The Cholmondeley Children’s Foundation was established in 2005 by a group of passionate and skilled volunteers, to develop an endowment fund to support the essential services the Centre provides to children and families, and decrease the reliance on annual fundraising to meet its operational costs.
An endowment fund is a permanent, self-sustaining source of funding. It can ensure the very special resource that is Cholmondeley Children’s Centre is protected against whatever the future holds.
The Cholmondeley Children’s Foundation offers donors the option of providing a legacy gift that will keep on giving well into the future.
The Foundation's goal is to create an endowment fund totaling $10 million by 2025, the 100th anniversary of Cholmondeley.
By supporting the work of the Cholmondeley Children’s Foundation you are investing in inter-generational change for New Zealand families.
A Legacy of Giving
In 2013, Cyril Smith left a very generous $3 million bequest to the Foundation. This legacy gift assisted with the rebuild of the Centre in 2015 and as part of the endowment fund will continue to support the ongoing work of Cholmondeley Children’s Centre for many more years.
His children have the following words to say about their father’s gift:
“Our family is very proud that our father chose to make a significant bequest to Cholmondeley’s building program to support the wonderful essential services Cholmondeley offers families in crisis.
We greatly appreciated Kerry Dellaca and Shane Murdoch taking time to show us around the new buildings during and after their completion, explain their philosophy and plans, and introduce us to some of the devoted staff and the services they offer. Seeing firsthand what Cholmondeley means to the children who spend time there was inspiring.
This has stimulated us to establish our giving relationship with Cholmondeley and to take a special interest in its achievements and progress now and into the future.” — Deborah Cox and Erica de Court
We'd love to answer any questions or interest in supporting the Cholmondeley Children's Foundation.
Please contact: foundation@cholmondeley.org.nz
Cholmondeley Children's Foundation - Board Members

Chairman - Kerry Dellaca
Member of the Cholmondeley Board since 1995, President since 2012. Kerry is a qualified accountant, a member of the Society of Accountants for Australia and New Zealand, and the Institute of Directors. He has served on Boards at private company, not-for-profit, and public company levels.
A desire to do something to help make children in crisis' lives better led to his involvement with Cholmondeley. Initially serving as Treasurer, Kerry became President in April 2012, helping guide the organisation through a very difficult and busy four years since the earthquakes. Kerry considers the "new" Cholmondeley a special place, where he will continue to serve for as long as he considers he is adding value.

Trustee - Nettles Lamont
Nettles is the Managing Director of Conquest Training NZ, a training company that works across New Zealand specialising in up-skilling the workforce.
Nettles is also involved in the Philanthropic sector in New Zealand and is CEO of the Dublin Street Charitable Trust (DSCT). The DSCT concentrates on causes based specifically in Canterbury and surrounding areas.
Nettles is the current Chair on the Board of the NZ Adult Literacy Practitioners Association and she is actively involved in advocacy for adult education. Nettles is a current Board Member of CYDP (Canterbury Youth Development Programme) and has been part of the Cholmondeley Board since 2014.
Trustee - Glenn Jones
Glenn Jones (LL.B; AAMINZ) is a barrister specialising in civil, commercial and employment dispute resolution. He is also professionally accredited as a mediator and is an associate member of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of NZ. Prior to practising as a barrister he was a partner in a leading Christchurch-based law firm for over 20 years.
Glenn served for nine years as a member of the board of Cholmondeley Children’s Centre; his last three years as Vice President. He was honoured to be appointed as a trustee of the Foundation in April 2017 and looks forward to applying his business and risk management skills to the essential work the Foundation does in support of the Centre.

Trustee - Andrew Fairbairn
Andrew is the New Zealand Business Development Manager for Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, a division of global packaging company headquartered in Switzerland.
Andrew joined Amcor in 2015 and has held senior sales management and development roles within the Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific business. Prior to joining Amcor spent 15 years at Lion working across Lion’s New Zealand and Australia business units in a variety of senior Sales and Commercial roles.
A qualified Chartered Accountant; Andrew has been a Trustee of the Cholmondeley Children’s Foundation since 2018.
His desire to support the great work of the Cholmondeley Children’s Centre was sparked by a family member's exceptional fundraising support of the rebuild of the Centre post the Christchurch earthquake. As a born and bred Cantabrian Andrew is excited to be able to bring his background in Commercial Finance and Sales to his role as Trustee in supporting the wonderful work of the Cholmondeley Children’s Centre.

Trustee - Clare Wilkinson
Clare is the Development Director for St Bede’s College and brings experience in fundraising, sponsorship and volunteer management, all key elements of Clare’s previous roles as CEO of the Christchurch Arts Festival, Director of Development of St Andrew’s College and Funding and Business Development Manager at the Child Cancer Foundation.
With a particular interest and strength in donor acquisition, campaign and event management and stakeholder engagement, Clare is keen to apply her skills and knowledge to the Cholmondeley Children’s Foundation, supporting the great work of the Centre.

Trustee - David Rankin
David is the Managing Director of Livingstone Realty Ltd, a Fellow of the NZ Real Estate Institute, Registered Valuer, and the former Chairman of the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club. David is also a member of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand and a Trustee on the Rotary Club of Christchurch West Charitable Trust.
David has been a Cholmondeley Children’s Foundation Trustee since 2005, and was Chairman from 2005 to 2010. David agreed to become a Trustee for Cholmondeley Children’s Foundation because he sees Cholmondeley as a place which provides a positive helping hand and opportunity for children who are in need of support.

Trustee - Mark Thompson
Mark is the General Manager at Tony Mounce Mortgages and Insurance having joined Tony after a 25 year career in banking. For the last eight of those 25 years Mark was a Senior Commercial Manager with ASB in Christchucrch. In addition to this Mark’s governance experience is further enhanced via his role as the chairman of the Christchurch Football Club – New Zealand’s oldest rugby club having been incorporated in 1863. Having previously worked alongside fellow trustee Clare Wilkinson and Cholmondeley Fundraising and Marketing Manager Tanya Cooke at the Child Cancer Foundation (in a voluntary capacity), Mark has learned much about the Cholmondeley Childrens Centre and is excited about the opportunity to again contribute to a wonderful local charity.