Local Farmer’s Trust Awards $180,000 To Waikato Students

Local Farmer’s Trust Awards $180,000 To Waikato Students

A trust founded by a Waikato farmer continues to demonstrate how important tailored wealth management is to sustainable philanthropic giving. Now in its 16th year, the David Johnstone Charitable Trust, managed by Guardian Trust, is awarding $180,000 in scholarships to new students at Waikato tertiary institutions.

Thirty-six local students received a $5,000 scholarship from the Trust at a presentation on Tuesday 1 November 2011, held at the Waikato Stadium. Students, their families and school representatives, together with representatives of the University of Waikato, Waikato Institute of Technology and trustees attended the celebration.

David Johnstone was a well-known farming identity in the Waikato. Many years of hard work – and trial and error – made him a success in his field, but he harboured a lifelong wish to have had a better education. His answer was to form the David Johnstone Charitable Trust and one of its principal objectives is to assist young people in furthering their education. The trust has distributed nearly $1 million in the last five years.

The trustees are proud to carry out Mr Johnstone’s wishes by bestowing the scholarships annually to new secondary-school graduates embarking on qualifications at either Waikato University (for those pursuing a science or teaching degree) or Waikato Institute of Technology (any field of study), the two major tertiary institutions in the region.

Guardian Trust Manager for Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Shane Pearce, said the distributions highlight how enduring giving is possible when facilitated by a charitable trust.

“Guardian Trust takes an active role as a trustee in managing the David Johnstone Trust and is part of the committee which selects the nominated students to receive scholarship funding. Guardian Trust’s investment management approach is tailored to charitable trusts. The objective is to manage the funds to provide regular distributions in support of the chosen causes.

“Mr Johnstone’s intention was that his trust would not only assist the students it directly funded, but in the long term benefit New Zealand society in general. In doing so, he has demonstrated a long-term vision that the trustees can develop into a strategy for the Trust to deliver.”

As part of the administration of the David Johnstone Trust, nomination forms and criteria are sent to schools within the trust’s designated area in August each year. Nominations are sent to each member of the selection committee (which consists of the trust’s four independent trustees and Guardian Trust). Recommendations are then made and approved by the trustees and scholarship recipients selected and informed.

About David Johnstone

David Johnstone was born in 1909 into one of the areas strongest and oldest pioneering and farming families. One of eight children, he left school at an early age to help to run the family farm after his father drowned while crossing the flooded Waipa River.

Mr Johnstone was ‘man-powered’ out of the Army in 1940, in a practice whereby the most able men – those considered to be of a calibre that the community could not do without – were held back from service in World War II.

At the age of 62 he sold his immediate family’s farm in Whatawhata to his nephews and took on Orini Downs, a 1,000-hectare farm at Orini. He also developed a hotel on Norfolk Island, and was a founding member and benefactor to the National Fieldays.

ENDS

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