Fund passes the $2m mark

SUNRISE BOARD: The Sunrise Foundation board are, from left, Richard Briant, June Hall, chairman John Clarke, Joe Martin, Reweti Ropiha, Dame Bronwen Holdsworth and David Clark. Picture supplied

Strong support from the community has seen the Sunrise Foundation grow to just over $2 million.

The fledgling Gisborne organisation’s annual meeting heard it received $627,721 in donations to grow endowments by 32 percent to $2.1 million in the year ended March 31.

As a community endowment foundation, all donations to Sunrise are invested in endowment funds forever. Every year some of the investment income is retained to ensure the fund grows in line with inflation and is protected against investment market fluctuations. The balance of income is granted to worthy causes in this district every year.

Sunrise chairman John Clarke says although still fairly new to New Zealand, community foundations were one of the fastest-growing forms of philanthropy in the world.

“Community foundations have been around for a long time overseas. Sunrise is part of a global movement of ‘place-based’ generosity, meaning all money given here, stays here. Our donors like that the donations they gift to Sunrise are used only to support causes in our district. ”

Investments committee member David Clark says investment managers JMI Wealth Ltd performed well in managing Sunrise’s endowments and in the 12-month period to March 31, endowment funds earned $101,968 at a 5.6 percent annualised rate of return.

“It is especially important for Sunrise to invest funds wisely. We have an extra duty of care to funds donated by a large group of donors. We strive to achieve the best returns possible, while keeping the risk level low, and take a cautious approach to inflation-proofing to ensure funds remain robust.”

Executive officer Glenda Stokes says though she spends a lot of time encouraging donations and bequests to build endowment funds, Sunrise’s reason for being is to support and give back to the community.

“We are very grateful for the generous support we’ve received from donors. It is due to their generosity that we were able to gift 39 grants to arts, community, education, environment, health and sport causes last year. That is quite an achievement in what was only our third funding round.”

Sunrise invites local charities and organisations to apply for funding once a year.

The 2018 funding round is now open.

Applications must be received before August 16. The application form and funding policy is available on its website.