Introduction
Te Taumata Hauora o Te Kahu o Taonui Charitable Trust is a registered New Zealand charity and the recognised Iwi-Māori Partnership Board for the Te Tai Tokerau–Tāmaki area. It represents Māori health perspectives across a large region extending from Te Rerenga Wairua in the north to parts of Tāmaki Makaurau in the south.
Its purpose is to act as a catalyst for transforming health and wellbeing systems in Te Tai Tokerau. The organisation works to ensure that the experiences, aspirations and priorities of whānau, hapū and iwi influence the planning, funding and delivery of health services.
The Trust is not a commercial enterprise foundation or privately owned healthcare company. It is a charitable trust and Māori partnership body whose work is grounded in tikanga Māori, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, He Whakaputanga and the principle of tino rangatiratanga, or Māori self-determination.
History and Background
Establishment as an Iwi-Māori Partnership Board
Iwi-Māori Partnership Boards were formally established under the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022 to represent local Māori perspectives within New Zealand’s health system. Te Taumata Hauora o Te Kahu o Taonui was recognised in legislation for the Tai Tokerau–Tāmaki area from January 2023.
The statutory area includes the Far North, Kaipara and Whangārei districts, together with specified areas of Auckland. The organisation’s website describes its rohe as extending from Te Rerenga Wairua to the Tāmaki Estuary and serving a large and diverse Māori population.
Te Taumata Hauora is connected to the broader leadership of Te Kahu o Taonui, a confederation of independent iwi in Te Tai Tokerau. Its governance brings together iwi representatives, Māori health providers and people with expertise in hauora Māori.
Registration as a charitable trust
Te Taumata Hauora o Te Kahu o Taonui Charitable Trust was registered with New Zealand Charities Services on 26 February 2025 under registration number CC63716. Its areas of operation are recorded as Northland and Auckland.
The registered charitable purposes include advancing education and promoting health, wellbeing and equitable access for whānau, hapū, iwi and communities. The Trust is also permitted to support poverty relief, Te Ao Māori, spirituality and other initiatives that strengthen community wellbeing.
Changing national health environment
The functions of Iwi-Māori Partnership Boards have evolved as New Zealand’s health system has been restructured. Following the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora–Māori Health Authority in 2024, Health New Zealand assumed greater responsibility for Māori health-service funding and for supporting the work of the partnership boards.
The Healthy Futures amendment enacted in 2026 further clarified that Iwi-Māori Partnership Boards engage with Māori communities about health needs, aspirations and outcomes and communicate those insights through the national Māori health advisory structure. Health New Zealand is required to support the boards and provide relevant information.
Mission and Purpose
Core purpose
Te Taumata Hauora states that its purpose is to act as a revolutionary catalyst for change in Te Tai Tokerau by transforming hauora and wellbeing systems. Its vision is for the mana of whānau in Te Tai Tokerau to endure so that they can be strong, resilient and able to flourish.
The Trust seeks to improve health outcomes by ensuring that Māori communities have a meaningful role in decisions about the services they receive. It listens to whānau experiences, identifies health priorities, advocates for system change and supports culturally grounded solutions.
Guiding values
Its work is based on several principles:
- Waka Hourua: Genuine partnership and shared decision-making
- Whanaungatanga: Collective care, relationships and connection
- Kaitiakitanga: Strong and accountable leadership
- Rangatiratanga: Māori self-determination in health
- Wairuatanga: Recognition of spiritual wellbeing
- Ōritetanga: Fairness, justice and health equity
- Options: The right to culturally appropriate health services
- Active protection: Protection of Māori rights, language, tikanga and taonga
Statutory role
The partnership-board model was created to ensure that local Māori perspectives influence health-system decision-making. Its responsibilities have included engaging with whānau and hapū, assessing local hauora Māori needs, informing health priorities, monitoring system performance and supporting investment in kaupapa Māori services and innovation.
Following the 2026 legislative changes, its principal statutory role centres on engaging Māori communities about their health needs, aspirations and outcomes and communicating those insights to the relevant national advisory structure.
Governance and Structure
Legal structure
Te Taumata Hauora is structured as a charitable trust incorporated under New Zealand’s charitable-trust framework. It acts as an umbrella and resource body in the health sector rather than functioning as a hospital, private medical business or commercial insurance provider.
The Trust has no shareholders or conventional private ownership. Its assets and funding must be used to advance its charitable purposes and improve community wellbeing.
