What is MAS Foundation?

MAS Foundation is an important part of what makes MAS a different kind of insurance and investment company. It’s a relatively young charitable foundation that supports innovative and practical ways to tackle health inequities in communities around Aotearoa New Zealand.

MAS Foundation is MAS’s charitable arm – an independent philanthropic organisation that has distributed millions to community groups working to create more equitable health and wellbeing outcomes around Aotearoa New Zealand.

As well as being a mutual company, MAS is also a registered charity. That means MAS doesn’t face the same pressures to distribute profits to shareholders as companies listed on the sharemarket, so it is able to contribute profits from its insurance and investments business into MAS Foundation.

MAS Foundation is independent from MAS, with its own management team and Board of Trustees. It’s run by 2 Heads of Foundation operating in a Te Tiriti partnership model, Dr Julie Wharewera-Mika (Ngāti Awa; Ngāi Tuhoe; Te Whānau-a-Apanui) and Mafi Funaki-Tahifote who is Tongan (Tongoleleka, HA’APAI, Kolofo’ou, Ma’ufanga, Tofoa – TONGATAPU).  

Looking for Māori and Pasifika community-led solutions

At the heart of MAS Foundation is a kaupapa that supports community-led organisations working to improve health and wellbeing equity in communities around Aotearoa New Zealand. For Mafi, MAS Foundation is about empowering families as the most effective way to achieve their goals.

“MAS Foundation’s vision is that children and families flourish in Aotearoa so that we can help achieve our purpose to improve our health and wellbeing equity,” she says. 

Julie says the most entrenched health inequities are in our Māori and Pasifika communities and so the Foundation has concentrated on programmes targeting these communities.

“Despite decades of investment and efforts by government agencies to address health and wellbeing inequities in Māori and Pasifika communities, the gaps continue to widen. So, MAS Foundation is working to do something about that,” she says.

This is where the work of community-led organisations truly shines. “We want to flip the traditional power balance of philanthropy,” Julie says. “We’re not about telling people what to do. We know that these grassroots community groups understand their communities better than anyone and are often the most effective at making a difference. We want to find and support these groups in addressing the unique needs of their people.”

Mafi says MAS Foundation is unapologetically ambitious – they’re looking for community groups trying innovative new approaches that might be able to be rolled out more widely around the country if successful.

“Nurturing ideas that can contribute to systems change should be the role of an organisation like us within the wider health system. The mainstream system is stretched very thin delivering core services, but an independent organisation like us can look for places where communities are trying new things to help themselves. We firmly believe that we need both the mainstream and more empowered communities dealing with their own problems if we’re going to heal the health and wellbeing inequities in Aotearoa New Zealand.”

One example is MAS Foundation’s funding for Te Ahu Tapu Trust, an organisation that runs mindfulness and awareness wānanga in South Auckland, which blend Western clinical psychology, eastern meditation practices and mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge). The wānanga are designed to support participants with self-directed techniques to understand and reduce their stress levels as well as help build resilience by equipping people with new skills. The success of the programme in South Auckland shows the potential for it to be rolled out around the country and take some pressure off the mainstream health system’s clinical psychology and counselling services, which are under severe strain everywhere. 

Another organisation to receive MAS Foundation support is Moana Connect, who aspire to reduce health inequities with Pasifika communities. The grant was used to produce the to support advocacy for Pacific children's wellbeing. The report highlighted that 25% of Pacific children in Aotearoa are living in poverty and suffering significant health inequities compared to 10% for the overall population, a statistic that remains largely unchanged despite the previous government’s 2018 Child Poverty Reduction Act and many years of work by government agencies to turn the tide. But alongside the statistics, the report also set out a detailed series of practical steps, created by Pasifika for Pasifika, to make a meaningful and wide-reaching difference to their communities.

Ringa Raupa – Those with the calloused hands

Julie says MAS Foundation’s efforts to flip the traditional power imbalances of philanthropic grant making extends to the language they use to describe the groups they work with.

“We refer to the people we work with as ‘ringa raupa’. That means the ones with the calloused hands – the people doing the hard mahi in their communities who are making actual change. We are very aware that our role is to enable them, not to direct them,” she says.

One of MAS Foundation’s longest relationships is with the Wairoa Te Ohonga Ake project, a community-led initiative that aims to support whānau in Wairoa by breaking the cycle of crime, gangs and drugs. Under the guidance of inspirational community leader, Morehu Monroe, the project empowers local rangatahi (young people) by developing leadership skills and reconnecting them with their whakapapa.

Koha grants and partnership grants

Mafi says MAS Foundation is looking for long-term relationships with organisations. It could mean they begin a relationship with a smaller ‘koha grant’ of less than $25,000, before working towards a larger ‘partnership grant’ that can be well into the 6-figure range.

“Starting with a Community Koha Grant allows us to get to know the people inside each organisation and and vice-versa and it often means we can find non-financial ways to help them as they prepare to receive a larger amount of money. This can be anything from connecting them with groups in other communities they can share experiences with, to offering practical advice on setting up a governance structure through a board of trustees.

“This kind of governance transformation can be critical for young organisations so that the on-the-ground workers have support, and so large philanthropic or government funders are comfortable that there is transparent financial oversight of their funding,” she says. 

A number of the programmes MAS Foundation supports are working with communities that empower families and children. One of Aotearoa New Zealand's health equity issues relating to early life is the far greater likelihood of Māori mothers to suffer mental health issues during pregnancy and immediately after birth.

A $10,000 MAS Foundation Koha grant provided funding for Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Aotearoa to hold a networking day to discuss mental health issues with Māori mothers.

A larger partnership grant was provided to the Auckland-based Brainwave Trust, for a programme that combines lessons from western early childhood psychology with the cultural practices of Māori and Pasifika whanau. The initiative helps parents of young children celebrate and share their most positive experiences of childhood and reinforces the same positivity in other members of the community’s parenting practices.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Foundation and the organisations they have funded, or you’re interested in applying for funding, check out MAS Foundation website and like us on Facebook.