New Zealand United World College Trust

This project was active from 2006 to 2010. Its purpose was to explore the viability of establishing in New Zealand a United World College (UWC)

Origins and rationale

The project was started by John Hilhorst, a secondary school teacher at Queenstown. In the initial stages, Tony Baldwin assisted John as a friend in making connections and developing a business plan. However, it quickly developed into a larger undertaking involving many more people.

Among other things, a New Zealand UWC would:

• Project New Zealand as a country to future young leaders across the globe
• Forge invaluable relationships that extend and strengthen New Zealand’s connections to places of learning, trade, culture and friendship around the world, and
• Establish New Zealand as an international centre of excellence in global leadership development for young people

Key steps and achievements

The project was philanthropic; however it was established and run on a disciplined and professional basis. Key steps and achievements included:

• Establishing a robust Business Plan
• Assembling a talented board of directors and expert advisers, with Rt Hon James Bolger as patron (further details below)
• Raising $850,000 cash in sponsorship funding (further details below)
• Developing an innovative Education Framework for a new generation UWC, which was reviewed by an international panel of education experts;
• Building a detailed budget and financial model;
• Undertaking a detailed property search, which led to a gift of a 16 hectare property near to Queenstown as possible campus site, and developing a concept and cost plan for that site with Beca Group; and
• Preparing a draft proposal document for the next stage of the project;
• Receiving in-kind contributions of time and expertise to the value of around $2.8 million.

Funding details for feasibility study

The feasibility study had a budget of around $850,000. We obtained this funding from four sources:

• Major sponsors – $610,000
• Donations, grants and interest – $120,000 (approx)
• Professional services provided on a pro bono basis – $220,000, and
• Contributions of expert time from our board members and expert advisers, which were substantial.

Major cash sponsors were:

Pro bono professional services were provided by:

We recorded pro bono contributions in a report that we called the "Recognition Report".  We reasonably estimate that the project has received pro bono contributions of time and expertise having a cash-equivalent value in the order of $2.8 million.

Outputs

For each output, we strived to follow a rigorous process, and to produce a product that met high professional standards.Our performance against Business Plan targets for the Feasibility Study stage was as follows.

Specific reports prepared as inputs to our Feasibility Study included:

• Beca Group report
• Financial model
• Education Framework
• Site Study Evaluation,
• Fund raising options,
• Draft proposal documents for next stages, and
• ‘Recognition’ report.

Key conclusions

At the end of the Feasibility Study stage, we had to decide, consistent with our Business Plan, whether expected benefits were greater than expected costs, and whether risks were manageable in a cost-effective manner.Based on these criteria, the project was considered to be not viable in the medium term.The project did not proceed to the next stage.

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