Wairarapa Nurses and Midwives Educational Fund

Wairarapa Nurses and Midwives Educational Endowment Fund established with Nikau Foundation.

Lucy McLaren, Chair of the Wairarapa Fund presents Kate Jurlina from the Bring It to Colombo Trust with her certificate for the $3,000 grant made from the Nikau Foundation.

A small Wairarapa-based philanthropic trust has had a significant boost through a handover to the Nikau Foundation. The Wairarapa Nurses Educational Trust was established by a group of nurses in 2008 to support training opportunities for professionals in the Wairarapa. The Trustees have been looking for ways to grow the fund, and have come up with a solution - handing the reins over to a community foundation to look after the capital and maintain the charitable purpose of the trust.

Former Trustee Helen Pocknall explained “The handover will relieve us of all administration and compliance activities and will almost double the returns to the community”. Helen was speaking at the Nikau Wairarapa Fund’s grants celebration at the Offering Cafe in Greytown where Foundation supporters and the hard-working Wairarapa committee heard from grant recipients about the impact of the funding on their activities.

Under the community foundation model, funds are pooled to maximise return on investment, with income distributed to eligible charities on an annual basis according to donors' wishes. Small trusts often find compliance, including GST, reporting and tax audits, draining for volunteer trustees. Community foundations are a cost effective means to keep the money in the community, for the community, ensuring the original purpose is honoured. Nikau Foundation, the community foundation for the Wellington Region, has been only too happy to help.

Lucy McLaren, Chair of the Nikau Wairarapa Fund presented certificates for over $18,000 of Nikau Foundation grants in the Wairarapa, as well as $15,500 from the Roy and Jan Mace Trust for which the foundation is a co-trustee with Don Shanks. In addition, another $17,500 was handed out in Pass-Through grants that will benefit projects in Carterton from an anonymous donor.

Under Nikau Foundation’s management the fund will be known as Wairarapa Nurses and Midwives Educational Endowment Fund and they hope to grow the capital from $35,000 to $50,000 as quickly as possible through donations from people and businesses who want to “give where they live”.

Local organisations and individuals seeking to apply for funding should fill out the form on the Nikau Foundation’s website (www.nikaufoundation.org.nz) when the grant round opens in August 2018.

ENDS

NOTES FOR THE EDITOR

About Nikau Foundation

* The Nikau Foundation is an independent community charitable trust that attracts gifts, trusts and legacies and invests them to preserve the capital and generate income.
* The income from these investments is distributed to charitable organisations in accordance with each donor's wishes.
* The Foundation’s primary aim is to provide a simple, effective and long-lasting way for people in the Greater Wellington region to give to local causes now and in the future.
* Mission statement: Growing generosity and social investment to strengthen our Wellington communities.

About Nikau Foundation in the Wairarapa

* Nikau Foundation launched the Wairarapa District Endowment Fund in 2016 and is seeking founder donors to bring this fund up to the $75,000 threshold in order to make annual grants to the Wairarapa Community in perpetuity.
* The Wairarapa Fund has a local committee, members are Barbara Durbin, Darrin Goulding, Lucy McLaren (chair), Peter McNeur and Bevan Morland.

List of grant recipients from Nikau Foundation Grants:

• Bring it to Colombo Trust

• NZ Council of Victim Support

• Wairarapa Volunteer Centre

• Multiple Sclerosis Society

• Makoura Community Early Childhood Centre

• Westside Playcentre

List of grant recipients from Roy and Jan Mace Trust:

• Westside Playcentre

• Kandahar (Enliven)

• Hospice Wairarapa

• The Salvation Army (Masterton Food Bank)

• Masterton Family Education and Support Centre Inc

• Wellington Free Ambulance

• Te Omanga Hospice

• Life Flight Trust

• Arbor House Trust

List of grant recipients Pass through Grants (Anonymous):

• Carterton Community Courthouse

• Wairarapa Archival Society for a biography of Charles Rooking Carter

• Heritage New Zealand

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