Our Work
Blues Charitable Trust / The Blues Super Rugby Club
From June 2023+ | The Blues Charitable Trust (BCT) delivers intensive, interactive youth leadership programming with the purpose to “Empower rangatahi (young people) to make good choices for great lives.” It operates from South Auckland up to Cape Reinga and focuses on youth who are at a crossroads in life and have been identified by their schools as having the potential to be leaders, with positive intervention. Launched in mid-2022, BCT is a registered charity operating as a standalone legal and financial entity. BCT partners with The Blues to harness the club mana (power) through use of players and staff. In the first 18 months, BCT delivered 33 programmes in 22 high schools reaching nearly 700 youth. Rachel, Janine and Hayley have been appointed to provide research and advice to help the internal BCT team develop funding streams to support their work. Away We Go ~ Matike Mai is not a professional fundraising agency, but has a strong understanding of the NZ grants system.
Various deliverables have included -
Conducting a full review of the existing funding strategy, associated budgets and planning documents, and delivering written strategic recommendations to the Board. Also presented in-person.
Working with the internal BCT grants lead to develop a community funding strategy. This included extensive research, giving BCT information on gaming and community trust organisations by funding type and location.
Working with the internal BCT partnerships lead to identify and research more than 30 potential commercial partners, across four industries, that have a clear values match with BCT.
Producing a new multi-use storyline for presenting to potential commercial and grant funders, re-mixed to more clearly communicate BCT’s social purpose and explain the partnership with The Blues.
Ongoing support and advice to BCT’s internal grant funding and commercial leads as the strategy rolls out.
Rob Woodley ONZM, General Manager of the Blues Charitable Trust said:
“Rachel and her research team of Hayley and Janine have been superb to work with as a new Sporting Charitable Trust. They have provided for us critical assessment of our current set up and strategic advice towards how we can improve and grow our capacity through strategic funding to empower more young people to make good choices for great lives through Leadership and high performance sports. They have conducted comprehensive research that will help us to have greater focus and alignment when we share our stories of young lives positively changed & the benefits of supporting our Kaupapa. They are a delight to work with, encouraging, hardworking and I am very grateful for their help.”
“Rachel came on board as a sponsorship strategy and sales specialist, leading commercial growth for the Black Ferns and WXV, a brand new global women’s rugby event hosted by New Zealand Rugby. With a short runway, Rachel was able to seamlessly embed herself into the NZR team, quickly understanding our brand, culture and objectives. She provided advanced strategic advice about our women’s rugby commercial strategy that was innovative, customised and successful. I think Rachel’s unique ability is to develop a clear strategy for the rights holder, but also to seamlessly connect this to that of potential sponsor, enabling them to clearly see how the partnership will meet their strategic goals. This approach delivered, with high response rates, and potential partner engagement. Rachel was a great asset to NZR and women’s rugby and an integral part of our women’s rugby team throughout her time with us.”
Women’s Rugby & WXV / NZ Rugby and World Rugby
From May to November 2023 | Rachel was directly and separately contracted on a 6-month appointment with NZ Rugby and World Rugby as Commercial Lead for Women’s Rugby and the new global WXV Tournament played in Aotearoa New Zealand in October and November 2023. World Rugby’s new three-tier annual global women’s international 15s competition officially restructures the international test calendar. It is set to revolutionise the women’s international rugby landscape, for the first time providing a meaningful pathway for all unions and a competitive springboard towards an expanded 16-team Rugby World Cup in 2025. Aotearoa New Zealand secured the rights to WXV 1, the top tier. The tournament was played in Wellington, Dunedin and Auckland and featured the top three qualifying teams from each hemisphere - NZL, AUS, CAN, ENG, WAL and FRA.
In this contract role, Rachel was embedded as a member of the NZ Rugby commercial sales and partnerships team, as the key leader dedicated to the commercialisation of women’s rugby. She also reported into World Rugby.
Deliverables included:
A written commercial sales strategy and recommendations for how best to approach the market.
Packaging of rights and benefits combining the WXV Tournament with domestic women’s rugby.
The completion of a pitch pack and storyline, to help brands understand the unique opportunity.
Leadership of the sales engagement campaign, including VIP hosting at key matches.
Direct engagement with nearly 120 brands during the 16-week live sales programme.
36% conversion to pitch (moving initial conversations into direct negotiations).
General administration and reporting into the combined WXV Global Leadership Team.
