Celebrating 25 years of giving

Annual Report 2019/20

Stephen and Margaret Tindall

Founders — The Tindall Foundation

Message from the Founders

Celebrating 25 years of giving

Tēnā koutou katoa.

We are delighted to bring you our 2019/20 Annual Report in the same year that we celebrate 25 years of The Tindall Foundation.

At the end of 2019 our Trustees and staff came together to think about how we could acknowledge our twenty-fifth anniversary in 2020. We wanted to pay tribute to our longstanding partners and recognise the support they have offered us over the years to help build a stronger Aotearoa/New Zealand. We also wanted to give practical support to our communities and meaningful thanks for all the work that our donation recipients and Local Donation Managers have done. So we decided to gift a one-off donation of $25,000 to each of our 26 Local Donation Managers, to distribute within their communities towards a project or projects of their choice.

Little did we know then that 2020 was about to turn into a year like no other. COVID-19 changed the course of the world and quickly redirected our focus. We suddenly found ourselves needing to be in reactive mode, with things evolving at a great rate of knots. Those anniversary funds were about to be released, right on the cusp of the pandemic. Instead, our Trustees immediately repurposed the $650,000 as COVID-19 response funding so that our Local Donation Managers could quickly answer the rapidly emerging needs of communities.

COVID-19 changed the course for not only Aotearoa but the whole world, and our hearts go out to those who have lost loved ones around the world. However, we are a proud and resilient nation and we will recover from this — we’ve already begun. We’ve heard so many heart-warming stories of generosity, humility and compassion, especially of people who have volunteered to help out with community responses.

In this Annual Report we share some of those stories and reflect fondly back on 25 years of The Tindall Foundation. It all seems to have passed in the blink of an eye. We count ourselves extremely fortunate to be in a position to give back to our communities and we are delighted to look back at the great work that our Trustees, staff, Local Donation Managers and donation recipients have achieved over 25 years. Kia kaha Aotearoa. We wish you all the best for a happy and healthy year ahead.

Kia Ora from John

Kia ora koutou.

Possibly no other period in the 25-year history of The Tindall Foundation has been as important as the one we now live in. Equally, at no other time has TTF’s focus on enhancing the mana/status and strength of families, communities and the environment so they thrive now and for future generations felt more appropriate.

TTF has always understood that resilient families and communities are a foundation for long-term social, environmental and economic wellbeing and sustainability. We prioritise initiatives that help whānau/families and communities experiencing multiple disadvantage and intergenerational deprivation because of their history, culture, gender identity or social and economic status. We also prioritise initiatives that address climate change, and help create a sustainable economy and society for future generations.

We understand that solutions to complex social issues are usually more effective if they are locally led and build on existing strengths and resources. We recognise the value of small, grassroots activity as well as larger initiatives that build more systemic-level responses to empower and create social change. Increasingly, we are beginning to understand the long term effects of colonisation on Maori, as well as the incredible opportunities that stem from supporting Maori-led initiatives such as Project Hoake.

I feel very privileged to be Manager of The Tindall Foundation, both at this time of stress on communities and also as we celebrate 25 years of giving. Stephen and Margaret made the decision very early on in the life of the Foundation that it would support a wide range of outcomes for social and environmental change. Their clear vision, together with their amazing hearts and heads, have encouraged all who have been connected to the Foundation to deliver their dream of a stronger Aotearoa. Twenty-five years on, I am in awe as I reflect on the impact made over that time by so many people and organisations. Later this year we hope to be able to share more about that.

Donations and commitments to Aotearoa over 25 years have totalled $184 million, and we’ve paid $139 million to the government in prepaid tax. For the year ending March 2020, the Foundation has provided $10 million to 688 organisations in line with its strategic objectives.

From grassroots community initiatives to larger systemic responses, these activities are delivering real benefits to individual communities and New Zealand as a whole. Two examples are De Paul House and Trees That Count.

Established in 1986, De Paul House offers a temporary facility to house disadvantaged families who suddenly find themselves with nowhere to live. The faith-based charity has evolved considerably over time, and now provides housing and family support services for up to 30 families at a time. Over the past 34 years the De Paul House team has assisted nearly 3000 families and individuals to move into permanent accommodation. You can read more about De Paul House on our special 25th Anniversary page.

Project Crimson’s Trees That Count was born in 2016 out of a simple question: “How many native trees could New Zealand plant to help mitigate climate change?” Since then almost 32 million native trees have been added to the Tree Count. Individual New Zealanders have funded and gifted over 520,000 of those trees. Trees that Count has supported almost five hundred community planting projects, involving over 13,000 planters. Those are impressive outcomes by anyone’s standards, and there are so many more stories.

Over 25 years we’ve gained valuable insights. We’ve learnt the benefits of being nimble — adapting quickly when it’s required. COVID-19 provided an example of that, when our Trustees repurposed $650,000 of untagged funding that had been earmarked for Local Donation Managers to celebrate our twenty-fifth anniversary.

