History
Starting out
The 1940 Deed that established the J R McKenzie Trust was insightful for its time. It allowed the Trust Board to make donations to any charitable or educational purposes it selected. This has allowed successive Trust Boards to focus on issues relevant to their time. Largely, although the focus of the Trust has changed over time, the purpose has been to improve the quality of life of New Zealanders.
Rotary's role
From the beginning, Sir John McKenzie realised the value of Rotary as a network of civic-minded people throughout New Zealand. Rotarians were willing to help, and continue to do so today:
- they advise the community about the Trust and what it does
- they facilitate assessment in their region
- on occasions they offer applicant groups further assistance and contacts.
Within each of the six Rotary Districts in New Zealand, there is a J R McKenzie Trust Panel. The Chair of each Panel sits on our Trust Board.
Reflection and change
Over time, the Trust had occasionally initiated proactive programmes aimed at particular groups. However, as a result of the 2003 strategic review, the Board started considering some ongoing proactive approaches. The review identified the under-representation of Māori in the Trust's philanthropic activities. In response the Trust established the Te Kāwai Toro initiative. The goals of Te Kāwai Toro were:
- to contribute to Māori development
- to build the knowledge and networks of the Trust's personnel in order to enhance its internal capability to establish and maintain ongoing relationships with Māori communities and organisations across all its grant making programmes
- to contribute to the development of a constructive context in society which is required for Māori development to be successful in the long term.
The Trust learned a great deal from this initiative, and the relationships that were formed with a number of Māori communities and organisations. It has informed our wider work, and been reaffirmed by the 2008 review which focused on ensuring our relatively small resources can be used effectively to create a socially just and inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand. The Trust moved away from making many small annual grants to making fewer, larger, multi-year grants. It also chose to focus especially on disadvantaged children and their families and Māori Development for the 5 years from 2010 - 2014. Building on its Te Kāwai Toro learnings, the Trust also made provision to actively engage in proactive work in each of the focus areas, setting aside a small portion of funds available to conduct work that will make a strategic difference to community and philanthropic sectors.
To see the Trust's strategy 2010-14, click on the attachment to this page.