NEW ZEALAND: Why she's giving her millions away

. WELLINGTON, New Zealand / Sunday Star Times / News / August 16, 2009 NZ'S $37M Lotto winners tell us their plans By Tony Wall, Sunday Star Times THE MASTERTON pensioner who won a quarter share of New Zealand's biggest-ever lottery prize is set to become one of the country's most generous philanthropists by giving away most of her $9 million winnings. The 72-year-old, who wants to be identified only as Margaret, won the Lotto Big Wednesday jackpot prize of $36.9m in June, along with her two daughters and granddaughter. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Star-Times, Margaret revealed plans for her share of the winnings, which will benefit some of New Zealand's best-known charities for years to come. "I've had a lot out of life; it's time to give something back. I don't need it [the money] at my age. Instead of putting it in a bucket with a bottomless hole, I can afford to give a lot more now," she said. Margaret said that apart from intending to redecorate her former state home and get new carpets and curtains, she has no big plans for luxuries for herself. She has splashed out a little, though, on her cat Blackie, who now turns his nose up at tinned food after being spoiled by a post-win diet of kidneys, steak, liver and lamb's heart. Her daughter Fiona, 41, who also won $9m, said Margaret's charitable plans "will be mum's legacy. We will set up a charitable trust, so it will keep rolling on and on, year after year, so that well after mum has gone, we will give to charities of mum's choice". Margaret added: "I'll keep enough to live on, and each year four organisations will get money, and then the next year another four. It will be medical like Starship hospital, Westpac [rescue helicopter], Ronald McDonald [for cancer kids], diabetes, the burns unit. "As a child I was burnt with boiling fat. I've got big scars on my scalp and on my arm, I had no hair for a long time. I got called baldy, freaky, and it really hurts. I just don't want other children to have to suffer through the lack of money to pay a specialist to patch them up." Margaret said the trust would probably be called the Shamrock Trust, in honour of her late husband John, an Irishman from County Longford. In addition to that trust, she and Fiona, a nurse and ambulance officer, plan to make a substantial donation to the Wairarapa DHB for a new ambulance (she and John used the ambulance service several times), and for new equipment and training for nurses. "When we won we looked into the ambulance and thought, we can really make this work for the whole community," Fiona said. "Though mum will be giving to a whole lot of other charities, and I will be down the track, I wanted to give something to the community, that was my way of contributing." Margaret's other daughter, Siobhan, has her own charity plans for her $9m share. Margaret and Fiona said they had received "begging letters" from individuals asking for money, but they wanted to donate through charitable trusts and to registered charities to avoid crippling tax burdens. Margaret said she was concerned some charities spent too much on administration. She and Fiona were shocked by news that the KidsCan charity, which benefited from this year's Telethon, gave less than 20% of the money it raised last year to disadvantaged children most of the money chewed up by fundraising and administration costs. "I'll be putting stipulations, and I hope it will go to the sick, and not administration, but then how do we know that's what they'll do? You've got no proof that's what they'll do, it is a worry." She believed all charity work should be voluntary, and advertising given freely. Big business and government should take care of administration fees. Fiona said: "I'll be keeping a very close eye on it." Fundraising Institute of New Zealand's chief executive James Austin said Margaret's gesture was "wonderful, generous". "For someone to come out of the blue and decide to give most of it to charity is fantastic." Charities were running on less money due to major funders such as the ASB Community Trust losing tens of millions of dollars in failed investments, and bad publicity about some charities spending most of their income on administration. "We know of many charities that are cutting back, laying off staff, and cutting back services." [rc] © 2009 Fairfax New Zealand Limited