A Letter to Our Impact Collective Whānau

Tēnā koutou katoa 

As we prepare to place the Impact Collective into hiatus, we write to you with hearts full of gratitude and profound respect for the extraordinary journey we have shared together across the Rangitīkei, Ruapehu, South Taranaki, and Whanganui regions. 

To our communities, you have been the heart and soul of everything we accomplished. Your willingness to share your stories, your lived experiences, and your deepest hopes for your whānau has been transformative. Through your voices, we created comprehensive Equity and Wellbeing Profiles that didn’t just capture data points, but illuminated the strength, resilience, and potential that exists within our rohe. You trusted us to amplify your stories, and in doing so, you enabled communities to see themselves reflected in research that truly matters. This representation has been fundamental to community empowerment, and your courage to share has paved pathways for meaningful change. 

To the dedicated Impact Collective team, your commitment to the kaupapa has been nothing short of inspiring. You have worked tirelessly to “unite together, listen together, and act together” – embodying our core principles in every interaction, every report, and every community conversation. Your expertise in bringing together data insights with people’s stories has created something unique and powerful. You understood that true impact comes not from working in silos, but from building genuine, enduring relationships between communities and organisations. Your mahi will continue to ripple through our regions long after today. 

To our generous funders, your belief in our vision enabled us to dream boldly and act decisively. Your investment allowed us to develop innovative frameworks that combined global sustainable development goals, national living standards measures, and local whānau ora principles. You supported an approach that was both rigorous and deeply human, understanding that the most meaningful change happens when communities are empowered to shape their own futures. 

To our founding leaders, your courage to try something different has been extraordinary. Emerging from the collaborative spirit born during COVID-19 lockdowns, you recognised that the integration and partnership forged during crisis could become a powerful force for positive transformation. You dared to imagine a new way of working across councils, Crown agencies, iwi, and community organisations. Your vision of breaking down silos and fostering genuine collaboration has created a legacy that will inspire future initiatives. 

While the current funding environment across Aotearoa requires us to pause our formal operations, the mahi we have accomplished together lives on. The equity and wellbeing profiles for each of our regions stand as testament to what communities can achieve when their voices are truly heard and valued. The relationships forged, the insights uncovered, and the pathways identified continue to exist within our communities, ready to be activated when the time is right. 

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari kē he toa takitini – Our success has not come from individual effort, but from the collective strength of many. This whakatauki perfectly captures the essence of what the Impact Collective represented, and what we have achieved together.  

With deep aroha and gratitude, 

Steve Carey 
Executive Director