The $40 million Hutt Mana Charitable Trust (HMCT) has gone down the old-school stock broker route to find a replacement investment consultant.
It is understood HMCT has appointed Forsyth Barr as investment adviser in place of incumbent, the Auckland-based MyFiduciary.
HMCT was reportedly looking for a consultant with resources in the Wellington region, among other requirements in the tender.
John Gwilliam, HMCT chair (and a trustee since 2001), was unable to provide comment prior to publication.
Stock broking firms have a strong influence in the small-to-medium charitable sector albeit with growing competition from advisory groups such as MyFiduciary and Melville Jessup Weaver, which have carved out ground as independent investment consultants.
According to the latest HMCT annual report, the charity invests most of its money via financial advisory firm Bradley Nuttall (now part of a merged entity called Cambridge Partners), which follows the factor-based philosophy epitomised by Dimensional Fund Advisors. HMCT also has small allocations to AMP Capital and Kiwi Wealth, the report shows.
Founded in 1996 as a charity offshoot of the Hutt Mana Energy Trust, HMCT took on a broader community grants role in the region (which covers Hutt Valley and Wellingon’s northern suburbs through to Porirua) in 2005 when its parent entity handed the charitable trust $35 million as it wound up.
According to its website, HMCT “focus areas are sustainability, environment, energy conservation and efficiency and promoting opportunities for sport, recreation and youth”.
At the other end of the charitable trust scale, the $1.3 billion Foundation North, has found a replacement for outgoing chief, Jennifer Gill.
Gill, who has headed Foundation North (previously known as the ASB Community Trust) since 2004, will step down as CEO on August 8 this year as Peter Tynan takes the helm.
Tynan, interim chief of the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners since this February, holds a number of board roles including chair of Osteoporosis NZ.
He was Southern Cross Health Society chief from 2010 to 2016 following a five-year stint as corporate service manager with American Express in Australia.
In a statement, Gill said while her 15-year Foundation North career ends in August “I am not retiring from the philanthropic sector”.
“All of us in the sector know that there is still much to be done to improve New Zealand’s social and environmental outcomes, and I’m looking forward to continuing to contribute to this as a board member for organisations involved in change initiatives, and as a mentor to philanthropic and social sector leaders,” she said. “As such, I look forward to continuing the many relationships I have enjoyed in this role – and over the last thirty plus years since I joined the sector.”
Foundation North is Australasia’s largest charitable trust.