Ko wai mātou
Our name carries us home
Tangatake is a Māori-led charitable trust serving Māori and Pasifika whānau across the Wellington region. We were established by deed and registered in 2024.
The meaning we carry
The name Tangatake speaks to the original person (or the indigenous person) — a person whose story begins long before our time.
It reminds us that the people we walk alongside are not starting from nothing. They carry whakapapa, knowledge, values and potential already.
Our role is to help bring those strengths forward and connect them with practical opportunities.
Our vision and mission
Our vision. Māori and Pasifika whānau are confident in who they are, connected to their communities, and able to contribute their gifts to the world.
Our mission. To create mātauranga- and tikanga-led pathways through education, training, mentorship and employment, so people can grow in self-mastery, strengthen cultural resilience and build lives that serve their whānau.
A fifty-year horizon. We are a young organisation with a long view. By 2075, we want every Māori and Pasifika person in Aotearoa to have the confidence, connection and opportunity to stand strongly in their identity and participate fully in the workforce.
Two intergenerational goals guide that horizon: cultural sovereignty and workforce equity. These outcomes will not be achieved inside one funding cycle, so we are designing for what can endure.
Our charitable purposes
Under our Trust Deed, Tangatake applies its funds to improving the wellbeing of Māori and Pacific peoples in New Zealand through education, training and employment services that support self-determination.
- Create education and training opportunities that strengthen competence, self-awareness, self-respect and employability.
- Promote cultural identity, tikanga and indigenous values within supportive learning environments.
- Provide mentorship that builds employability skills, knowledge and positive attitudes.
- Support and collaborate with charities that share similar purposes.
- Help reduce poverty, lack of opportunity and poor health through education, training and employment assistance.
Our charitable purposes are paramount. No private pecuniary profit may be made from the Trust Fund, and trustee remuneration is permitted only within the arm’s-length safeguards set out in the deed.
Our framework: M.A.T.A.U
M.A.T.A.U guides both the experience we want whānau to have and the outcomes we measure.
Manaakitanga
Care and respect
From first contact to long after a placement begins, people are treated as people.
Āhurutanga
Cultural and emotional safety
Nothing meaningful can grow until people feel safe. We design for that safety from the start.
Tuakiritanga
Identity and self-expression
Values and identity come before job-readiness. When people are grounded in who they are, what follows is stronger.
Awhina
Practical support and uplift
Support should remove real barriers: a licence fee, a certificate, transport to an interview, or help making the next call.
Utu
Balance, reciprocity and justice
What is given is acknowledged. Achievement is marked. Relationships run both ways.
Our people
Jordan Tuhura
Trustee and Co-Chair
Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Tainui, Ngāti Mamoe
Jordan brings experience in governance, creative leadership, programme development and building kaupapa Māori organisations from the ground up. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Management and a Diploma for Graduates in Accounting from the University of Otago.
As the founder of Tuatahi Creatives and Chief Development Officer at Mana Tāhuna Charitable Trust, Jordan has led kaupapa spanning employment, education, environmental restoration and Māori creative development. His experience securing significant investment, establishing community organisations and creating culturally grounded programmes supports Tangatake’s mission to strengthen pathways and opportunities for whānau.
Chris Joseph
Trustee and Co-Chair
Ngāti Porou, Tūhourangi-Ngāti Wāhiao, Ngāti Kinohaku, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Patu Moana
Chris is Chief Executive of Volunteer Kāpiti and a values-led leader with more than 20 years of experience across the health, social, community and commercial sectors. He brings strong capability in organisational leadership, project delivery and building trusted relationships across iwi, communities, government and service organisations.
His experience in employment pathways, stakeholder engagement and equity-led programme design supports Tangatake’s commitment to creating practical, culturally grounded opportunities for Māori and Pasifika whānau. Chris is focused on strengthening systems, removing barriers and creating environments where people, whānau and communities can thrive.
Where we work
Our home base is the Kāpiti Coast — Ōtaki, Waikanae, Paraparaumu, Raumati and Paekākāriki. We work across the Kāpiti Coast, Porirua, Hutt Valley and the wider Wellington region.