Sport and sports people throughout Northland are set to benefit from the recently established Sport Endowment Fund. The fund has been set up in partnership with Sport Northland and Northland Foundation.
Northland Sports Endowment Fund LaunchedA partnership between Sport Northland and the Northland Foundation has led to the launch of the first Sports Endowment Fund in Northland.Sport Northland is looking to provide long term funding solutions for sport in Northland and so the establishment of a partnership with the Northland Foundation was an obvious strategy to achieving this. In doing so, the Northland Foundation and Sport Northland have established a Sports Endowment Fund, so that individuals, families or organisations can leave a legacy to sport through bequests or ‘living giving’.The Northland Foundation is a charitable trust set up to provide a simple, effective and long lasting way for individuals, families and organisations to leave legacies or create funds to support local causes, and to ensure these gifts will achieve maximum and enduring benefits for the community. They grow funds through careful investment so as to retain the capital and make grants through the yield on that capital.Northland Foundation General Manager Ros Martin says that the development of a new strategic direction by her Board has seen a re-focus of energy towards the core aims of a ‘community foundation’.“The Northland Foundation is one of 14 Community Foundations operating across the country and all have very similar aims and objectives. After the massive job of raising $3m to help develop the Jim Carney Cancer Centre which was completed last year, we are now focused on our core business of encouraging a spirit of giving by Northlanders through bequests, as a means of improving our community and adding depth to our society”.Sport Northland Chief Executive Brent Eastwood stresses that the Sports Endowment Fund is a long-term strategy that will likely build over time. “We are urging people who have gained benefits from sport during their life to think about giving back to sport through the new fund; these funding gifts can go exactly where each family want them to go within sport, but the key is that the gift will keep on giving because the capital remains intact, with the income off it being distributed annually”.Eastwood says that initiatives such as the Educare Northland Sports Talent Hub would be obvious benefactors from such gifts, as everyone knows a young person with some sporting talent that needs to be supported and nurtured to give them the best chance of making it to the top.However, those doing the gifting have the choice on where the money will end up, as it might even be an individual sport, such as hockey or netball, that the family has been involved with who end up receiving the benefit. “Both Sport Northland and the Northland Foundation will help any family with those decisions and advise on where best to direct the gift” says Eastwood.Brochures giving details of the fund have been developed and the Northland Foundation is undertaking the role of briefing Northland law firms about the endowment fund, so that discussions with those making wills and decisions on estates have this option open to them.
