Trust Chair, Linda Robertson announces, “Despite a challenging investment environment, the board has approved a grant budget of $9.4 million for the 2020/21 financial year to support charitable organisations through these difficult times ahead.”

“As we face the challenges of the COVID-19 virus together, we know there will be a growing impact on those charitable organisations we fund. This will present challenges in terms of both the type of need, and the increase in community need for funds," says Trust Chief Executive, Susan Finlay.

“2020 marks our 20th year with over $100 million distributed for charitable purposes throughout the region over that time! We are here for the long haul, and we are ready to support our community,” Finlay says. 

The Trust’s ability to maintain this level of grants budget is largely due to the 100% ownership of Pioneer Energy.

“Pioneer pays a quarterly cash dividend to the Trust which provides us with the funds to distribute grants, when other investments are held in the portfolio at for the long term,” Finlay says.

In addition, she says, “approved grants for those events that have been cancelled due to COVID-19, will still be paid out, as there will be unavoidable costs associated with these. Just get in touch with our grants team to discuss.”

In the wake of COVID-19 declared emergency, the CLT Emergency Management Fund, has been triggered.

“This initiative created late last year, is available to help the community to immediately address needs due to a civil emergency. Both councils in our region receive a one-off $50,000 grant to support the community in these times. Their welfare teams are hard at work doing as much as they can in the current situation, and this fund should go some way to directly assisting our community members in need right now.”

“We would like to reassure all grantees and community groups that while the offices are closed, all our team are working remotely, and will continue business as normal as possible,” Finlay says.

“We are continuing to accept applications, make decisions, and make payments. We are here to help, and are committed to supporting and looking out for our community and ensuring we are able to respond appropriately. We encourage groups to keep connecting and engaging with us.”

In the first instance, please contact the team by email info@clt.net.nz and we will direct your enquiry accordingly.

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