ASBCT welcomes The Christensen Fund’s Executive Director

The Christensen Fund’s Executive Director was welcomed by ASB Community Trust on what was his first visit to Auckland last week.

Ken Wilson, who is the first non-family member of the San Francisco based foundation, made a presentation about some of the ground breaking work they’ve done with indigenous communities worldwide.

“The irony is is that we are seeing the science of complexity, the craft of grant making, all of these things are converging into often very similar ideas of what you might call indigenous ideas and indigenous notions about the world and how to do things,” he says.

“We are going to trend back to those views and probably because they have a 10,000 year or a 100,000 year advantage. They’re going to prove very enduring.”

The Christensen Fund focuses its grant making on biocultural diversity, and addresses issues such as indigenous rights and climate change.  

Wilson made the presentation during a workshop run in conjunction with Philanthropy New Zealand and shared some of his thoughts on philanthropy and social change.

“I’m a great believer that we tend to do best when there is balance, not only the head and the heart but the hand, which I mean the practical experience is the craft of doing stuff.

“You can have any number of theories on how to make a guitar but it is a craft, and there is a craft to making social change. “

ASB Community Trust’s Māori and Pacific Education Initiative Project Manager Moi Becroft says Wilson’s visit was well received.

“Wilson’s work leading the Christensen Foundation in working alongside Indigenous peoples in supporting their resilience is both visionary and urgent work enabling the future health of our planet,” she says.

“Ken was both inspirational and personally challenging on how we work and value our Indigenous people and the role they play on the planet.”