Wayne Wright and the late Chloe Wright, founders of the Wright Family Foundation. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
The Wright Family Foundation, the rich-lister controlled charity that took over ownership of the family’s BestStart childcare empire, has posted a surplus increase of 13% despite what its founder says was a “plateau” year.
Accounts for the year to March 2025 show the charity’s surplus increased to $41.6 million from $30m, partly due to a tight leash being kept on costs.
Revenues increased to $418m, largely off the back of a 17% rise in government funding, which rose to $306m. Non-government funding increased less than 5% to reach $112m.
Wayne Wright, the family patriarch who had founded BestStart predecessor Kidicorp, told the Herald 2025 had “sort of plateaued – the whole marketplace has plateaued”.
He agreed a change in public early childhood education funding had helped as a cushion against adverse market conditions.
Wright said $150m advanced over the past few years by his private family trust to developers had also run into choppy market conditions. The private family trust is unrelated to the Wright Family Foundation (WFF).
“What they’ve built is worth less than it cost to build. We’ve had to bankrupt quite a few of them,” he said.
BestStart is the largest operator in the early childhood sector, operating more than 260 centres and employing 4500 staff.
Average salaries for WFF executives – all of whom manage BestStart and include chief executive and former Cabinet Minister Tony Ryall – increased over the period from $281,000 to $313,875.
BestStart was sold to the WFF in a related-party transaction in 2015 for $332m.
The purchase price was settled with a vendor loan that has since been steadily repaid using BestStart’s now tax-free cashflow.
The 2025 accounts show the loan balance stood at $83m, after a further $28m had been repaid during the year.
Wright told the Herald the loan balance now stood at only $60m and he expected it to be fully repaid by 2028, at which point it would be free to dramatically increase charitable distributions.
The 2025 accounts said the WFF had made $7.5m in charitable distributions, with a particular focus on supporting mothers and families.
Wright said this could well increase to $30m a year once the loan obligation was satisfied.
“I think we’ll be one of the biggest charities if it keeps going the way it’s going,” he said.
“I’m quite unusual. Most people running charities are actively involved in the charities – I’m just a funder.”
Wright, who is in his 80s, said the looming repayment of the loan would allow him to finally retire.
“All the fun’s gone out of business,” he said.
Wright and his late wife Chloe had founded Kidicorp and the WFF. The National Business Review assesses the family’s net worth at $400m, largely based on the sale of BestStart.
In December, Finance Minister Nicola Willis signalled charitable tax exemptions would be reviewed, particularly for charities operating commercial businesses and those that were donor-controlled.
Registered charities in New Zealand are exempt from paying income tax on surpluses or profits.
BestStart chief executive Ryall had made a submission opposing the proposal.
His introductory letters said: “Preserving New Zealand’s current charitable framework is essential to encouraging innovative, sustainable philanthropy that benefits all New Zealanders.
“The Foundation and Best Start represent a uniquely New Zealand model of social enterprise that combines charitable purpose with business efficiency to create lasting value for our communities,” the submission said.
In April, Willis put the brakes on the proposal.
“There is a lot of complexity involved with designing new rules so as to ensure they have integrity and are simple to understand. Therefore, the Government has asked Inland Revenue to do more work on the options,” she said.
Matt Nippert is an Auckland-based investigations reporter covering white-collar and transnational crimes and the intersection of politics and business. He has won more than a dozen awards for his journalism – including twice being named Reporter of the Year – and joined the Herald in 2014 after having spent the decade prior reporting from business newspapers and national magazines.