NEXT vision, objectives and values

Guided by stars Vision, objectives and values NEXT’s vision reflects the philosophy of it’s founders, Annette and Neal Plowman, and their particular areas of interest in environment and educat...

NEXT friends

Caring for the land and people A whole lot of help from our friends NEXT’s vision is to leave a legacy of environmental and educational excellence for the benefit of future generations of New ...

NEXT Foundation Fellowships

Growing strategic agents of change Summary Aotearoa New Zealand is facing serious challenges - social, environmental, economic and cultural - many of which are complex, embedded, fractured and...

NEXT team and community

Creating a legacy for future generations The importance of people The NEXT team and community aspire to make a transformational difference for future generations of New Zealanders NEXT is a...

Guided by stars

Kia ora koutou, and welcome to the third issue of NEXT Stories. NEXT was formed eight years ago and I’ve been musing over recent months how much has changed during that time. We have witnessed C...

December 2021

Kia ora friend of NEXT, When we set the education and environmental initiatives NEXT supports the challenge of coming up with an image and one sentence to illustrate their highlight of 2021 for our...

Spring Edition – September 2021

Kia ora friend of NEXT, With Aotearoa New Zealand in another lockdown it seems apt that this newsletter features a story from former PFNZ 2050 Ltd CEO Abbie Reynolds on conservation as a catalyst f...

NEXT June Newsletter – Fight for the Wild

In this special edition newsletter we share all the links to Fight for the Wild - the four part documentary series on New Zealand’s audacious goal to become Predator Free by 2050. Documentary maker Pe...

SUMMER LEARNING JOURNEY A SUCCESS

An online blogging programme that helps children from low income communities keep up their academic progress in the summer holidays has proved to be a success. NEXT Foundation funded the development o...

NEXT education initiatives reflect on 2020

[video width="1200" height="600" mp4="https://www.nextfoundation.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Education-Video-2020.mp4"][/video]   We asked the education initiatives NEXT invests in to...

NEXT Newsletter – October 2020

In this edition of the NEXT newsletter, Wellington welcomes some new rare residents, we introduce you to the second cohort of NEXT fellows, the Ministry of Eduction collaborates more closely with phil...

NEXT announces new cohort of Fellows

NEXT is delighted to support seven Fellows over the next year in various educational and environmental fields. Read the full publication here.

Learning from Lockdown
From The Education Hub

The Education Hub has released a report profiling New Zealand’s learnings from lockdown. It looks at what did and didn’t work for students, parents and teachers when the first Covid-19 lockdown closed...

NEXT Newsletter – August 2020

Kia ora friend of NEXT He rangi tā matawhāiti, he rangi tā matawhānui A person with narrow vision has a restricted horizon, a person with wide vision has plenty of opportunities. Looking for...

NEXT Newsletter – April 2020

Kia ora friend of NEXT. Welcome to the NEXT newsletter “Lockdown edition” - we hope you and your families are safe and well during these challenging times. Just as Aotearoa New Zealand was enter...

Humanitix: Charity for the Tech Generation

Humanitix - which has recently launched in New Zealand with support from NEXT, has been described as a “charity for the tech generation” in a profile published in Idealog magazine. The not for prof...

Giving while Living

Kea has profiled Neal and Annette Plowman and NEXT foundation in their end of year newsletter as part of a feature on a Giving in New Zealand. Read more here.

Storytelling as a tool for reflection

NEXT turned five earlier this year, which represents the half way point of it’s ten year life as a spend down foundation. Since then I’ve been reflecting on the NEXT journey, and in particular the imp...

Voices of grant partners

A learning journey Three independent evaluations of NEXT from a grant partner (‘partner’) perspective will occur over the ten year life of the Foundation. The first happened in 2016 and the secon...

NEXT Governance

NEXT’s approach to governance NEXT founders Neal and Annette Plowman wanted a board that was small, flexible and philosophically aligned, with people they knew and trusted The thinking in the ...

Selecting grant partners

NEXT’s approach to selecting partners NEXT Foundation launched in March 2014 and three months later ran it’s first expression of interest (EOI) round, calling nationally for applications in the a...

Humanitix receives NEXT Foundation support

Humanitix has been launched in New Zealand, with some support from the  strategic philanthropic foundation NEXT . Humanitix is a not for profit  online ticketing platform, that channels profits from b...

