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The University of Auckland Foundation is the steward and distributor of funds entrusted to it for specific educational charitable purposes, usually associated with The University of Auckland.
The Trustees are drawn from alumni of The University of Auckland and the general public. Current Trustees are Geoff Ricketts (Chair), Hugh Fletcher, Peter Hays (Chair - Audit Committee), Jonathan Mason, John Matthews, Ian Parton, Sarah Roberts, Matt Silwood, and Cecilia Tarrant (Chair - Investment Committee).
Geoff Ricketts serves on a variety of corporate boards and charitable trusts, including board membership of the Promina Group and the Todd Corporation. He was formerly a partner of the law firm, Russell McVeagh. Hugh Fletcher has served as director of the Reserve Bank of NZ, Fletcher Building and Vector. Peter Hays is a former president and life member of the NZ Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand. He serves on the boards of several companies and trusts including the board of the Auckland War Memorial Museum. John Matthews, a clinical haematologist, was formerly chairman of the Southern Cross Medical Insurance Society. Ian Parton, formerly president of IPENZ (Institute of Professional Engineers, NZ) has served on many corporate boards most recently as director of WaterCare and chairman of VT Fitzroy. Jonathan Mason is the current CFO of Fonterra. Prior to that he served as CFO for Cabot Corporation and Carter Holt Harvey. His board service includes that for Natixis North America (a mutual fund), Carter Holt Harvey, and Beloit College. Sarah Roberts is partner in the Auckland law firm, Buddle Findlay. Matt Silwood has nearly three decades experience in the financial services industry in Australia, founding his own financial advisory and fund management company which was subsequently acquired in June 2007 by AXA Asia Pacific. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. Cecilia Tarrant has over 20 years' experience in international banking and finance; she was formerly a managing director in the Global Capital Markets Group at Morgan Stanley in London and is now a director of Fletcher Building.
The Trustees meet four times a year, with their investment consultants Cambridge Associates, to review investment policy and performance, ensure that payments to beneficiaries are made in accordance with the donor's wishes, oversee fundraising activity, and make sure that the Foundation complies with its reporting obligations. In particular, the Foundation has registered with the Charities Commission (Number CC 10985) to comply with the Charities Act (2005) and its accounts are audited annually by Grant Thornton. Two committees (investment and audit) currently meet outside of the regular meetings.
Each Foundation endowment gift is invested into, and allocated its share of, the endowment investment pool. This pool is structured for long-term growth allowing in normal years both annual distributions of some income to the beneficiaries and retention of the remaining income to protect the capital value of the gifts in the endowment pool. The current annual distribution rate is 4% (provided income is available) and any excess income is retained to add to the initial gift.
In order to achieve this the Trustees have instituted an endowment asset allocation of: 35% international equities, 20% NZ bank cash & term deposits,15% Australasian equities, 15% NZ fixed income, 10% international fixed income, and 5% emerging market fixed income and equities.
