The Boost: your bi-monthly does of news and insights from Heft
Kia ora koutou,
We’re excited to introduce The Boost, our new Heft newsletter. In today’s fast-paced world, it can be hard to stay on top of the issues that truly matter. That’s why we’ve launched The Boost - to bring you updates on key issues that matter to you and add a little heft to your day. Our goal isn’t just to talk about what’s happening with our team, but to share insights and information that help you stay ahead of the curve.
You can expect to hear from us every two months, and, of course, if you ever decide it’s not for you, simply opt out.
Welcoming Vic into the Heft fold
This year we welcomed our new Executive Director, Vic Crockford, into our Heft community.
Vic is based in Tāhuna/Queenstown, after stints in Wellington and overseas and a childhood in Hawke’s Bay. Vic brings a (somewhat unusual) mix of commercial and not-for-profit experience.
She was formerly the Chief Executive Officer at community housing peak body, Community Housing Aotearoa and, prior to that, head of communications and government relations at Z Energy. Vic brings a twin passion for the energy and housing sectors and a deep love of the arts, which she gets to realise as Chair of advocacy organisation, Arts Access Aotearoa. She is also the Convenor of the Coalition to End Women’s Homelessness, advocating for the rights of women experiencing homelessness, and a member of Queenstown Lakes District Council’s Climate and Biodiversity Reference Group – giving her an inside track on how local governments are managing their climate risks and enabling regeneration. Vic was recently nominated for the A Woman's Touch Inspirational Woman Award, recognising her excellence as a role model and changemaker in the Otago community.
Vic and Emily work in tandem supporting our Wellington-based team and nationwide network of consultants to provide high quality communications, government relations, and advocacy expertise for purpose-driven organisations and businesses looking to make impact in their sector.
Vic Crockford, Co-Director of Heft
The politics behind information release, or, what I learned as an OIA hunter
Following the release of the Clark Foundation's report highlighting the increasing perception of corruption, particularly in relation to political lobbying and access to official information, our Managing Director, Emily Broadmore, shared her insights into the politics of advocacy in the Sunday Star Times:
“Much of the work of businesses like ours is about supporting groups to access MPs and Ministers by sharing knowledge and ensuring that activities are conducted in a professional manner. We are proud of the professionalism and would sign up to a mandatory Code of Conduct for the sector in the interests of public assurance about the nature of the work we do. We hope our colleagues would too.”
Read Emily’s op ed in the Sunday Star Times.
Do you need a Return on Investment Report?
Many purpose-driven organisations in the social sector are increasingly uncertain about how to approach impact reporting, what Social Investment entails, and how to incorporate return-on-investment (ROI) language into their reporting frameworks and advocacy efforts. Our Government Relations expert Gwynn Compton tackles these questions in his article on LinkedIn, Delivering ROI, do you need an impact report?
His three top tips?
Officials must justify spending decisions using the Social Investment framework, so ensure your reporting aligns with this approach
Focus on hard data rather than anecdotes or case studies
Most of the required data should already be available through your regular reporting or easily sourced from your field staff
Read Gwynn’s LinkedIn article for more on how to show impact without the huge price tag.
Supporting the Sunday Star Times Short Story Competition
Writing well is essential in comms. Many of our wider communications community are writers outside of their professional lives, crafting stories for publication as well as for our clients. A number of the writers in the Wellington Writers’ Studio, which operates within our building, are also communicators and report writers.
That’s why we are excited to be one of two sponsors for this year’s Sunday Star Times Short Story Competition. It's the 40th year of the competition and, alongside Milford Asset Management, we’re ensuring that our best and brightest known and yet-to-be-discovered writers have an opportunity to get in front of the fantastic judges: Eileen Merriman, Lauren Keenan (Te Āti Awa ki Taranaki), and Jane Arthur. Not to mention a large audience of Sunday paper lovers!
Read this story on The Post about this year’s Short Story Competition.
Creating community with pop up headshots
August was a busy month in the Berry Building, and it was great to see some new and familiar faces at our pop-up headshots event with Sabrina from Headshots.nz.
As we all know, it's been a challenging time in Wellington for many, so we put on an afternoon of drinks and photography for the wider Wellington communications and consultant community, providing a steady trickle through the door over the course of the afternoon. This was a wonderful way to catch up with consultants we haven’t seen in a while, and some as a result are now working with us on client projects this month.
Keep an eye out on our LinkedIn page for updates on further events, including an upcoming event for our friends down South.
Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou – thanks as always for your partnership and support. We value our client and consultant relationships, past, present and future!
Your people with Heft.