NEXT supports Humanitix launch in NZ
from Humanitix

Humanitix, a not for profit ticketing platform that channels booking fee profits into education, has launched in New Zealand. Humanitix is already operating in Australia, and has launched in New Zeal...

Humanitix launched in NZ

Humanitix, a not-for-profit ticketing platform that channels profits from booking fees into education initiatives, has launched in New Zealand. NEXT is supporting Humanitix, which has selected one of ...

NEXT Expert Teacher Award announced

Rauhina Cooper, who teaches te reo matatini and te reo Māori in Hamilton was named winner of a prestigious national award that recognises contemporary teaching practice in New Zealand. Rauhina is 2...

Kākā returned to Abel Tasman

Twelve kākā have been released into the Abel Tasman National Park, where NEXT invests in Project Janszoon. The kākā have been released into an area with intensive trapping, in the hope they will surv...

The Power of Early Talk
From Talking Matters

Te Amio-whenua (almost 3) is living proof of the power of early talk. She and her whānau share their experience of applying the Talking Matters kaupapa in the first thousand days of a baby’s life, in ...

Why NEXT Invests in The First 1,000 Days

The first 1,000 days of a child’s life (or more accurately, from conception to their third birthday) form a period of intense brain development, laying down the foundational architecture for lifelong ...

NEXT – Reflecting on our first five years

NEXT is celebrating its halfway mark - we are five years into our 10 year project. NEXT is privileged to work with some of New Zealand’s most inspiring people and projects - who are transforming our e...

Why a limited life foundation

From the outset of NEXT Foundation the intent was clear - to deliver a 10-year $100 million spend down programme, be strategic in approach, focus in the areas of education and the environment and inve...

Mount Aspiring College Teacher Wins Bright Spots Award

The Education Hub has announced Mount
Aspiring College teacher Chris Waugh has
won one of its Bright Spots Awards for innovative
teaching practice. The Wanaka Sun reports
on the details of the award – which NEXT funds.


Gisborne Boys High Teacher Wins NEXT Funded Bright Spots Award

Gisborne Boys High School Head of
Science Darcy Fawcett has been named
one of the winners of The Education Hub’s
Bright Spots Awards. Darcy has developed
a data interpretation tool to determine if teachers improvements
in practice are effective.


Omata School Children Help Locate Predators At Taranaki Mounga Project

A group of school children from Omaha
School west of New Plymouth are playing
detectives to help the Taranaki Mounga project. They are
trawling through hours of video footage to help
locate where the predators are – so the
Taranaki Mounga team know where
to target their trapping efforts.


NEXT Funded Bright Spots Awards for Innovative Teaching Announced

A group of Taupo teachers developing a programme to encourage young Māori women to enrol in STEM subjects and a Christchurch primary school designing an oral language programme for new entrants are among the winners of The Education Hub’s inaugural Bright Spots Awards, funded by NEXT Foundation, announced today.


NEXT showcases education investments

NEXT invests in education initiatives that focus on the first 1,000 days of life, teacher excellence and leadership in education. This video showcases the portfolio of our education investments.

NEXT/ The Mind Lab Collaboration to Upskill Teachers in Technology

“It’s a privilege to be able to support
teachers who want to better prepare our
future generations of New Zealanders –
there’s no more impactful place to invest in
education,” NEXT CEO Bill Kermode reflects
on the foundation’s investment in upskilling
teachers in technology through The Mind Lab.


Plowman Medal Awarded to NEXT Champion Frank Janssen

NEXT champion Frank Janssen has been awarded the Plowman medal for his
generous contribution to NEXT’s education
investments. Thank you Frank for your valuable
insights – straight talking – and your philosophy
of giving back.


NEXT Expert Teacher Awards Announced

Two teachers have been selected as the
winners of the NEXT Expert Teacher Award
at the Mind Lab by Unitec Postgraduate Certificate
in Applied Practice graduation held this week.


NEXT Supports Bright Spots Awards for Teachers

“The Bright Spots Awards are another opportunity for us to support examples of excellence in practice in New Zealand education. We are delighted to be able to partner with The Education Hub in them,” NEXT CEO Bill Kermode commenting on the new awards for teacher innovation, supported by NEXT.