On hearing that access to food was the number one issue for families during the first COVID lockdown, TTF partnered with Sam Morgan’s Foundation, Jasmine Social Investments, to help launch KiwiHarvest’s New Zealand Food Network. We were also privileged to help expand the Student Volunteer Army’s reach into 14 regions to ensure food and in-home childcare was made immediately available to essential workers and others who required urgent assistance. Our Trustees made the decision early that, despite a reduction in the Foundation’s income this year, we will honour all existing funding arrangements.

Stephen and Margaret have passed the values of listening, learning and working together to the next generation of the Tindall whānau, and it is uplifting to see the work that their children continue through Next Gen. They are the faces of future philanthropy, and bring their own flair and flavour to build on the work their parents began 25 years ago.

As I reflect on my five years at TTF, I am grateful to those who have had this privilege before me. I must make special mention of Trevor Gray and Evelyn Gauntlett, who between them gave 29 years of wonderful service to TTF. I also wish to acknowledge TTF’s staff, whose dedication helps ensure people are supported to keep delivering great things in their communities. We acknowledge all of you who have kept helping families and communities despite the challenges of the last few months — and who may be preparing for a tough year ahead. We’ll be trying to help where we can.

Finally, I’d like to congratulate Stephen and Margaret for 25 years of incredible generosity that truly has made a difference to our country.

Ngā mihi nui.

John McCarthy

Manager — The Tindall Foundation

John

Next Gen

Passing the baton from one generation to the next wasn’t necessarily in the progression plan for The Tindall Foundation (TTF). However, the Tindall siblings, Liz, Kate, Robbie, Jem and Ben, took it upon themselves to create their own special fund to support Aotearoa’s youth through the arts.

We chat to Liz Tindall Tetro, the eldest of the siblings, about how they came to create Next Gen.

How did Next Gen come about?

The five of us wanted to find a way to support young people. We did a lot of research about how, and what, other young philanthropic families were doing around the world and we created a model based on our collective values that we believed would support youth through the arts.

We were always mindful we wanted to keep things simple. None of us had a lot of time so it needed to be efficient. We decided to approach organisations that were doing good work rather than seek applications, which keeps administration down and saves organisations from completing time-consuming applications. We currently fund seven organisations that are doing amazing work across a wide range of creative genres.

Did you seek advice from Stephen and Margaret?

There has never been an expectation for any of us to carry on TTF’s work. Mum and Dad have always encouraged us to follow our hearts, interests and careers and have never put pressure on any of us to carry on their legacy. In saying that, they have always involved us and so we have naturally become interested in the work of the Foundation. Kate has worked for the Foundation and in other philanthropic organisations both here and in London, Rob has been a Trustee for many years now, and I have been working in TTF’s communications for around six years.

As a sibling group we wanted to understand more about philanthropy through practising our own giving. It was important to us we were completely independent and responsible for making our own decisions — and mistakes, if it came to that. We didn’t seek any input from our parents or other TTF Trustees (other than bouncing ideas off them), and we had complete autonomy over our decisions. It was our chance to learn by doing the doing. The only thing the Trustees asked of us was to report back any good stories that happened as a result of funding. This high-trust model has certainly worked very well.

How did the five of you decide on what to support?

We drew on our personal experiences and researched organisations that focused on supporting young people. Initially we started with seven broad areas of interest and found that a common thread was our passion to support youth development where the arts, music or creativity were used as medium to engage young people. We all had individual  areas of interests in the arts: Kate has a degree in design, Ben a Bachelor of Music, Jem is a musician, while Robbie and I had a personal connection with the arts and music through our children. We quickly came to the realisation we wanted to support organisations that used arts and creativity to change lives for young people. We’ve never had a disagreement, and we’ve always been on the same page. I think it’s probably due to an underlying respect for each other and the close friendship we share.

We started to look at organisations that were really committed to understanding young people. We focused on those helping rangatahi/youth to flourish through programmes that encouraged self-development, built confidence and self-worth, and taught resilience and artistic skills. It was important to us that the organisations took a holistic approach, nurturing the whole person and giving them confidence to believe in themselves. Nga Rangatahi Toa was the first organisation we funded.

Why did you choose Nga Rangatahi Toa?

We liked the connections the programme had with not only rangatahi but also whānau/family. We liked their holistic approach to nurturing young people and giving them the confidence to believe in themselves, celebrate their identity and build incredible technical skills through creativity. In the early days we funded them to develop a proposal so they weren’t out of pocket. Then we funded the programme and capacity building for
the organisation to grow and develop.

