Trust Deed

Our New Deed

Foundation) has amended its trust deed on several occasions to facilitate good governance.

In March 2021, following consultation with members and discussion at the Foundation’s AGM in November 2020, an amendment to the deed was signed and executed.

The main changes introduced in the March 2021 amendment were:

• Expanding the purposes of the trust to include preventing the transmission of STIs and promoting the physical and mental health of people living with or affected by HIV;
• Changing the mode of appointment of trustees from part-appointed part-elected by members to an all-appointed Board, and providing criteria to govern the appointment of members to ensure our core communities are well-represented on the Board;
• Changing the mode of amendment of the deed in future, from the mandatory holding of an AGM or SGM to authorising the Trust Board to amend the deed at any time, provided a special resolution is passed and the amendment does not prejudice the charitable nature of the trust or depart from the founding purposes of the organisation as set out in its initial deed.

In December 2021, the Trust Board met and passed a special resolution recommending that the name of the organisation be changed to Burnett Foundation Aotearoa. In May 2022, the Board met and passed a further special resolution recommending that the trust deed be amended to reflect the new name.

The 2022 amendment updated the references in the deed to the name of the organisation and made other consequential amendments only. No other substantive provisions were amended.

In November 2023, the Trust Board met and passed a special resolution to approve further amendment of the deed to ensure compliance with the new Trusts Act 2019, including affirming the mandatory trustee duties and provision for “Special Trust Advisers”, which is the term for advisory trustees used in the new legislation. The Foundation’s objects were also amended to include promoting and supporting the sexual health of core communities, the definition of which was also expanded to include for the first time “lesbian and bisexual people, members of other sexual minorities, gender-diverse, takatāpui and intersex people and their whānau” to ensure Burnett Foundation Aotearoa is able to implement the new Strategic Plan.

The current Burnett Foundation Aotearoa Trust Deed approved in November 2023 is available here: