Who we are

OUR HISTORY

Stephen and Margaret Tindall founded The Tindall Foundation (TTF) in 1994. Today, the foundation supports over 700 organisations a year, giving annual donations of around $10 million to help families, communities and the environment.

Following the success of The Warehouse float in 1994, the family decided it wanted to share some of the financial rewards with others for the long-term benefit of Aotearoa New Zealand. The idea was to offer a hand up and not a handout to families and communities, a philosophy that continues to this day.

At the time of the float, Margaret gifted her shares in The Warehouse Group to TTF, and every year the dividends of these shares fund the majority of The Foundation’s work. TTF itself has no direct relationship with The Warehouse or The Warehouse Group Foundation. 

Since its first donation in 1995, TTF has given away over $175 million. The Foundation gives more than just money — it provides support, skills, connections and communication that help organisations and communities to achieve their goals.

Stephen and Margaret have five children who started their own fund, Next Gen, in 2015. They are working together as a group to give donations to youth development organisations using the creative arts (which lies outside TTF’s focus areas) as a mechanism for helping young people.

The Foundation is a family-focused organisation whose values reflect those of the Tindall family. Stephen and Margaret’s two daughters, Liz and Kate, work for TTF and their son Robbie is a Trustee. The two youngest boys, Jeremy and Ben, work with their siblings on Next Gen.

DONATION OVERVIEW

The Tindall Foundation gives donations and support to charitable organisations to help build a stronger Aotearoa New Zealand.

We work in partnership with other funders, councils, government departments, iwi and philanthropic leaders to make the greatest difference. We value these high-trust relationships.

In our giving, we work closely with families, the community and those protecting and preserving our environment. As a family foundation, we try to emphasise the values of whanaungatanga (sense of family connection) and aroha (compassion, love).  

Because people and communities generally know best what works for them, we support them to identify their particular challenges and develop solutions to achieve positive change. We appreciate that this is especially the case for Māori.

People are at the heart of our organisation. They are central to the decisions we make, the donations we approve, the causes we support and the relationships we form. The personal bonds with our donation recipients, Local Donation Managers, other funders, partners, Trustees and staff mean a great deal to us. A good number of these are long-term relationships developed over many years. 

We know that trust is essential in working together to reach better outcomes for our people and our environment. We believe that having a shared vision, shared values and a shared commitment with our donation recipients and partners will help us tackle some of the big issues — like poverty, poor housing, climate change and unemployment — and enable us to make the greatest impact over the long term. 

OUR CULTURE

At The Tindall Foundation, we have a family approach to what we do. Our office in Takapuna, on Auckland’s North Shore, is a converted home with a sunny garden.

We have a highly skilled team made up of nine full-time and part-time staff. The staff work hard to serve the philanthropic wishes of the Tindall family and Trustees to support whānau/families, communities and the environment.  

The open and high-trust relationship that is shared between the family, staff and Trustee team is in the DNA of the Foundation and everyone values it greatly.