L W Nelson Trust — Education Charity in Wellington

L W Nelson Trust is a Trust charity in the Education sector, based in Wellington, Wellington. CharityData rates this charity C+ (69/100). Annual revenue: $0.4M NZD. Financial data as at October 2025.

Mission: To provide funds in perpetuity for (1) Charitable purposes in the Northland District, primarily for persons who are aged or destitute or suffering from some serious disability either mental or physical. (2) To provide scholarships (a) LW Nelson Junior Scholarship and (b) LW Nelson Agricultural Scholarship. The LW Nelson Board of Trustees has full discretion as to the distributions, time and manner of distributions and the charitable organisations to benefit.

Registration Number
CC27296
Charity Type
Trust
Registration Date
2008-06-30
Status
Active
CharityData Rating
C+ (69/100)
Sector
Education
Location
Wellington, Wellington
Data as at
October 2025

Beneficiaries: Other - All

Financial Summary

Total Revenue
$0.4M NZD
Total Expenses
$0.5M NZD
Total Assets
$10.5M NZD
Net Assets
$10.5M NZD
Reserve Months
2.3 months of operating expenses
Financial Year End
2025-10-31

Financial History

YearRevenueExpensesNet Assets
2025$0.4M$0.5M$10.5M
2024$0.4M$0.4M$9.9M
2023$0.4M$0.3M$8.8M
2022$0.4M$0.4M$8.8M
2021$0.4M$0.3M$8.4M
2020$0.2M$0.4M$8.0M
2019$0.4M$0.3M$8.2M
2018$0.3M$0.3M$7.6M
2017$0.3M$0.3M$7.3M
2016$0.4M$0.3M$7.4M

CharityData Rating

Overall Grade
C+
Overall Score
69/100
Financial Score
75
Governance Score
55
Transparency Score
65

Board Members and Officers

Current Officers (3)

NameRoleAppointed
Elizabeth MartinTrustee2025-01-01
Vincent McCollTrustee2023-01-01
Public TrustTrustee1958-10-29

Similar Charities in Education

EducationTrust

L W Nelson Trust

CC27296Wellington, WellingtonRegistered 30 Jun 2008
Data updated: 5 days ago
Financials11mo agoRating2d ago

Financial data as at October 2025. Sourced from Charities Services register.

C+
69/100
Financial
75
Governance
55
Transparency
65

Reasons to look carefully (1)

These structural observations are drawn from public data and are worth considering before a donation. They are not allegations of wrongdoing, and they don’t affect the charity’s letter grade.

  • No chair recorded on the register
    No chair or presiding role is recorded in the register for this board of 3. The Charities Register does not require one to be identified, so this is a gap in the public record rather than a finding about the board.

Each signal is a data-driven observation, not a judgement. They fire automatically from the figures filed with Charities Services. A charity can address any of these by filing fuller disclosure or updating its officer register. Methodology: /about/methodology/concern-signals.

Revenue

$415.2K

Expenses

$464.7K

Assets

$10.5M

Financial data from Charities Services annual return (FY2025). Ratings calculated using CharityData v3.1.1 methodology.

Endowment Foundation

Special Entity Type

This is an endowment foundation that holds investments and provides grants. High reserves are expected and appropriate - this is not an operating charity.

Rating Note: Endowment foundations are rated using specialized criteria that recognize high reserves as appropriate. Metrics like grant distribution rate and investment returns are prioritized over program spending ratios.

About

Mission

To provide funds in perpetuity for (1) Charitable purposes in the Northland District, primarily for persons who are aged or destitute or suffering from some serious disability either mental or physical. (2) To provide scholarships (a) LW Nelson Junior Scholarship and (b) LW Nelson Agricultural Scholarship. The LW Nelson Board of Trustees has full discretion as to the distributions, time and manner of distributions and the charitable organisations to benefit.

Who We Serve

Beneficiaries
Other - All

Key Statistics

Annual Revenue
$415.2K
Total Expenses
$464.7K
Net Assets
$10.5M

Financial Trends

Financial Trends (17 Years)

Revenue Breakdown

Expense Breakdown

API Data

Based on annual return data. Detailed program/admin breakdown not available.

Financial Health Dashboard

Cents to the Cause
100c
For every $1 spent, 100c reaches programs
Strong
Sustainability
2.3mo
Could operate 2.3 months with zero revenue
Critical
Fundraising Cost
-
No fundraising data
No data

Based on latest annual return data. Metrics are calculated from reported financial data and may not reflect the full picture. View methodology

Revenue Diversification

50
Score /100
Concentrated
HHI: 5,006
Other51.8%
Investment Income48.2%

HHI (Herfindahl–Hirschman Index) measures concentration across 6 income categories. Lower HHI = more diversified. Score above 60 indicates healthy diversification.

Peer Comparison

Ranked against 132 peers · Education · $100K – $1M

Rating Score
69
#30/133
Revenue
$415K
#42/133
Reserve Months
2.3
#1/133
Surplus
$-50K
#118/133
Staff Cost %
0%
#1/133

Peers are charities in the same sector and revenue size band. Rankings are based on the latest available data.

Rating History

C+
2025
Score: 69.0
Financial: 75 | Governance: 55 | Transparency: 65
Current
B
2024
Score: 75.5
Financial: 80 | Governance: 65 | Transparency: 65

Rating

C+
Score: 69/100
Financial
75
Governance
55
Transparency
65
Why this grade: Financial 75 × 40% + Governance 55 × 60% = 63 → C+.
View Full Score Breakdown

Is this your charity?

Claim your profile to view analytics, submit corrections, and improve your rating.

Claim This Profile

Contact Details

Address
Wellington, Wellington

Registration

Registration NumberCC27296
Entity TypeTrust
Registered30 Jun 2008
StatusRegistered

Sector & Activities

Primary Sector
Education
Activities
Other - Acts an Umbrella body

Data sourced from Charities Services register and publicly available annual returns. Our datasets may not be complete. Automated analysis can produce errors. Scores are calculated using disclosed methodology and are analytical tools, not investment ratings or recommendations. If you believe any data on this page is incorrect, please contact us at hello@charitydata.co.nz. For informational purposes only. Not investment advice. Last updated: 28 September 2026.