RNZFB Board Chair’s Newsletter – March 2025

Clive Lansink

Hello and welcome to my latest newsletter, bringing you up to date with Board activities as Chair of the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind. We’re already nearing the end of March so it’s a long time since December when I wrote my last newsletter. Our Christmas break is already a distant memory but I hope you all had a nice time with friends and whānau. This newsletter covers highlights of our meeting held in Gisborne on 1 March.

The Board approved a proposal that will create a space for consumers on the Parnell site, noting that the previous space at Awhina House was lost with the demolition of Awhina House and the construction of the new facilities. The proposal involves leasing more space from Foundation Properties Limited (FPL) which is currently empty on the ground floor of the new facility. It was noted that this project would involve some minor capital expenditure to complete the fit-out of the space, but there would be no increase in operating cost as FPL had agreed to increase the dividend it pays back to BLVNZ by the amount of the increased lease. The Board was advised that the Chief Executive is working with consumer representatives to develop the space, in line with the Board’s property principles.

The Board received a proposal for discussion that may lead to BLVNZ providing white canes to clients at no charge. Directors made various comments in support of this initiative and Management will now develop this initiative in a lot more detail, with the intention of including it in the budget for the coming year.

The Board received a proposal to remove NZ from the name “Blind Low Vision NZ”, which is the service delivery name of the RNZFB. It was noted that people often casually refer to the organisation as just “Blind Low Vision”. However, directors were strongly of the view that NZ should be retained in the name. Directors felt that retaining the “NZ” emphasises that we are the preeminent organisation for blind, low vision, and deafblind people with full coverage of New Zealand. Not only is this important from a PR and political perspective but it is also important when working with blindness organisations from other countries.

The Board agreed to sign the letter of engagement with Deloitte to carry out the audit of the organisation’s activities for the current financial year. We will also be recommending to the AGM later this year that Deloitte be reappointed to carry out next year’s audit.

The Board was advised that the subcommittee overseeing the planned external review of the RNZFB Constitution is making progress and has prepared a brief and supporting Terms of Reference. This has since been circulated to several people who may be interested in leading the review.

The Board agreed to a proposal to simplify the Pearson Fund application process by no longer requiring written evidence that other funding sources have been explored. Feedback was noted that it can be demoralising when people have to approach WINZ and other funding sources when it is already known that they are likely to decline the funding request. Directors agreed the fund should be more approachable so it is more able to provide financial help to blind, deafblind and low vision people in line with the fund’s objectives.

The Board received the report from the Returning Officer for last year’s elections, and again formally appointed the Board Secretary to be Returning Officer for this year’s elections.

The Board also formally approved the date, time and location of this year’s AGM as 10:30am on Saturday 22 November 2025 in Wellington.

The Board has been looking at ways to be more visible and approachable to the organisation’s staff. The Board and Chief Executive are developing the idea of webinars that staff would be invited to attend, which would cover a specific topic, involve a small number of directors relevant to that topic, and provide time for staff to ask questions.

Other points noted include:

• The financial results of BLVNZ for the 7 months of the year are extremely positive, with the operating result at the end of January being some $10m ahead of budget. This is mainly due to higher than expected legacies and investment returns and careful management of costs.
• The upgrade to the Dunedin office and the new guide dog facilities in Auckland have been completed.
• The guide dog service has introduced an Early Neurological Stimulation and Development program that promises to improve the success rate for puppies that might one day become guide dogs. The results to date are very positive.
• An updated braille strategy framework has been developed involving BLENNZ, BANZAT, BLVNZ and Blind Citizens NZ. Another project also reviewing various aspects of braille in response to client feedback is being led by Dan Shepherd.
• A Pathways for Parents initiative is being developed by BLVNZ working with Parents of Vision Impaired, Kāpō Māori Aotearoa and BLENNZ. This will be an ‘information roadmap’ to support Parents to easily navigate the various blind support and funding organisations that can help them and their child.
• BLVNZ is conducting insight workshops with various employers to promote awareness of blindness and low vision and reduce barriers to employing blind, deafblind and low vision people.
• BLVNZ is now close to a full complement of rehabilitation staff.

Those are the highlights from our last meeting but there is always a lot more going on. Remember our main meetings are open to observers and we do our best to provide all the agenda papers to observers. So please contact the Board Secretary if you would like to observe any of our open meetings. Otherwise just keep your ears, eyes and fingers alert for our announcements so you can always be up to speed with what’s going on.

Our next meeting is on Saturday 3 May. I’ll be back with another newsletter after that meeting.