Our Investments

Our investments are made taking into consideration the perpetual nature of our fund.  We balance the need to provide support to our community through grants and loans and the need to grow our capital base back to the inflation adjusted level.  

When times were difficult, during the 2007/2008 Global Financial Crisis, our Trust continued to provide grant funding to our community and some of the capital base was used to sustain this level of community support.  Today the Trust continues to re-build the capital base to an optimal level of 10% above the adjusted capital base. 

It’s through our investment returns that we fund our annual granting and our operating costs each year and ideally, we aim to maintain our grants at a relatively consistent level over time.

Our Statement of Investment Policies and Objectives (SIPO) guides trustee's decisions about our investments.

Community Trust South is the sole investor in Invest South a private equity fund based in Invercargill that invests in dynamic businesses who are seeking capital and expertise to fund expansion and growth. Its focus is on partnering with management teams to increase and realise the value of a business.  Our investment in Invest South forms part of our Strategic Plan to support Community Economic Development.

Community Trust South has invested $20 million as an impact investment in the Invercargill Inner City Development, Invercargill Central Limited, helping to ensure the project will go ahead.  The project is a key part of the Southland Regional Development Strategy to bring 10,000 extra people to the region and aligns strongly with the Trust’s vision for a thriving southern region and with its strategic priorities, which include community development and community economic development.

The Trust has invested in this project as it is expected to deliver long-term positive impacts for the region including creating jobs, increased spending, opportunities for new business and helping draw more people to work and live in the region.

Impact investing is a relatively new approach increasingly being used by other community trusts and philanthropic funders to deliver maximum impact above and beyond just providing grants.  

If you would like to learn more about impacting investing in Aotearoa New Zealand please visit https://www.impactinvestingnetwork.nz/ecosystem