NEXT Celebrates Four Years – Update on EOI Process

NEXT Foundation is celebrating four years since its launch in 2014 – and now supports sixteen environmental and education initiatives.

Thirteen of those investments have been made since the foundation’s inception – and three are continuing support for projects started before NEXT’s launch.


The Mind Lab launches Digital Passport for Teachers with NEXT Support

The Mind Lab by Unitec has launched a new
education platform today to enable teachers to develop the skills and understanding to
deliver the new digital technologies curriculum. NEXT is supporting the new
Digital Passport initiative as a natural progression from its investment in sponsoring
teachers to undertake The Mind Lab’s postgraduate technology qualification.


Seven Sharp Profiles The Summer Learning Journey

More than 500 primary and
intermediate schoolchildren from
low decile Manaiakalani schools have
been blogging over the holidays under
the NEXT supported Summer Learning
Journey. Seven Sharp journalist Michael Holland caught
up with two girls from St Pius X school in
Auckland to check out what the programme and
the “summer slump” is all
about.


NEXT and Play it Strange – travelling side by side for a better NZ

“I learnt classical music so I could get out of study and hide in the music rooms…” Mike Chunn – friend of NEXT, music mentor and Play it Strange Trust CEO
takes us back to where his passion for music began – how Split Enz was born –
and how NEXT and his music charity are travelling side by side
for a better New Zealand.


Summer Learning Journey Boosted by NEXT Foundation

“Summer Learning Journey is an excellent example of a well structured education innovation with robust evidence and a scalable model,” – NEXT CEO Bill Kermode in the NZ Herald, in a report about NEXT’s latest education investment.


Summer Learning Journey investment

NEXT is delighted to announce it is investing in The Summer Learning Journey - a digital literacy programme to support students over the summer holiday period. Summer Learning Journey is an online ...

NEXT announces new Education Investment in Summer Learning Journey

A blogging programme for school children – to help them maintain academic grades over the summer holidays – is to expand significantly with support from NEXT Foundation.

The Summer Learning Journey has been developed through a partnership with Manaiakalani teachers and the Woolf Fisher Research Centre at the University of Auckland to counter the “Summer Slump” – where school students can lose a year or more of their academic progress in writing when they break for the six-week summer holiday.


NEXT announces new education investment in SPACE

NEXT Foundation has announced it is investing in an educational support programme for new parents and their babies – SPACE.SPACE for you and your baby is a programme run through early childhood education and community organisations offering parent education, parent support and community connectedness.


Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru recognised as finalist in Rotorua Westpac Business Excellence Awards

The NEXT supported education initiative
Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru was recently
selected as a finalist for the prestigious
Rotorua Westpac Business Excellence Awards.

The Rotorua district-wide initiative brings together the best of teacher practice coupled with an appropriate future focused learning pedagogy with the endorsement and support from parents, caregivers, community, business and iwi.


Springboard celebrates ten years.

One of the education initiatives NEXT
Invests in – Springboard Trust – is celebrating its 10th birthday.
Springboard offers strategic leadership advice to school principals and in the video below its Chairman Ian Narev outlines its success over the past decade.


NEXT Expert Teacher Award winners announced

Sandy Bornholdt from Mt Manganui’s Te Kura o Matapihi has been recognised as the country’s top digital teacher, winning the prestigious NEXT Expert Teacher Award at The Mind Lab by Unitec’s graduation in Auckland last week.


September 2017

In the NEXT September Newsletter we highlight our education investment in the First 1000 days
with an opinion piece from the Children’s Commissioner; and some technology trials in Talking Matters.
We also bring you an environmental update from Project Janszoon and introduce some young Canterbury songwriters
in our Meet the Musicians series.


Meet the Musicians : Play it Strangers Troy Scott and Katie Miller

Play it Strange songwriters Troy Scott and Katie Miller found music therapeutic during the trauma of the Christchurch earthquakes. In this Meet the Musicians profile,they discuss what songwriting means to them – and the story behind their single “Turn to Me” which they kindly allow NEXT to use on our video about education initiative The Springboard Trust.


Talking Matters Trials Technology

Could technology help tune parents into the importance of rich communication with their babies in their first 1000 days?
Talking Matters, a NEXT early years(0-3) education initiative has been testing cutting edge technology with a group of parents – as a tool for promoting richer language.