Create a Fund in your name

The Rule Foundation can administer funds on behalf of individuals or organisations, established out of a gift (one off or ongoing), or from a bequest. This option allows you to create a fund in the name of your choosing, and the purpose to which the funds will be used.

Benefit

The benefit of establishing a fund under the Rule Foundation is a significant reduction in cost and complexity when compared with establishing an independent Trust. Trustee meetings, annual return filings with the Charities Register, and bank mandates can take a lot of time (not to mention the goodwill they suck from well-meaning volunteers). We have all this in place already, so you can get on with thinking about how your fund will benefit people.

Perpetual Guardian, Public Trust and other foundations in Aotearoa also offer this option to establish a fund with them. We believe the benefit of establishing your fund with the Rule Foundation is the dedicated LGBTI focus that we bring.

Purpose

You choose the purpose for which your funds will be used. The Rule Foundations’ only requirement is that the purpose you choose falls broadly within our own purpose. Some examples of a fund purpose include:

A fund that benefits LGBTI young people
Scholarships for LGBTI people undertaking medical training
Funding research in a particular area – i.e. LGBTI people in aged care
Funding that supports participation in the annual pride festivals around the country.

Other considerations might include: can organisations or individuals apply; can funding be used for salary and rent costs, or only one off projects; are scholarships for the most talented, or those who could not study otherwise?

We can help you to craft the purpose of your fund so that it achieves the difference you would like to make for LGBTI people.

Decision-making

Once the purpose of the fund has been decided, you can be as hands on or hands off as you like, when it comes to choosing who to give funds to. Options include:

Rule Foundation Trustees make decisions based on the purpose you outlined to us
Rule Foundation Trustees make recommendations to you (or your nominee) for final approval
You (or your nominee) are fully involved in the review and decision making process

A nominee can be appointed directly by yourself, or by the Trustees within certain parameters. For example, ‘a nominee must be a direct descendant of Mrs Joy Brown’.

Yourself or the nominee become ‘sub-fund advisers’ of the Rule Foundation, with shared decision making authority over the distributions from your fund.

Legacy and Impact

Broadly speaking, there are two main ways that people establish their fund:

For legacy, with the goal being growth at a rate faster than inflation of the endowment and annual disbursements. For example, a $1 million legacy could distribute approximately $30,000 in the first year, growing with inflation and fund performance.
For impact, where the fund is designed to be exhausted within a set period. For example, $1 million fund where $100,000 is distributed each year until the fund is exhausted. (Approximately 11-12 years, depending on investment performance).

There are minimums that apply when wishing to establish a fund with the Rule Foundation:

A minimum initial gift of $500,000; and
A minimum disbursement of $25,000 per annum.

Administration

The Rule Foundation Trustees take seriously their fiduciary duties over the funds they administer. A full financial audit by an independent and certified Auditor is completed each year. Financial investments are held with Milford Asset Management, a decision which is reviewed regularly to ensure performance, compliance and stability. Your funds are held separately to other funds within the Rule Foundation’s portfolio, to ensure maximum transparency in where your funds go.

The Rule Foundation charges an annual fee of 0.5% of total capital value of the fund at 31st March each year (on top of any fund management fees charged by Milford Asset Management). This supports the promotion and administering of your fund, and the overheads of the Rule Foundation.