The Otago Community Trust marks 25 years today. Nigel Benson learns about the art of giving.
It sounds like a dream job, giving away millions of dollars every year.
But it doesn't come without a lot of head-scratching.
The Otago Community Trust provides funding for projects which benefit the public and contribute to community wellbeing. It has distributed more than $128 million to Otago organisations and institutions since its inception in 1988, while increasing its original capital from $134 million to $204 million.
Any incorporated or non-incorporated not-for-profit body can apply for a grant and the trust funds projects ranging from as little as $200, to the $7 million it contributed for Forsyth Barr Stadium.
''A major project can take many years to demonstrate and we need to be able to demonstrate there's a pattern of consistency,'' chief executive Keith Ellwood said this week.
''We were one of the major anchor funders of the Otago Central Rail Trail, but its success only became apparent five years ago. As the economic revival occurred along that corridor, with backpackers and bed and breakfasts opening up, people began to see the commercial opportunities and it morphed into what it is today.''
Many community organisations, such as Sport Otago, relied heavily on the trust.
Sport Otago chief executive John Brimble said it received $150,000 a year from the Otago Community Trust.
This ''gives us a regional identity by funding our Sport Central, Sport Clutha and Sport Waitaki offices''.
''We'd really struggle without them. Their support also encourages other funding partners. There is so much the community trust has contributed across Otago. They really are the community connection. Without them, a lot of things just wouldn't happen.''
Otago Festival of the Arts founding director Nicholas McBryde said the trust also helped establish the event.
''The community trust were instrumental in establishing the festival of the arts. They committed before anybody else did - even city hall - and provided $40,000 seed funding to get it going.
''It was quite remarkable for them to commit as they did and it was a big vote of support for the desire to have all kinds of things in our city.''
Mr Ellwood said the arts festival was a typical trust project.
''The arts festival was a punt, but we had confidence in it, as we'd consulted with the sector. It was a risk to know whether it would work, but you structure that risk.''
Structuring risk was a big part of the trust's responsibilities, he said.
''We're always looking at the people involved. We're judging the capability of the people involved to take an idea and translate it into a completed project.''
Donations manager Carol Melville said there was always a risk involved.
''An application might come in that has risks, but part of our role is to mitigate those risks and get it into the best possible state for a funding decision. We make suggestions that can turn an application into something with a better chance of success.''
The trust's first donation was $250,000 to the Otago Community Hospice in 1989. Subsequent projects include technology in schools ($9 million), Otago Central Rail Trail ($310,000), Oamaru Opera House ($1.5 million), Oamaru Penguin Visitor ($450,000), Orokonui Ecosanctuary fencing ($750,000), Dunedin Chinese Garden ($1 million), Otago Surf Lifesaving Association beach education programme ($4.2 million) and Edgar Sports Centre ($1.9 million).
''Technology in schools was very satisfying, because you could see how we had made a difference,'' Mr Ellwood said.
''We had a series of meetings with principals who were concerned about how to fund technology in schools. We funded on a dollar-for-dollar basis. It improved learning opportunities. It meant, for example, that Maniototo school could take physics, which could be led by a teacher at East Otago High School.''
Mrs Melville said not all applications were successful.
''We're an advocate for clients, but there are occasions when we have to say `no'. If we can see an application is going to fail, we'll suggest issues they might address. There is a lot of mentoring involved. We hold a lot of seminars around funding,'' she said.
''You get as much satisfaction out of giving small amounts as big amounts. Smaller groups can be very grateful and can make that money go further, with volunteer labour.
''The Waihola community built an amazing jetty out of $2000 of wood we funded. There are so many projects like that, when the community interest comes together and makes it happen.
''It's great to see the enthusiasm and passion volunteers have for their organisation. They're always so grateful for our money. And we are grateful to them, because we want to spend the trust's money.
''As well as responding to applications, we're proactive about encouraging applications. We're always trying to find ways to help where it's needed.
''There are still gaps where we're not reaching people and we want to reach those people. For example, people in the arts sector.
''In sports, there is a formal structure, whereas people in the arts often work on their own and are isolated and not as formally structured.''
Mr Ellwood said there were frustrations.
''It's frustrating when we can't help people as much as we want to. We want to treat people equally through the sectors and years. The key to being effective in a small team is the networks you develop.''
Mrs Melville, who has been with the trust since its inception, is responsible for developing networks.
''We want to encourage people to talk to us about their projects. There are a number of people we maintain a dialogue with. That human relationship is very important - getting out into the community and meeting people and being a human face. We spend a lot of time seeing projects and seeing what the aims are. We take the trustees out two or three times a year to look at projects or recipients of funding.''
The trustees are Stuart Walker (chairman), Gary Kircher (deputy chairman), Ken Copland, Stephen Kornyei, Ken Lister, Ross McRobie, Noeline Munro, Louise Rosson, Lauren Semple, Nicola Taylor and Helen Webster.
The trustees meet monthly at the trust's Moray Pl offices to consider donation requests, operational items and strategic direction.
Trustees are appointed by the Minister of Finance and usually serve two four-year terms.
The Otago Community Trust, one of 12 in New Zealand, covers provincial Otago, excluding the West Otago, Queenstown and Arrowtown districts. Its origins are in the Dunedin Savings Bank, which was established in 1864 to encourage thrift in the community and distribute surplus profits to charitable causes.
When the Government restructured trustee savings banks in 1988 it handed ownership of Trust Bank Otago to the community through the establishment of the Trust Bank Otago Community Trust. When regional banks were amalgamated into Trust Bank New Zealand, the Otago Community Trust's 100% shareholding in Trust Bank Otago Ltd was exchanged for a 13.5% holding in Trust Bank NZ. The trust sold half its TBNZ stake in 1993 and the other half in 1994, realising $134 million.
The trust received 300 to 400 applications a year, Mr Ellwood said.
''We used to get 1300 to 1400 applications, when we had funding once a year. It was like a trip to the well. People would think `what can we apply for?' and they'd invent a project.
''Over the years, we've become more responsive to what the community needs and there are no closing dates now.''
The trust would give $4.5 million this year, he said.
''When we fund at optimum level we have a capacity of $6 million to $7 million, but we're still suffering a bit from the global financial crisis, so we take a cautious approach.
''Our objective is to preserve the real value of that money which, when inflated by cpi, is $204 million. I'm very keen to see the fund is future-proofed and protected, because we are a perpetual trust, with an unlimited life.
''We have to balance the needs of today's beneficiaries with tomorrow's beneficiaries.''
