JBS Dudding Trust

JBS Dudding Portrait

The JBS Dudding Trust was established to benefit charitable organisations within New Zealand. The JBS Dudding Trust is open for applications annually during the months of May and June. The John Beresford Swan Dudding Trust is a registered charity under the Charities Act 2005, Registration No. CC27320.

Annual grants

This year's grants have now closed and will re-open on 1 May 2026.
Applicants can expect to be notified of the outcome by 12 December 2025. (Please note that this date is subject to change. Any updates will be sent to the email address provided in your application.) Notifications will be automatically generated via Smarty Grants, so we recommend ensuring your access and contact details are always up to date on the Smarty Grants portal.

All applications are carefully considered on their individual merits. Funding decisions are made in line with the Trust’s limited budget, and unfortunately, not all applicants will receive funding. As Trustee, Public Trust makes recommendations to the Advisory Board at the Annual Board Meeting. Please note that the Public Trust decision in approving applications is final. We are unable to enter into further correspondence with unsuccessful applicants, including providing feedback or reconsidering applications.

Funding Eligibility Criteria

In order to be eligible to apply applicants must be:

  • An organisation (registered with Charities Services or an incorporated society) or a school, and

  • Based in or supporting people within the Rangitikei District.

Individuals, sports organisations and service clubs are not eligible to apply to the Trust.

The Trust does not fund overseas projects.

JBS Dudding Funding Area

Funding area

The Trust has a funding area (as defined by the Rangitikei District Council) which can be viewed on the attached map.

View Full Map

Terms and Conditions

  • Only one application per organisation will be accepted in the annual grant round.

  • Applications for funding are considered by the Trustee and John Beresford Swan Dudding Advisory Board.

  • The Trustee’s decision is final.

  • Decisions regarding grants are made on the basis of information provided in the application forms, supporting material and other enquiries.

  • Grants may be approved subject to certain conditions. In such circumstances the funds will normally be held by Public Trust until the conditions have been met.

  • All successful applicants must record the grant in their accounts as “Public Trust – The JBS Dudding Trust".

  • Successful grant applicants will be required to provide the Trust with information for accountability purposes.

  • Allocation of funding is made with adherence to the limited budget that the Trust has available. The Public Trust, as Trustee makes recommendations, and the Advisory Board Members provide advice which applications to approve at the Annual Board Meeting. The Trustee’s decision is final, and no further communications will be entertained with unsuccessful applicants, which includes providing them with the reason why they have been unsuccessful, justifying or reconsidering an application.

History

The JBS Dudding Trust was established in 1963 by local farmer and investor John Beresford Swan Dudding and has been managed by Public Trust since its inception.

John Dudding spent his early years in Marton. At the outset of World War I Mr Dudding enlisted with the NZ Army and went on to serve in the Gallipoli campaign. On his return to New Zealand, wounded and facing rehabilitation, Mr Dudding began farming on one of the small units of the Greystoke Farm Settlement in Tutaenui, near Marton. For 50 years Mr Dudding tenaciously, and with considerable success, maintained and improved that property.

John Dudding married Lorna Marshall, a granddaughter of Major John Marshall of Tutu Totara, Marton. They had no children of their own. It was said that much of John's success and subsequent legacy to the Rangitikei community was helped by the self-sacrificing support of his wife.

In the last 20 years of Mr Dudding's life, while continuing to farm Greystoke, he started investing in the New Zealand stock market. During this time Mr Dudding became one of the largest shareholders in some major companies that were then listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange.

John Dudding died in 1969 aged 74, six years after establishing the JBS Dudding Trust. Having farmed for most of his life, Mr Dudding was aware of the financial challenges caused by fluctuating farm prices. As a result, Mr Dudding knew the hardships that can be experienced by people living in rural areas, as well as the impacts felt in the wider community. Mr Dudding believed that in establishing a charitable trust, with the award of grants to deserving organisations, this would help cushion the Rangitikei people from the vagaries of the economy in rural New Zealand.

In 2023 the JBS Dudding Trust posthumously won the Mayor’s Recognition Award at the inaugural Rangitikei District Council Community Volunteer Awards. The awards recognised the people who have gone above and beyond for the Rangitikei district, the volunteers in the community who had contributed significantly to community service, welfare, sport and recreation, culture, arts and education sectors. The late Mr Dudding won the Mayor’s Recognition Award for significant contributions made to the Rangitikei community by an individual citizen or organisation. As Trustee, Public Trust accepted the award on behalf of the trust which is retained that the Rangitikei District Council to be kept in public view as recognition of the legacy that the late Mr Dudding left the Rangitikei region.

View certificate here.

More Information

If you have any questions please contact Public Trust Charities via email at [email protected] or phone 0800 371 471.

JBS Dudding Logo with portrait

Previous Grants