Claire Beard, Head of Women’s Rugby at NZ Rugby said:
SportNXT / Global Victoria
March 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024 | Each year, Rachel is invited to present at and / or attend SportNXT as an international representative of New Zealand sport, especially the women in sport movement. She leads a small delegation of specially invited NZ sports leaders across to Melbourne, Australia, at the behest of Global Victoria, the Victorian State Government’s trade facilitation and promotion agency. Next year will be the fifth time, with past delegates including Sport NZ Group CEO Raelene Castle ONZM; NZ Major Events Manager at MBIE, Kylie Hawker-Green; President of NZ Football, Dr. Johanna Wood; Golf NZ CEO Jeff Latch; Netball NZ CEO Jennie Wyllie, Paralympics NZ CEO Fiona Allan, NZ Football CEO Andrew Pragnell, Sport NZ Commercial consultant, Hugh Henderson, and NZ Rugby’s Head of Women's Rugby, Claire Beard. SportNXT 2024 attracted 1,000 delegates from 21 countries representing over 400 businesses. The kiwi delegation joined approximately 50 leaders hosted by Global Victoria, with a focus on connecting with and building relationships with Victorian sports businesses.
In 2023, Rachel was asked to moderate the 'Women in Sport: Views on Performance' panel, featuring Football Australia's Head of Women's Football Sarah Walsh (on the road to record-breaking FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ ); Cricket Australia CEO, Nick Hockley; NRL Commissioner, Kate Jones; and Amanda Laing, Chief Commercial and Content Officer, Foxtel Group. This was Rachel chatting about this panel: Visit YouTube
Make sure you mark SportNXT 2025 in your diary! The event will take place mid March 2025, in the week leading into the Formula 1® Australian Grand Prix - plan now to make a week of all things global sport! See you there!
Whai Basketball / Bay of Plenty Basketball Ltd
From March to August 2023 | Rachel and Janine were appointed on a 6-month project supporting Whai Basketball on their commercial journey throughout the 2023 Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa season and ahead of the 2024 Tauihi (women’s) and NZ NBL (men’s) seasons. Tauihi is a new women's Pro basketball league, entering its third year in 2024. There are five franchises around the country and a live broadcast deal with Sky Sport. The Whai have a tremendous origin story as a social change agent committed to supporting “at risk” youth and families in Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty, with the purpose of “Chasing a vibrant local community, full of active, inspired and socially connected people.” The Whai intentionally brought Pro Basketball into the region for three reasons: 1) Players help deliver initiatives locally that enable young people to be active, feel inspired, and see their horizons of possibility lifted; 2) Games provide safe family entertainment spaces that foster social connection and wellbeing; and 3) the Teams are a source of pride, connection and inspiration, contributing to regional identity.
Various deliverables included -
Conducting a full review of the existing commercial partnership acquisition strategy, to diagnose why the Whai was not getting as much commercial traction as expected. Delivery of an in-depth analysis and recommendations.
From scratch, production and design oversight for a new 360-degree commercial storyline, combining traditional “hard rights” (signage, tickets etc) with “soft rights” (social impact and community outcomes).
Presenting detailed research on more than 40 potential commercial partners, with a clear values and regional match with BCT. Initial approaches and “match-making”, to determine if the Whai resonated.
Supporting partnership negotiations by developing bespoke pitches, matched to brand wants and needs.
Support and strategic advice to the founders and the General Manager as the 2023 strategy rolled out.
NZ Paralympic Team / Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ)
From January to June 2023 | As a member of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ) is part of a worldwide social change movement, which uses the power of sport to positively influence community perceptions of disabled people and to promote a more diverse and inclusive society. Rachel returned to the Paralympic whānau (family) as a strategic consultant in early 2023, undertaking a 6-month commercial project. As PNZ Commercial & Marketing Director between 2014-2018, she established the award-winning Spirit of Gold Initiative, a fully-integrated commercial, fundraising and marketing framework designed to create an engaging public story and attract investment from grant funders, corporate partners and government agencies. In 2022, PNZ launched a new 10-year Strategic Plan 2021-2032 laying out the road toward the first ‘Home Games’ in Oceania since Sydney – the Brisbane 2032 Paralympics.
Various deliverables included -
Undertaking a full review of the commercial programme, including more that 40x strategic documents and twelve 1-2-1 interviews, including with Paralympians Cameron Leslie, Sarah Ellington and Michael Johnson.
Creation of a written set of commercial and marketing recommendations, along with detailed explanations of the current commercial trends and other economic factors, globally and locally, likely to impact sales success. Recommendations included how to increase the value of existing assets, create new assets, and a new concept for re-shaping the Spirit of Gold Initiative. Followed by live presentations to the SLT and Board.
Development of a “go to market” pitch deck demonstrating how this concept would be best sold into potential partners.
AUT Students Association (AUTSA)
Until June 2023 | Rachel finished up a position on the AUTSA board as an Independent Director mid-2023. AUTSA supports and represents 28k students across the four Auckland University of Technology (AUT) campuses in Aotearoa New Zealand. It delivers services including sports clubs, social events, and health and wellbeing services including Campus Kai and Tautoko (food packages and hardship funding), along with advocacy services on behalf of students with the University. Rachel had a mandate to help attract funding streams and optimise the performance of its businesses, including a Student Bar and Lodge, to better fund student programmes.