It should therefore not be described as an enterprise foundation owned by a corporation. Its authority comes from its charitable status, iwi-based governance arrangements and statutory recognition as an Iwi-Māori Partnership Board.
Board leadership
The organisation’s official website identifies Tereki Stewart as Board Chair. It also lists trustees and governance participants with backgrounds in iwi leadership, Māori health provision, investment and hauora Māori expertise.
Listed board members include:
- Dr Maria Baker
- Margareth Broodkoorn
- Trudy Brown
- Tama Davis
- Aperahama Edwards
- Toa Faneva
- Dame Rangimarie Naida Glavish
- Cynthia Otene
- Rowena Tana
- Tereki Stewart
- JJ Ripikoi
- Wallace Rivers
The New Zealand Charities Register separately records legal officers, trustees, settlors and the Board Chair. These public records support regulatory transparency, although the official website is the most useful source for the organisation’s current operational governance structure.
Executive management
The organisation identifies Boyd Broughton as Chief Executive. The Chief Executive leads its operational work, advocacy, relationships with health-system agencies and implementation of strategic priorities.
Accountability
As a registered charity, the Trust must submit annual returns and financial information to Charities Services. Its first reported financial year, ending 30 June 2025, recorded no income or expenditure, reflecting its recent registration and the early stage of the current charitable entity.
More complete financial information is expected as the Trust files returns covering later operational and grantmaking periods.
Funding and Grants
Main funding mechanisms
Te Taumata Hauora’s basic funding is likely to come from a mixture of public health-system support, government contracts, partnership agreements, project grants and targeted health investments.
Health New Zealand has responsibility for supporting Iwi-Māori Partnership Boards and providing them with information needed to perform their functions. Earlier government budgets also allocated dedicated funding to establish and support partnership boards and strengthen their participation in local health planning.
The organisation may also seek or receive funding through:
- Health New Zealand contracts
- Government health appropriations
- Māori health and wellbeing programs
- Philanthropic partnerships
- Project-specific grants
- Research or consultation agreements
- Cross-sector partnerships
- Co-investment with iwi, community or health providers
The exact value and source of its current operational funding are not fully detailed in the public financial record.
Toi Māui Innovation Grant
The Trust’s major current grantmaking initiative is the Toi Māui Innovation Grant 2026. It supports new and innovative whānau-centred ideas that can improve hauora outcomes across the Trust’s rohe.
The 2026 funding pool is NZ$200,000 excluding GST. Indicative funding levels are:
- Up to NZ$10,000 for developing or testing early ideas
- Up to NZ$50,000 for start-up innovations
Funding is expected to be distributed across several initiatives, generally for delivery over six months.
Eligible applicants
Applications are open to:
- Whānau collectives
- Iwi and hapū
- Kaupapa Māori organisations
- NGOs and health providers
- Community groups
- Social enterprises
- Clinical and community partnerships
- Individuals with appropriate legal or umbrella arrangements
Applicants must be based in or propose to deliver their initiative within the Trust’s rohe. Projects must provide clear community benefit and cannot primarily serve private commercial gain.
Funding priorities
The Toi Māui fund supports initiatives aligned with four priority areas:
- Māmā and pēpi health
- Housing and its effects on hauora
- Mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing
- Timely access to high-quality and culturally safe health services
Potentially eligible ideas include new service models, Māori health-navigation tools, mobile services, culturally grounded interventions, workforce innovations, digital solutions and cross-sector collaborations.
Application timetable
Registrations of Interest opened on 6 July 2026 and close on 3 August 2026. Shortlisted applicants are expected to pitch their ideas in August, with funding decisions confirmed at the Toi Māui Innovation Summit on 4 September 2026.
Research and basic funding
Te Taumata Hauora is not primarily a general research-grant foundation. Its funding is intended for practical, whānau-centred health solutions rather than unrestricted basic research.
Research, data collection or evaluation may be funded when it contributes directly to:
- Māori health equity
- Whānau-led service design
- Maternal and infant health
- Mental wellbeing
- Housing-related health
- Access to culturally safe care
- Monitoring and evaluation of innovative services
Universities or researchers would generally need to demonstrate a strong Māori partnership, direct community benefit and alignment with the Trust’s health priorities.
Major Programs and Initiatives
Toi Māui Innovation Grant
Toi Māui supports bold, early-stage ideas inspired by lived experience and Māori knowledge. In addition to funding, successful and shortlisted applicants can receive help to refine their ideas, develop proposals, connect with other funders and join a network of health innovators.
Te Āpōpōtanga: Māmā and Pēpi
Te Āpōpōtanga focuses on the health and wellbeing of Māori mothers, babies and whānau.
