A family of beneficiaries

Rua and Clarrie Stevens freely donated their time and expertise serving the Dunedin Community. Both gave without fuss or fanfare but with a lot of passion.

When Rua died from Leukemia in 1970, Clarrie and one of their three children Lee decided to establish a charitable trust as a memorial to enshrine the ideals and values that epitomised Rua's life. She was a vibrant and deeply compassionate woman, with tremendous character and fun.

The Rua and Clarrie Steven Charitable Trust had humble beginnings, as this was by no means a wealthy family. Lee and Clarrie started with a capital investment of just $39,000.

Initially they focused on building this investment. In 1971 the trust made its first grants worth $2,000 to a small number of Dunedin based Non Governmental Organisations. Twenty-five years to the day Rua died, Clarrie passed away.

The trust had grown during those years, which meant Lee could add a further dimension to it. He created a family philosophy. The focus changed to building relationships with a core group of recipients (the family of beneficiaries), rather than giving one-off grants.

Lee says working this way captures his family's vision of effective philanthropy working in our community. He says it helps to develop expertise within the beneficiaries' chosen fields and the trustees get enormous enjoyment and personal satisfaction from the on-going partnerships.

The Rua and Clarrie Stevens Charitable Trust has a family of around 20 beneficiaries. They come from arts, education, environmental and spiritual organisations. The trust principally funds operating expenses and individual scholarships within these groups.

In the past financial year the Rua and Clarrie Charitable trust donated $47,000. Most of this went in grants of $5,000 or less.

There are three trustees - Lee, his wife Penny (they administer the trust), and an old family friend who is also an investment expert. Lee and Penny do not have children so they have recently appointed two advisory trustees to work with them and to carry their work on into the future.

The Rua and Clarrie Charitiable Trust host a function annually to bring together the people the trust has supported to celebrate their achievements. "It is an opportunity to express thanks to them for making our world a far better place".