Annual General Meeting - reflections of the Chair

GWC’s Annual General Meeting for 2023-24 was held on 10 September. The Trust Board Chair, Dr Megan Clayton, shared her reflections in the annual report.

Tēnā koutou kua huihui mai nei; e mihi ana ki ngā mana whenua Ngāi Tūāhuriri.

Warmest of greetings to us all in attendance at our Annual General Meeting. I am pleased to present an overview of the year in our organisation.

Growth

As trustees we acknowledge the hard work of our Regalia Hire manager in managing the business and coordinating staff and volunteers during a time of significant growth. The post-COVID expansion of graduation ceremonies and events has continued, and with it the ongoing pressure on the time and resources of management, staff and volunteers. Our manager has worked creatively, diligently and determinedly throughout the year to ensure people, premises, stock and software continue to combine to provide outstanding, coordinated and efficient customer service for graduates and their families.

Strategy

The board has pursued the goal of expanding our organisational reach in alignment with our strategy. Our key actions associated with this have been preparing to launch our equity funding initiative, which will follow this AGM, extending our social media presence following LinkedIn training and the creation of a social media strategy. The next actions will be to convene a marketing and communications committee to support social media and related implementation ongoing, and the work of our recently-convened events subcommittee. This subcommittee will enable the work of reaching out in person to our community, promote awareness of our organisation and provide opportunities for others to connect with us.

The trustees have continued regular training in te reo and tikanga as part of our commitment to honourable kāwanatanga as partners in te Tiriti o Waitangi. We have also expressed this commitment in the revision of the Trust Deed, for which we now have a set of principles reflective of te tiriti that will guide our decision making. This in turn contributes to the extended inquiry of the coming year which is to build relationships locally and continue the reflection that will support a bilingual name for the Trust in future.

Challenges

In addition to the challenges for the business noted above, there has been significant disruption in the public and educational sectors since the election of the current government. This has affected our wider stakeholders and shaped our current environment. From the specific, such as the ongoing dismantling of Te Pūkenga and consultation on a replacement structure, to the general, such as the mooting of changes to the role of te reo and te tiriti in government, all signs reinforce the need to continue our mission, to achieve our vision of barrier-free education for all women. We need to continue to stay informed as to current and future challenges and to be confident – even strident – in our commitments. Our event planning and social media plan will be important vehicles for this.

Succession planning

An important goal for us to pursue in the coming year will be succession planning for the board. The term of a trustee is nine years, meaning that the treasurer and I will shortly enter the final third of our terms. I am looking forward to the trustees’ work to determine what succession planning will look like for our organisation and some of the creative and supportive ways we may identify and cultivate potential future trustees.

Acknowledgements

There would be no Graduate Women Canterbury without the work of our Regalia Hire manager and her employees, or our regalia hire volunteers. Further, the work of the Trust is daily supported, uplifted and made possible by our EA to the board. We also acknowledge our kaiako reo who convenes our wānanga, and the developer of our social media plan. Finally I would like to thank all the trustees for their commitment and support. It is a privilege to work alongside you all and all that you bring. Nō reira, tēnā koutou katoa!