Bashford-Nicholls Trust & Taranaki Foundation join forces

Words by Virginia Winder.

A long-standing agricultural education trust worth $14.5 million is poised to more than double the Taranaki Foundation’s investment resources.

Funds of the Bashford-Nicholls Trust have been transferred from the 20-year-old Bishop’s Action Foundation (BAF) to the Taranaki Foundation, where they will be invested and managed by local experts.

Taranaki Foundation chief executive Josh Hickford says the funding boost is a significant gain for the philanthropic organisation, whose coffers will rise from about $13m to $27.5m.

“It takes us into a whole new level and era, which I think is exciting for the region,” he says.

Hickford says the capital injection will lift the foundation’s profile to become the third-largest in the national network of 18 Community Foundations.

“This newly formed partnership stands as the largest single transfer of trust assets (in the network),” he says.

The jump in its investment pool comes as the foundation marks its 10th anniversary and celebrates winning the For Purpose category at this year’s TSB Business Excellence Awards.

The Bishop’s Action Foundation approached the Taranaki Foundation to explore how its community giving model could help strengthen the Bashford-Nicholls legacy.

BAF chief executive Simon Cayley says the shift continues a journey that began when the organisation took on the farmers’ trusts in 2008.

“This feels like another major milestone in continuing to honour that legacy that we’ve been asked to be the stewards of,” he says.

Claude William Nicholls, who died in 1954, and James Dawson Bashford, who died in 1962, were South Taranaki farmers who left their estates to support future generations.

Pictured: Dawson Bashford (d.1962) & Claude Nicholls (d.1951). 

Both originally hoped their farms would train boys, but when that proved unworkable, sharemilkers were put on the properties and the proceeds used for agricultural and veterinary scholarships.

In 2003, the criteria for both trusts was altered to allow females to apply for scholarships and, in 2016, the two entities were amalgamated.

The Bashford-Nicholls Trust now provides about $300,000 a year in grants.

This year, it has supported 66 undergraduate students, two master’s students and four PhD candidates.

Scholarships and research awards will continue to be administered by the Bashford-Nicholls trustees through the Bishop’s Action Foundation. Applications reopen in October next year.

“The Taranaki Foundation will be really supporting our visibility, telling the story, and building up the impact of Bashford-Nicholls,” says Cayley.

The trust’s $14.5m will be managed by Craigs Investment Partners advisers Andrew Butterworth, Christine Egarr and Mark Butterworth.

Andrew Butterworth says both he and his brother Mark are former Bashford-Nicholls scholars. “So it’s (come) full circle.”

The scholarship supported Andrew’s study at Massey University, where he gained a Bachelor of Applied Science, majoring in Rural Valuation.

“We’re thrilled to be given the opportunity to manage the funds for the community and for the good of the community. It is a responsibility, something that we don’t take for granted,” he says.

Bashford-Nicholls trustee Craig Hattle says the partnership allows the trust to become the base for a major new pou (pillar) for attracting and inspiring future legacy giving in the region, within the Taranaki Foundation.

“The funds themselves are used to develop and bring young people on, into ethical land-based activities,” he says.

“Everywhere I turn, I bump into somebody in agricultural circles who has, somewhere along the line, got funding from the Bashford-Nicholls Trust. It just has this deep history in Taranaki.”

Taranaki Foundation trustee Dan Radcliffe says the investment marks a new era.

“I’ve been with the foundation for almost five years now and when we started, we weren’t brand new, but we were very small,” he says.

“I think we had a million dollars under management and this will take us to $27.5 million – it’s literally a game changer for us.”

He says the impact of the Taranaki Foundation and Bashford-Nicholls Trust reaches well beyond today.
“We think, long term, this is going to be a really important foundation for my children, my grandchildren and future generations here in Taranaki.”

Pictured: Simon Cayley (CEO, Bishop Action Foundation), Craig Hattie (Trustee, Bashford & Nicholls Trust), Josh Hickford (CE, Taranaki Foundation), Dan Radcliffe (Trustee, Taranaki Foundation).