New Zealand's Top Performing KiwiSaver Provider Donates $243K to KidsCan

The country’s ethical performing KiwiSaver provider has donated just over $243,000 to KidsCan.

Always Ethical (AE) CEO, Sandra Clark, says the money will provide 96,000 fresh meals to children under five, attending KidsCan’s partnered early childhood education centres.

“We are so pleased to be able to support KidsCan,” she says. “Some of our children need help, and providing them with nutritious and regular meals is so important for their wellbeing. At AE, we understand that children don’t have control over their living conditions, and it is up to us to provide them with some much needed support.”

KidsCan’s Chief Executive Officer, Julie Chapman, echoes those words.

“The early years are a child’s most formative, and KidsCan’s support ensures under-fives in communities with high deprivation levels receive the nutrition they need to assist in their learning. We support low-equity early childhood education centres by providing food, clothing, and health products. The fresh meals for the children are delivered to each of the centres weekly. The centres can choose from a range of recipes provided by KidsCan and endorsed by the Heart Foundation,” she says. “We are very grateful for this significant donation from Always Ethical.”

Sandra Clark says as part of Always Ethical’s commitment to inclusive and ethical investing, they donate all money made from any investment that inadvertently breaches its Ethical Mandate.

“Every year, the sum of money made from investments that doesn’t meet our Ethical Mandate, is calculated and confirmed. The money is then donated to registered charities. It is part of who we are and what we do; helping those who need it the most,” she says.

Ms Clark adds that AE’s goal is to not only generate wealth for their investors but also to ensure that the investments serve humanity.

“We would like to demonstrate that financial success and doing good for humanity can go hand in hand,” she says.

Additionally, AE’s returns for its members continues to put it amongst the best of New Zealand KiwiSaver funds.

“Our *five year return (from 1.4.19 to 31.3.24) is 12.68% and our *one year return (from 1.4.19 to 31.3.24) is 15.10%. This is an exceptional performance from any ‘ethical’ KiwiSaver, and we are very proud of our hardworking team which monitors the funds’ performance every day. We buy, sell and remove shares directly, which makes us very nimble when it comes to being able to react quickly,” she says. “We found this was particularly important during Covid where our ethical strategies played a key part in the positive results achieved for our members over that time.”

Sandra Clark says as AE’s KiwiSaver Plan continues to grow, so too will the donations to charities that support those in need.

“The early years are a child’s most formative, and KidsCan support ensures preschoolers in communities with high deprivation levels receive the nutrition they need to fuel their learning. We support low-equity early childhood education centres by providing food, clothing, shoes, gumboots, and health products. Fresh ingredients for morning tea, hot lunches and sandwiches are delivered to each of the centres weekly. The centres can choose from a range of recipes provided by KidsCan and supported by the Heart Foundation. We are very grateful for this significant donation from Always Ethical,” she says.

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*Unaudited - Calculated by an independent Unit Registry. Calculated as a compound annual growth rate. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Returns are net of expenses and before tax.