Expression of Interest

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
Thank you for your interest in the NEXT Foundation. Please complete the Expression of Interest (EOI). A
more formal submission may be requested (by invitation only). If you have any questions, please first
contact your research office or designated person from your organisation who is responsible for project
proposals. Any instructions in italics on this EOI may be removed. Note EOI applications will not be
accepted until 3 June 2014.
A. ORGANISATION
DETAILS
Organisation name
Postal address
Web address
Mistletoe Bay Trust
P.O. Box 1116, Blenheim
www.mistletoebay.co.nz
B. CONTACT FOR EOI
Your name
Phone
Simon Heath
027 258 8220
Position
Email
Chairman
[email protected]
C. PROJECT DETAILS
Project Title
Project collaborators
Mistletoe Bay Eco Village Replication
Department of Conservation
Save the Children NZ
Mistletoe Foundation
Location of project
Total Project Cost
1 site Mid-Upper North
Island, 1 site Mid-Lower
South Island
$16,000,000
Total Funding request
$14,000,000
If yes, please outline
the source of funding
and amount applied
for and/or secured
Not as yet, however we have processes in place to work with established funding
partners when we are fully ready to proceed.
Total number of years of funding
requested
10
Have you requested funding from
another source for this project?
No
D. PROJECT AREA
Please indicate which area you are applying for funding
Education
Yes
Environment
Yes
E. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
1. Please provide a short summary of your project including the aims and objectives
On the 27th June 2014 Mistletoe Bay Trust (MBT), www.mistletoebay.co.nz held its 11th AGM.
Over ten years MBT has progressively developed an Eco-Village & Camp Ground on Department of Conservation
Reserve Land at the head of Mistletoe Bay in the Marlborough Sounds. The site occupies a pristine space that
showcases New Zealand’s finest coastal qualities.
By teaching the preservation, protection and enhancement of natural resources at Mistletoe Bay MBT is actively:
 Promoting conservation through “hands-on” adventure and practical education
 Practicing sustainable living in a place where it clearly makes a difference
 Fostering learning by leaving only footprints and taking only memories
 Challenging the future with innovative options that encourage a new way of thinking
 Growing a community investment
 Passing the torch of environmental stewardship from one generation to the next
After 10 years MBT now has an environmental education facility which:
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complements Enviro Schools
now has 2,000 students from 60 schools experiencing Mistletoe Bay annually
reaches north as far as the Manawatu/Wairarapa and south to Canterbury/West Coast
has 10,000 plus total visitor numbers annually
has a lease in perpetuity from the Department of Conservation
is debt free
turns over $200,000 per year
employs two people fulltime
has attained a Qualmark 4 Star Plus accommodation rating
is “NOT for PROFIT” for profit but is NOT for LOSS either
is governed by volunteers
The results are outstanding and the outcomes significant.
This aim of this project is to replicate the MBT model at two further sites within New Zealand within a ten year
timeframe. Where there is currently one there would be three. Where now one third of the country is “serviced” this
project would see the whole country covered. Location of the sites has not yet been determined but they would
likely be in public ownership within New Zealand’s Conservation Estate. One would be located in the mid-upper
North Island, the other in the mid-lower South Island.
The funding sought is to enable the certainty of development and the acceleration of it. It covers both the physical
build and the consultancy required to establish and develop the sites to best effect in the shortest time.
Up to $1m at each of the two sites will be sought from sources other than the NEXT Foundation.
2.
Please outline the background to your project, briefly describing the research or best/promising
practices that inform your project.
Future proofing environmental conservation and sustainability “on-site” through educational and behavioral
experiences is at the core of MBT’s beliefs and values. This is necessary, countrywide, in order that awareness,
thinking and behaviour are stimulated in such a way that the future of our natural environment remains both safe
and inspirational to succeeding generations. This is very much about the legacy we leave.
At Mistletoe Bay, MBT is dedicated to creating an experience for children and all visitors alike that is unique to its
area. At Mistletoe Bay for instance visitors young and old learn “hands-on” how to live sustainably in a coastal
ecosystem.
This is the Mistletoe-Experience…“he taiao mo tatou katoa..for everyone, naturally!”
