About Us
Secure Your Future with Strategic Investments
Who We Are and Why We Care.
Ta Tupu Foundation Trust is a Pacific-led organisation committed to uplifting our people through connection, conversation, and collective action. We work closely with communities to share knowledge, strengthen relationships, and support growth that’s meaningful and lasting. Our approach is guided by Pacific values of respect, service, and unity ensuring every voice is heard, valued, and empowered.
Our Roots Run Deep
Ta Tupu Foundation wasn’t born in a boardroom—it grew from the unshakable resilience of Pacific communities.
From Struggle to Strength
For over 70 years, Pacific migrants have journeyed to Aotearoa chasing opportunity, only to face the same harsh truth as tangata whenua: systems built to keep us at the bottom. We dominate every negative
Statistic: health, housing, Education, yet persist.
Conceived out of community leaders need to put a stake in the ground, it took five years to finally bring the Trust into existence.
2020: A Phoenix Moment
When COVID hit, Pacific leaders refused to watch our people fall through the cracks. The Pacific Leadership Forum, a coalition of the willing, transformed decades of struggle into action. Incorporated during lockdown, Ta Tupu became our beacon against systemic failure.
Why "Ta Tupu"?
Because we know how to grow, even when cut down. Like saplings pushing through concrete, we rise. Not through handouts, but through the collective power of our communities determining their own futures.
This Is Just the Beginning
We stand on the shoulders of generations who survived so we could thrive. Now, we write the next chapter where Pacific prosperity isn’t accidental, but by design.
Charitable Trust CC57657 | Established 2020
Our website is built with Pacific people in mind simple to navigate, inclusive in tone, and welcoming to all.
Find the support you need quickly, with clear information on how we can help you or your community.
We’re more than a website we’re a bridge to meaningful relationships, cultural respect, and positive change.
Our Purpose, Our Direction, Guided by Pacific Values
We stand with our communities, sharing goals, honouring heritage, and creating lasting impact through connection, compassion, and culturally rooted leadership.
Empowered Pacific communities thriving through unity, knowledge, and connection
Connecting people through respectful dialogue, cultural care, and shared purpose.
Rooted in culture, driven by community, guided by compassion always.
Our Why
Our Vision Towards 2028
“Pacific communities thriving unapologetically as themselves – individually and collectively.”
Our How: Our Mission
How We'll Get There
Ta Tupu Foundation Trust empowers this future through three powerful pathways:
- Rewriting the Narrative (Community Awareness)
We move beyond “don’t know what they don’t know” to solution-focused awareness.
✓ Partnering with communities to identify challenges and co-create solutions
✓ Redefining Pacific prosperity through culturally-grounded self-determination - Power in Unity (Community Collectivity and Mobilisation)
We activate communities to shape their own futures.
✓ Mobilizing participation in Aotearoa’s democratic processes
✓ Building collective readiness to respond to challenges - Bridges to Change (Strategic Relationships)
We cultivate strategic alliances that create impact.
✓ Partnering with government, tangata whenua and like-minded organisations
✓ Maintaining principled, mission-focused advocacy
Together, we’re building a future where Pacific success is by design, not chance.
Our Values: The Heartbeat of All We Do
At our core, we are guided by timeless Pacific principles that honour our connections to each other and to those who came before us:
‘Ofa/Aroha/Aro’a/Alofa/Loloma (Love)
•The foundation of all we do;
•Giving generously from the heart without expectation.
Faka’apa’apa/Mataora/Vakarokoroko/
Fa’aaloalo (Respect)
•Honouring the sacred worth of every person and community
Lototo/Vaunaku/Yalomatua/Lotomaulalo (Humility)
•Serving with quiet strength
•Putting others before self
Fatongia/Tiaki’anga/Va fealoa’i (Relationships)
•Weaving bonds that transcend time and distance
Ngaue tokoni/Tautua (Service)
•Offering our gifts wholeheartedly to uplift our people
Vakarau / Fa’atuatua ( Faith)
•The golden thread that strengthens every endeavour.
These are not just words – they are the living practices passed down through generations, now breathing life into our shared vision. They remind us that true progress grows from the roots of kinship, care, and sacred responsibility to each other.
Ala ‘i Sia, Ala ‘i Kolonga – Skilful at Sia, Skilful at Kolonga – In order to succeed we must be adaptable, skillful and functional in more than one environment.
Lifting Our Communities with Hope and Togetherness
Evangeleen Joseph, BBus, MBus
Qualification Development Facilitator – Ringa Hora
Pakilau Manase Lua BA, MA (Hons)
Ringa Huti Punga – Pacific Equity Lead (WISE Group)
Mati Tuāutu Filemoni Timoteo
Company Director & Trustee
Tupu & Ora: Our Pacific Approach to Thriving
The name Ta Tupu was gifted by the Pacific Leadership Forum, representing nine Pacific nations. It carries the profound wisdom of our ancestors:
- Tupu(Samoan/Tongan: to grow)
- Ora(Kuki Airani: life, vitality)
Together, they embody the Pacific way of resilient growth like a tree that regenerates after being cut, just as our ancestors adapted across oceans and generations.
This approach honours:
- Vā (Relational Space) Our interconnected past, present, and future
- Place & Culture Thriving as Pacific peoples, not despite our identity but because of it.
“Tupu ma Ora” means both “grow and thrive” (action) and “growing and thriving” (ongoing journey). It’s how we rise rooted in legacy, branching toward tomorrow.
