The Trust Waikato was established in 1988 by the Government of New Zealand to hold and manage the shares of Trust Bank Waikato – a trustee bank to increase community access to banking services. In 1996, Trust Waikato left banking and sold their shares. The proceeds from the sale were invested, using a portion of the profits to provide grants to community groups and projects in the Waikato region. As at March 31, 2018, the organization had US$ 269 million of assets under management.
The Trust believes it has a responsibility to consider the positive and negative externalities of its investments on the Environment and Society. As such, the Trust became a signatory to the UN PRI in February 2007. The Trust Waikato invests solely through external managers. For direct mandates, it has implemented a screening criteria on armaments, tobacco, gambling and liquor. When selecting and monitoring managers, the Trust researches their capacity to consider environmental, social and governance issues throughout the investment process.