About

Introduction

The New Zealand Law Foundation is an independent trust established in 1982 and is a registered charitable entity in terms of the Charities Act 2005, and registered under No. CC22185 in the Charities Register.

Patron And Trustees

Patron of the Foundation is the Chief Justice of New Zealand, the Right Honourable Dame Sian Elias.

A seven member Trust Board administers the Foundation.

Objectives

The objectives of the Foundation are:

• To provide opportunities for the acquisition and diffusion of legal knowledge and the consideration and suggestion of amendments to the law.
• To carry out research in the science of jurisprudence in all its branches for the education and benefit of the public.
• To disseminate knowledge gained by such research for the education of legal practitioners, students of law, and all other persons and organisations concerned with the application, administration, development or improvement of the law.
• To protect and promote the interests of the public in relation to legal matters.

Purposes

Clause 12 of the Law Foundation's Trust Deed sets out the Foundation's purposes.

An extract of the relevant parts of clause 12 is in an appendix to this document.

Sources of Funding

The Law Foundation is funded by interest on the investment of its capital fund and from any donations or bequests received.

Principles Applying to Grants

There are a number of general principles that will be applied to the consideration of grant applications. They are:

1. Every grant must be made for charitable purposes within New Zealand.
2. Projects should benefit a significant number of people relative to the funds employed or be of national significance.
3. Projects should be of national rather than local benefit.
4. Projects must be seen as having an impact, either immediately or in the foreseeable future.
5. Innovative, high quality initiatives and projects are preferred.
6. Applications for the support of conferences and seminars will not be considered if they exclude the media or exposure to the public.
7. The Foundation does not generally support research or study for postgraduate degrees.
8. Applications for grants to assist with undergraduate research or study will not be considered.
9. Generally funding will not be provided to any entity receiving Parliamentary appropriation funding. Grants will not be made to fund projects considered to be the primary responsibility of Government. In exceptional cases Foundation funding may be available to add to joint funding projects with Government or community agencies.
10. The Foundation will not consider applications for core funding or ongoing operational costs of any organisation.
11. From time to time, the Foundation provides limited seeding funding to worthy publications or public addresses to assist with their establishment phase only. It does not provide ongoing funding and it is not likely to take over funding of an existing publication or address when its principal funding has been withdrawn.
12. The Foundation does not usually support costs involved in the upgrading of existing academic publications or teaching texts.
13. Retrospective funding will not generally be granted.