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Becoming a Trustee

Becoming a Trustee

The Minister of Finance has responsibility for appointing Trustees, all expressions of interest remain confidential to the Foundation and will be sent to the Minister of Finance for consideration.

Trustee appointments

For the 2019/20 appointment round, these appointments were delegated to the Associate Minister of Finance, the Hon Dr David Clark. The appointment process is managed by the Department of Internal Affairs. The call for nominations has closed and will re-open mid-January. 

To read the Department of Internal Affairs Community Trusts Candidate Information Form, click here.

Background material for candidates

The Minister of Finance appoints Trustees under the Community Trusts Act 1999. The Act states the maximum term of office for Trustees must not exceed four years, but a Trustee may hold office on more than one occasion. The person must be a resident in the region of the Foundation to hold office.

Skills and attributes required

Trustees collectively must have skills or experience in the following areas:

  • financial management, especially institutional investment oversight
  • grant-making
  • governance
  • community and voluntary sector involvement
  • strategic thinking
  • leadership skills
  • legal expertise

The current board are particularly interested in people with Investment experience, and who can increase the diversity of the board.  

The make-up of the Rātā Foundation Board should reflect the communities we serve, including tangata whenua, pacific communities and people from a range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds.  Rātā would also like community representatives of youth, and Māori and Pacific communities. 

Trustees are expected to have a broad understanding of the issues facing the communities of Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough and the Chatham Islands but will not need to engage directly with specific groups or organisations. 

Elections

The Trustees annually elect the Chair, Deputy Chair and various committee chairs.

Meetings

Trustees workload commitment is expected to be about 30 days annually, across Board and sub-committee meetings over the course of each year.

There are seven board meetings per annum. These are held on a Wednesday in Canterbury. One Board meeting per year may be held in Nelson and Marlborough. In addition, Trustees are required to participate in two 2-day strategic planning sessions held in April and October each year.

Trustees are expected to take part in sub-committees which convene separately to the Board meeting

 

Key Activities

Key activities of the Board are as follows:

  • Setting goals and objectives and reviewing progress
  • Participating in the strategic planning process
  • Appointing the CEO and delegating levels of authority
  • Approval of grant policies and applications
  • Approval and monitoring of annual plans and budgets
  • Approval of capital expenditure
  • Approval of investment policies
  • Approval of operating expenditure outside budgets and delegations
  • To ensure compliance with all statutory obligations

 Strategic Plan

Our Purpose is simple: We Invest in Communities

To achieve our purpose, we will...

  • Connect –create and lead conversations, though strong community connections and understanding
  • Collaborate – lead, partner and provide innovative and smart investment to create intergenerational change
  • Transform – understanding community needs and investing to bring about social change

We support the people of Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough and the Chatham Islands from the ground up.

At Rātā Foundation, people are at the heart of everything we do. We invest funding into our community under the guidance of five funding areas:

 

 

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