Governance and policies

2015 TRUST DEED_Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation

In accordance with the Trust Deed, the Grants and Scholarships Committee (GSC) operates independently of the Trustee and makes recommendations about grants and scholarships to be paid from the Trust Fund. Although the GSC’s recommendations are not binding on the Trustee, the Trustee does not overrule or ignore recommendations from the GSC without substantial reason.

The Borrin Foundation’s trustee – the Nikau Foundation – is responsible for the careful management of the Borrin Foundation’s corpus to maximise returns for our grant-making. Key policy documents are below:

Statement of Investment Policy and Objectives

Responsible Investments Policy 

The GSC has also adopted two policy and practice guides:

GSC Meetings Policy and Practice Guide

Interested Members Policy and Practice Guide

See below for the Borrin Foundation’s Distribution Policy:

Borrin Foundation Distribution Policy

The Borrin Foundation is a financially independent foundation due to the generosity of the late Judge Ian Borrin. The original corpus/endowment of capital and investments was $38 million, mostly transferred as the Borrin estate was wound up in 2016-2017. The Borrin Foundation’s assets are made up of managed funds and commercial properties in Wellington. These investments generate the money for our philanthropic work.

The Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation is registered with the Charities Services. You can find all our past financial returns on the Charities Services website. Our Charities number is: CC53658