After 13 years of dedicated service, Trustee David Todd reflects on his time at the Foundation.
Late last year we farewelled David Todd as a Todd Foundation Trustee and Investment Committee Chair. After careful consideration, David announced his intention to retire, offering a “chance for someone else to step up and add value with a fresh lens”.
The Foundation Chair, staff, and trustees would like to take this opportunity to thank David for his significant contribution over the years. When asked to reflect on David’s time his fellow trustees said they have appreciated his genuine warmth and passion for the work, and his welcoming nature. Foundation staff want to recognise and thank David for his high trust in them, and the deep respect he has for the communities the Foundation serves. In the lead up to our 50th anniversary celebrations, we had the opportunity to film an interview with David. In this new three-minute cut, he offers his reflections about his time in the role, the changes he’s seen, and his hopes for our continuing direction. We hope you enjoy this short film and will join us in farewelling David.
Some words of wisdom from the short film that stood out to us include:
“The real privilege is to be out in the community meeting amazing people doing amazing work for little thanks and little money sometimes. They are the people that have an impact on our society going forward. We can provide some funding and some expertise to assist them but we’re not the white horse riding into town to fix everybody’s problems. The community knows best.”
“I think innovation is one of the key successes of the Foundation over 50 years.”
“For many years we were a processor, whereas now we have a very high trust model. The Foundation board have high trust in the staff, and the staff have high trust in the community and vice versa.”
“Over the next 50 years I would like to see the Foundation continue the journey we’ve started on which is about systemic change in the community. For many years we’d provide band-aids for the community where needed, but to have societal change it is vitally important we take a long-term approach to those systemic problems in our community.”