In March 2026, the Trust released a report documenting the experiences of Māori mothers and babies across Te Tai Tokerau and Tāmaki Makaurau. The research identified barriers involving access to care, racism, housing instability, maternal mental health, financial hardship and fragmented services.
The report calls for:
- Kaupapa Māori maternity hubs
- A stronger Māori maternity workforce
- Integrated wraparound services
- Long-term support for Māori providers
- Genuine cultural safety
- Service design led by whānau experiences
Housing and health
The Trust identifies safe, warm and stable housing as an essential foundation for hauora. Its housing priority advocates for affordable and culturally grounded solutions for whānau experiencing overcrowding, insecurity or poor-quality accommodation.
Timely access to quality care
Another priority is removing barriers that prevent Māori from receiving timely and appropriate healthcare.
These barriers may include:
- Cost
- Distance and transport
- Long waiting periods
- Digital exclusion
- Complex referral pathways
- Lack of culturally safe services
Mental and spiritual wellbeing
The Trust promotes approaches to mental health and addiction that recognise emotional, spiritual, cultural and social wellbeing.
Its vision is for whānau to access services without judgement, delay or whakamā. It supports care grounded in tikanga, whanaungatanga and Māori understandings of healing.
Locality and whānau engagement
Te Taumata Hauora supports seven localities across its rohe. Locality engagement is intended to give communities a meaningful role in identifying their priorities and influencing how local health and social services are designed.
Impact and Examples of Work Funded
Regional representation
The Trust represents a rohe containing more than 20 iwi with mana whenua, over 170 marae and an estimated Māori population of approximately 182,510. The organisation projects that this population could grow by about 33% over 20 years.
Its regional scale gives it an important role in bringing together rural, urban, coastal and geographically isolated Māori communities.
Māmā and pēpi evidence
The Te Āpōpōtanga project gathered thousands of insights through hui with Māori mothers, whānau and Māori health providers.
The project provides decision-makers with evidence about:
- Maternal mental-health pressures
- Experiences of discrimination
- Housing instability
- Financial hardship
- Isolation
- Inconsistent services
- The need for culturally safe maternity care
Its impact will ultimately depend on whether government agencies, funders and health providers implement the report’s recommendations.
Investment in Māori innovation
The NZ$200,000 Toi Māui fund represents a direct move from consultation and advocacy into practical grantmaking.
Funded projects are expected to test solutions that could later be expanded or sustained. The program particularly values ideas that are whānau-led, culturally grounded and capable of reducing inequitable access to care.
Because funding decisions are scheduled for September 2026, publicly verified examples of completed Toi Māui projects are not yet available.
Health-system influence
Te Taumata Hauora influences health strategy by communicating whānau experiences, advocating for regional priorities and encouraging investment in kaupapa Māori services.
Its influence is mainly strategic rather than clinical. It does not replace hospitals, general practitioners or Māori health providers; instead, it seeks to ensure that the wider system listens to and is accountable to Māori communities.
Conclusion
Te Taumata Hauora o Te Kahu o Taonui Charitable Trust is a Māori-led health and wellbeing organisation serving Te Tai Tokerau–Tāmaki.
It is both a registered charitable trust and a recognised Iwi-Māori Partnership Board. Its responsibilities include engaging with Māori communities, representing local health priorities, influencing health-system planning and supporting whānau-centred innovation.
The organisation has no commercial shareholders or private ownership. It should not be classified as an enterprise foundation, although it may work with government agencies, philanthropic funders, health providers and social enterprises.
Its principal areas of work include:
- Māori health equity
- Māmā and pēpi wellbeing
- Housing and health
- Mental and spiritual wellbeing
- Access to culturally safe healthcare
- Whānau voice and community engagement
- Māori-led innovation
- Regional health-system advocacy
Its Toi Māui Innovation Grant provides up to NZ$50,000 per start-up initiative from a total 2026 pool of NZ$200,000. This funding supports new solutions rather than established business-as-usual services.
For an intern, Te Taumata Hauora provides opportunities to understand:
- Māori health policy
- Te Tiriti-based governance
- Community consultation
- Grant management
- Public-health research
- Monitoring and evaluation
- Health equity
- Policy advocacy
- Communications
- Whānau-centred service design
- Relationships between iwi and government
- Nonprofit governance
The Trust’s long-term impact will depend on its ability to convert whānau knowledge into funded services, policy changes and measurable improvements in Māori health and wellbeing.
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