We are flexible about where the money goes and trust the organisation to spend it in the best way possible to help their rangatahi. We are happy to fund staff to do this work, because we believe it’s imperative to have good people and good plans. We also fund some of the small stuff important to organisations like transport to rehearsals, food before rehearsals/shows, and tickets for families to watch their young people perform. It’s important to have a strong focus on the individual, not just the programme. The organisations we fund support rangatahi beyond the programme: to create a CV, apply for a job, gain employment, or assist with issues at home, work with the family and school. All of these factors are really important to help youth flourish.

How do you know if you’re making a difference?

We have a round-table reporting philosophy. This means we keep it simple for organisations to report on the outcomes they’ve achieved. Sometimes we’ll sit around and chat over pizza with young people and their families in the room, or have a relaxed catchup over coffee. We can see first-hand the positive impact the organisations are making. It also helps us recognise when more funding might be beneficial, and we will often suggest increasing funding even when it hasn’t been asked for. It’s a two-way relationship and the organisations we support need funding to continue to deliver the great work they are doing.

What’s next for Next Gen?

We don’t want to get too big. We want to keep our systems simple, be nimble and keep genuine relationships that are manageable. We have our own jobs, so we are mindful not to dilute the relationships we have by funding too many organisations. High-quality relationships are important to us and we love our work in this space.

Liz Tindall

2019/20
Donation Highlights

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More of our donation highlights

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Total Donations 2019/20

10,146,268

Our Giving

In the 2019/20 year:

In the last 25 years:

Headline Summary of Key Cumulative
Results (1995–2020)

1. Gross Dividends Received
Less Prepaid Tax (Imputation Credits)
Net Dividends Received
$446,550,704
($139,554,498)
$306,996,206
2. Donations Paid (1995–2020) $184,529,514
3. Administration and Operating Expenses
(7.1% of Donations Paid)
$13,020,326

Assets

Liquid Assets as at 31 March 2020 $103,636,396
The Warehouse Group Limited — Shares $147,840,991
Other Assets $38,361,645
Total Assets $289,839,032

Total Donations Committed

For the 2019/20 financial year, The Tindall Foundation paid out donations totalling $10,146,268. During the year we gave donations to 688 organisations across New Zealand.

$10,146,268

Total Donations Paid Out

Total Donations Paid

in 2019/20 by Focus Area

2019/20

Local Donation Managers:
$3,520,709
TTF Direct Donations:
$1,940,127

Total Donations:

5,460,836

2018/19

Local Donation Managers:
$3,033,007
TTF Direct Donations:
$2,054,785

Total Donations:

5,087,792

2019/20

Local Donation Managers:
$246,996
TTF Direct Donations:
$1,288,912

Total Donations:

1,535,907

2018/19

Local Donation Managers:
$242,892
TTF Direct Donations:
$1,351,452

Total Donations:

1,594,344

Total Donations:

2019/2020

2,208,506

2018/2019

2,587,599

Total Donations:

2019/2020

941,019

2018/2019

845,801

Our People

The Tindall Foundation is a private philanthropic family foundation working throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand. We are helping to build a stronger, sustainable nation so that families, communities and our environment thrive now and in the future. Our work is driven by a belief that all Kiwis should have the chance to achieve their full potential and contribute to a healthy, strong society.

We recognise the strength of whānau/families and communities and the importance of our natural environment. We contribute to organisations and community groups through donations, social loans and social investments, and in non-financial ways through advocacy, influencing, convening, connecting and capacity building. We appreciate the diverse needs of communities, and so aim to be a flexible and responsive funder.

Governance

Our governance team consists of our Founders, Margaret and Stephen Tindall, their son Robbie (second from left), and two independent Trustees, Rukumoana Schaafhausen (Ngāti Hauā, Waikato Tainui; left) and Jennifer Casey (right).

Staff

We are fortunate to have a fantastic management team made up of full-time and part-time staff and a part-time volunteer: (from left to right) Cyril Howard, Anne Tindall, Jennifer Reid, Kate Tindall Lum, Kate Holgate, Liz Tindall Tetro, Martina O’Driscoll, Annette Culpan, Monique Baldwin and John McCarthy.

Key Consultants/Advisers

  • Bede Martin (Interact Canterbury)
  • Margot Nicholson (NFP Works)
  • Ian Short
  • Rangimarie Price
  • Annette Lees & Associates

Financial Advisers

  • BDO Auckland

Auditors

  • RSM Hayes Audit

Legal Advisers

  • Chapman Tripp
  • Grove Darlow & Partners

Bank

  • BNZ Bank

Acknowledgements

Editorial Content and
Production Management

  • Elizabeth Tindall Tetro
  • Monique Baldwin

Editors

  • Oratia Media​

Local Donation Managers

  • The Tindall Foundation sincerely thanks all of our Local Donation Managers for the great work they do.

Art Direction and Design

  • Mantis Digital

Creative Contributors,
Photography and Film

  • Whitehead HD
  • Emily Raftery

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