The learned “development” and “operational” experiences at Mistletoe Bay over the last ten years informs this
replication project. This resides in not only the heads and hearts of the project management Group (PMG) for this
project (all current and active Trustees of MBT) but also in the documentation that MBT has evolved in support of the
present day operation, viz Standard Operating Procedures, Operations manuals etc.
The core beliefs and values of MBT have never been far from any activity at Mistletoe Bay. They have guided
establishment and development as they have day to day operations. Those same beliefs and values will guide the
PMG on this project. At the new sites the same principles will apply.
While any unique and special features of a site will be central to the experience there, the teaching of universal
principles in preservation, protection and enhancement of natural resources will also be central to the “software”
implicit in and underlying the visitor’s experience.
Other strategic imperatives for the project would include:
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Engaging with the Community
Developing Relationships
Establish strategic alliances
Form Win-Win partnerships via MOU's
Growing the (Business) Pie
Accessible, current and accurate operating procedures
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3. Briefly outline your work programme.
A high level project plan (work programme) would be in two stages and run concurrently (or near
concurrently) at each of the two sites.
The two stages are:
 PHASE ONE: Putting the HARDWARE in place
o 2 sites within first five years
o Locate likely sites in both islands
o Identify likely communities of interest around those sites
o Weigh merits of particular options for sites
o Decide sites
o Establish new Trusts
o Site layout and design for each site
o Establish infrastructure to enable operations to commence
o Complete infrastructure while site are “operational”
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PHASE TWO: Programme Development and Implementation – SOFTWARE
o Educational programmes that are customised to particulars of site/locales
o Both sites
o A second 5 year phase
o Evolve and refine "software" as it is experienced
As outlined in the next section a Project Management Group (PMG) would work as an outside
consultancy with Local counterparts. The PMG would have overall responsibility through to at least the
middle years of the project, the completion of Phase One. It could progressively withdraw subsequently
and “hand-over” to their local counterparts. The timing of that withdrawal would be site and community
of interest dependent.
With this dedication of resources, and utilising with the skillset and experience of the PMG two further
replications of the Mistletoe Bay (MB) model will be possible in the time that it has taken MB to become
established, to mature and make a difference. Succession is assured at the new sites with the active
involvement of “local” counterparts in the project from the outset.
4. What are the proposed project management and governance structures for your project? Please
attach a brief bio of the key management personnel
Project Management Group (PMG)
 A PMG of 5 MBT Members will work with “counterparts” at the new sites
 “Counterparts” form Trust Management Groups (TMGs) for new Trusts
 All PMG members contribute to Sites Layout and Design and to the Environmental Management
functions
o Environmental Management Plan
o Environmental Management Programme
o Implementation of Plan
o Performance audit via independent agency
 PMG guides development of Governance policies for new trusts
 Person specific roles for PMG members include
Simon Heath
 PMG Chairman
 Project Leader
 Promotion
o Spokesperson
o Presenter
o Advocate
 Communications
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o Stakeholder Liaison
 Consultant
o Fundraising
o Environmental Education
o Community Engagement
o Relationship Management
 Strategic Alliances
 Win-Win partnerships
Bruce Young
 Financial Management of Project
 Consultant
o Web based financial management systems – all sites
o Financial management and reporting
o Project audit
o Initial audits, new sites
Vic Koller
 Project Management
 Consultant
o Sites Construction
o Environmental Technologies
o Values Alignment
Jon Cunliffe
 Project Management
 Promotion
o Presenter
o Advocate
 Consultant
o Governance
o Business Systems
o Continuous Improvement
 Thinking
 Systems
 Performance
o IT Communications
 Websites
 Social Media
Marty Wilson
 Legal Advisor
o to PMG
o new trusts for new sites
Governance
 For the purposes of the project Mistletoe Bay Trust (MBT) is proposed as the Governance entity.
 When all the sites are fully functional an overarching Governance entity will be established that
links all three sites.
 Each site will have its own Trust to provide for governance/management requirements at the
respective sites – eg MBT at Mistletoe Bay.
Linkages to the overarching Governance agency will be formalised via Memoranda of Understanding
between the individual Trusts and the overarching entity.
Please send your submission as a pdf email attachment to [email protected] along with
the biographies of key personnel; and attached letter of endorsement from your CEO (if required).
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