Trust relaxes its rules but tightens its belt

A trust that hands out millions of dollars each year has relaxed its rules on who can apply, but warns it is still tightening its belt.

Last year the Taranaki Electricity Trust (TET) updated its rules to say an individual or organisation applying for funding had to have its registered address inside the TET area, which excludes New Plymouth, Hawera and Opunake.

John Campbell, who became chairman earlier this year after the trust’s elections, said they had since decided to change it back to the way it had been in the past.

This meant that organisations based outside the TET area, which covers Waitara, Stratford, Eltham, Kaponga and out past Whangamomona, can now apply.

‘‘I think we’ve just sat down around the table and had a think about it,’’ Campbell said.

‘‘We have had some feedback and some people were not very happy about it.’’

Campbell said grants would still only be approved if they benefited the people within the Trust area.

Last year’s changes meant large organisations such as the Taranaki Arts and Festival Trust (TAFT) and Venture Taranaki Trust (VTT) had not been able to apply for funding for work they did in Stratford, Inglewood and Waitara as they were based in New Plymouth.

Earlier this month, the Stratford District Council had to apply to the TET to fund VTT’s work in the town, which VTT had applied for itself in the past.

TAFT chief executive Suzanne Porter was ‘‘delighted’’ at the decision reversal, which comes into effect immediately, and said there would be quite a few clubs and organisations in the same boat.

‘‘Everything that we do has a benefit to the full region and we rely on funding from trusts to do everything that we do,’’ she said.

‘‘I know we have to still apply and it’s not a given but at least now it’s an even playing field.’’

However, the move doesn’t mean the trust will be spreading loads of cash around the region.

Campbell said the trust was having to cut back the amount of money it gave away to protect its longevity.

Changes had recently been made to its investments and it could be a few years before that kicked in, he said.

‘‘We may not be quite as generous as we have been in recent years.

‘‘There are a couple of years that we have cut back significantly.

‘‘Our budget is around $3m this year but when we get applications for maybe four times that over the year, someone’s going to miss out.’’

The trust currently had around $92m in capital and they were focused on keeping it at that level or growing it.

‘‘At the end of the year there’s probably going to be a few people not very happy when our funding is not quite as good as it used to be but we do have to live within our budget, we don’t want to get down on our capital,’’ he said.