RNZFB Board Outgoing Chair’s Newsletter – November 2025

Clive Lansink

Hi everyone. It’s nice that the weather is getting warmer. Let’s hope for a nice summer. This newsletter covers highlights of our meeting held in Auckland on Saturday 20 September. It was a fairly quick meeting this time as several of the Board subcommittees hadn’t met since our last meeting in July.

First, I want to apologise for the delay in getting this done. We’ve just had the November meeting and the AGM, and with lots happening for me during that time, I’m sorry I just didn’t get the newsletter finished. Anyway, there are important things to share so let’s get into it.

Directors gathered in Auckland on Thursday 18 September to be part of a very special event in which the RNZFB publicly issued a formal and sincere apology to survivors of abuse that had occurred in the organisation between 1955 and 1999. A number of survivors spoke about what had happened to them whilst in the care of the RNZFB. I then spoke on behalf of the Board, concluding by reading the formal apology. Written copies of the formal apology were then handed out. A video was made of the event, which will be available for viewing in due course.

Also prior to the actual Board meeting, we met with Chrissie Cowan, Chief Executive of Kāpō Māori Aotearoa. She spoke about Kāpō Māori Aotearoa’s origins, values, and operating model, noting that they are a kaupapa Māori organisation operating in accordance with Māori protocols, values and practices that shape both governance and day-to-day work. We noted that Kāpō Māori Aotearoa recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, and we acknowledged the people who in the early 1980s fought to establish a true Māori voice in the blind and disabled community. We explored how the two organisations can work together more effectively to achieve better outcomes for Māori who are blind, low vision or deafblind.

Onto the actual Board meeting, and as is usually the case in September, a lot of our business was taken up by approving the various documents that report on the last financial year. This is the final step in the process of reporting to members and the public at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

• We approved the report against the operations plan.
• We approved the Financial Report from the auditors, Deloitte, noting that this is an unmodified report, which means the auditors raised no significant concerns.
• We also approved the Community Impact Report which shares some wonderful stories about our activities and the positive impact Blind Low Vision NZ has had for many blind, deafblind and low vision people during the last year.

We are very pleased to report that during the last financial year the RNZFB group achieved an excellent result, reporting a substantial operating surplus of $11.9 million. The strong result was attributed to high legacy income and effective cost management. Thanks were extended to Ms Midgen and the staff for their hard work in achieving such a strong result. In my last newsletter, I reported that this financial result enables us to increase expenditure during the current year and develop new services to clients.

We received an update on the external independent review of the organisation’s constitution being carried out by Simpson Grierson. They are nearing the end of the review. They have met with most consumer organisations, and following the initial publicity, a few clients contacted them directly with their submissions. The review also includes a survey to gain insights into how people feel about the organisation’s governance. That survey closed on 9 November. Simpson Grierson are now analysing all the information gathered and will deliver their report in the near future.

The Board has a statutory responsibility to ensure health and safety of employees and we receive a report on this at each meeting. The Board is pleased to see that health and safety has become embedded in the organisation’s culture.

During discussion of the Chief Executive’s report, we agreed with her on the need for more promotion of Blind Low Vision NZ services to students receiving support from BLENNZ. These are our future blind, deafblind and low vision adults and we want them to know about the services we have that can really help them.

We received a presentation from Sarah Berman, GM Macular Degeneration NZ. Macular Degeneration is a leading cause of blindness for people over 50. Unfortunately, people are not as aware of it as they need to be, which means they can miss out on treatments that might help. Smoking and family history remain the most significant risk factors. She mentioned that collaboration with Blind Low Vision NZ is strong and reciprocal and she noted recent client feedback praising recent Blind Low Vision NZ follow-up after referral.

Those are the highlights from our September meeting but there is always a lot more going on. More detail can be found in the minutes of our open meetings which are readily available. Remember also most of our 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 more information or 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.

Earlier this week, the Board met to make its various appointments. We now have a new Chair, Donna McCaskill, and an email went out about that on Thursday 4 December. So this will be my last newsletter. I’ll still be on the Board but you’ll be hearing from Donna in future newsletters. I will sign off now by wishing you all a happy and relaxing time over Christmas with family and friends, away from the normal pressures of life, and I hope 2026 will be a wonderful year for you and your whānau.