A  BRIEF  OVERVIEW :

The Community Trust of Wellington is a philanthropic trust established by an Act of Parliament in 1988. The current legislation is the Community Trust Act 1999.

The Trust was originally formed to take responsibility for the distribution of profits accumulated by Trust Bank Wellington to charitable organisations in the banks' area.

In 1994 most of the savings banks throughout New Zealand combined and Trust Bank New Zealand Limited was launched as a public company. As owners of the Bank each Trust was allocated shares through a process and formula that considered the share of the banking market that each Trust had.

For the next two years the funds distributed to local community organisations by the Trust were a combination of the dividend earned and income received from an investment originating from shares sold down in 1994.

In May 1996 the combined community trusts sold their controlling interest in Trust Bank New Zealand to Westpac Banking Corporation Limited. This sale gave the Trust a capital asset and the freedom to operate independent of a commercial entity and to form relationships with the local community.

Trustees are appointed by and responsible to the Minister of Finance. The Trust produces an annual report and holds an Annual Public Meeting each year. A copy of the annual report is available from the Trust's office.

When compared with the other community trusts in New Zealand, The Community Trust of Wellington has limited funds. This is due to the formula used by the bank prior to the TBNZ share float. This considered the regions funds in the Bank and not the population base. Wellington received approximately 1% of the asset and has around 10% of New Zealand's population. All the other Trusts have a ratio more favourable than this.

The Wellington Savings Bank was the first savings bank in New Zealand. It was opened in 1846, followed by Auckland in 1847 and then Taranaki in 1850.

The Trust has published a book to record it's history. This book, "Making a Difference", is researched and written by Kate Manson and Hugo Manson. The book is available from the Trust's office.