ’s Great Grant Making Workshop last year and has worked in the community development sphere for over ten years. She is keen to engage with other local government funders and hear how they manage their funding practices. | |
| Sandra Larsen Sandra has over 30 years’ experience in the not for profit sector. She says it has been a game of two halves. The first 15, Sandra spent working and volunteering for not for profit groups developing resources, organising events, applying for funding and being a member of governance boards. For the second 15, Sandra has been facilitating workshops, allocating scholarships and grants for various government and non-government funders. She is currently Hamilton City Council Community Funding Advisor, a role she has held for the last 2.5 years. Sandra is committed to reducing the funding burden for community groups and is always looking for innovative ways to streamline funding processes. | |
