The Otago Community Trust’s annual meeting last night was a subdued affair, despite a year when its investments were hit by the global financial crisis and it awarded its biggest grant – $7 million to the Forsyth Barr Stadium at the University Plaza.
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The CTO’s total capital stands at $161 this year compared to $190m last year. We are reassured that the capital reserves will be restored at some point.We are also reassured that reductions to donations in 2010 will be ‘modest’. The point is the CTO is unnecessarily and irresponsibly down $7m by gifting to the stadium. That is $7m in donations that could have gone to worthy causes, not to the stadium which is a clearly black hole for funds from any source it can find. The CTO should have told the stadium proponents to sod off and not plunder a community chest of $7m. But, of course, we know why they gifted.