Tindall to relaunch foundation

The founder of The Warehouse Group and philanthropist, Sir Stephen Tindall, is coming to Northland this month to relaunch the Northland Community Foundation, which has distributed $70,000 a year in the region over the past four years on behalf of his Tindall Foundation.

The Northland foundation was one of the key drivers of Project Promise and raised $3.67 million to help build the Jim Carney Cancer Treatment Centre.

Fresh from being named New Zealander of the Year 2015, Sir Stephen will arrive on March 10 to relaunch the group as the Northland Foundation, which has full funding manager status.

Ros Martin, manager of the Northland Foundation, said after the success of Project Promise, the foundation wanted to re-engage with the community and now focus on a Northland-wide reach.

The Auckland philanthropist and businessman who co-founded the Tindall Foundation in 1995 with his wife, Lady Margaret, is the keynote speaker at the free, relaunch event at the Whangarei Club.

The Tindall Foundation has supported the establishment of 13 community foundations throughout New Zealand over a number of years and has worked with the Northland Foundation through the Grassroots Giving programme, supporting local charities.

The Northland Foundation is now looking to attract gifts and legacies to invest into and distribute to causes chosen by donors, as well as other areas of identified need.

It will continue to work with Northland DHB, managing charitable giving to DHB services and facilities, and sectors such as education, sport, environment, arts, animal welfare, families and communities.

Northland Foundation board chairman Richard Ayton said donations and bequests would be invested and "inflation proofed", with remaining earnings distributed to an organisation or cause of the donor's choice or "directed at the discretion of the trustees to areas of need in the Northland region".

He said: "I encourage you to attend the Northland Foundation relaunch and learn more about this exciting regional asset."

Sir Stephen has invested more than $250 million into start-up companies through seed and venture capital, ranging from environmental technology to high-tech and software and businesses with export potential.

The Tindall Foundation also co-funds the Reconnecting Northland project, a region-wide ecological restoration project led by Hokianga-based David Mules.

Reconnecting Northland is a collaboration between WWF-New Zealand and NZ Landcare Trust, funded also by ASB Community Trust and HSBC Water Programme.

It has also supported the Whangarei Heads Landcare Forum, where local farmers, landowners and conservationists are working to protect native species, boost the kiwi population and control invasive weeds and predators on the northern shores of Whangarei Harbour.

Sir Stephen has also backed Northland Playcentre's Supporting Parents Alongside Children's Education (SPACE) for first-time parents and a regional pohutukawa replanting mission called Project Crimson.

-Admission into the Northland Community Foundation launch event on March 10 is free. Anyone interested in attending the event at the Whangarei Club, Rust Ave, which starts at 5.30pm, can contact Ros Martin, manager Northland Foundation, before March 6 by emailing ros@northlandcommunityfoundation.org.nz