ABOUT US

MATANA FOUNDATION PTY LTD as trustee for MATANA FOUNDATION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

ACN 98 064 008 032

FOUNDER:: Karen Loblay
DIRECTORS:: Karen Loblay, Lorand Loblay, Gerry Rihs, Raphael Dascalu, Victoria Loblay, John Snelgrove

PRESCRIBED PRIVATE FUNDS

Matana Foundation for Young People is a Prescribed Private Fund.

Prescribed Private Funds are part of a series of tax reforms that were announced by the Federal Government in March 1999, to encourage greater corporate and personal philanthropy.

Prescribed Private Funds are funds established by a trust instrument that allow businesses, families and individuals to provide philanthropic benefit. They are Deductible Gift Recipients (gifts to a Prescribed Private Fund are deductible under Item 1, Section 30-15 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997), income tax exempt and attract a variety of tax and duty concessions. They must have at least one independent person among its trustees or on the board of directors of its trustee company, but the other trustees or directors can be family or other associates of the founder.

The main operational requirement of a Prescribed Private Fund is that it must make grants for the sole purpose of benefiting Deductible Gift Recipients. It must operate on a not-for-profit basis, not providing any benefit to its associates and it must ensure that its investments are in accordance with the "prudent person principle" as outlined in the legislation governing trusts in each state. That principle requires a sufficient diversification of investments and an annual review of their performance.

A Prescribed Private Fund is required to be audited and provide an annual information return to the Australian Taxation Office with a summary of its activities for the year. It is required to maintain a gift fund as outlined in the deed. All accumulations of gifts, grants and transfers of property must be approved by the Australian Taxation Office as is the fund's accumulation plan. The Australian Taxation Office also requires the distribution of a portion of each gift normally in the year following the date of the gift. The income of the fund may only be accumulated to the extent necessary to maintain the real value of the capital of the fund. The balance must be distributed.

PHILOSOPHY

The philosophy of the Matana Foundation for Young People is to work with other groups which share its common purpose and vision to assist disadvantaged young people to benefit from and contribute to the common good and provide a vehicle which nurtures self worth.

FUNDING PRIORITIES

Projects which benefit disadvantaged young people by addressing the causes of poverty and injustice.
Projects which are not eligible for funding from public or government sources.
Projects that address violence, social justice, economic and social disadvantage.
Projects which address the needs of disadvantaged children and young people directly.
Projects involving education, arts and culture, employment and training, housing and accommodation.
Priority will be given to peak bodies, self-help groups, neighbourhood projects and direct service provision.

ETHICAL INVESTMENT POLICY

The investment powers of the Matana Foundation for Young People will be implemented in accordance with its goals, as prescribed by the following ethical investment policy:

Ethical Investment Objectives

Target investments that support or provide for activities contributing to human happiness, dignity and education; particularly those activities that emphasise the needs of young people.
Secure investments which promise sound returns to ensure proceeds benefit our young recipients.
Restrict investments in businesses that we deem unethical and inconsistent with our aims of promoting the physical and emotional health of young people.

Techniques and Procedures for Ethical Investment

Choosing Positive Ethical Investments: The foundation will use a "positive screen" in order to seek out enterprises that promote:

Environmental sustainability - a long term need of the young.
Research and development with the potential to create new jobs in the future.
Development of appropriate technological systems

Avoiding Unethical Investments: A "negative screen" will be used to restrict investments in companies that derive revenues from the sale of armaments, tobacco, alcohol, gambling and the destruction of the environment.
Research: The foundation will engage in fundamental research to select investments that maximise opportunities for generating income, as indicated by a risk/return profile.

Practical Considerations

The foundation does not have the resources to apply a detailed test to each proposed investment.
In the process of making decisions regarding ethical investment there will always be borderline cases in which it is unclear whether the potential investment should be rejected or not.

Examples

The foundation under this policy does not wish to invest in companies which make and distribute alcohol as we see this as incompatible with the needs of young people. However, we will not necessarily reject investments in retail companies that may sell liquor as part of their business. - We will consider such investments provided the company meets other policy criteria such as the training and employment of young people.
Investments in mining companies may not be restricted in circumstances where the company pays due attention to environmental factors such as site remediation and contamination control.
Listed Investment Companies are often good passive investments for organisations such as the Matana foundation. However, from time to time these companies invest in a wide range of companies. In such cases, it is possible that a small portion of this investment may not be acceptable as part of our ethical investment portfolio. This possibility will not necessarily restrict our investment in all Listed Investment Companies.
We acknowledge that occasionally we or our advisers might make mistakes, but it remains our intention to use this policy as a basis for our decisions.