The Allan Coster Educational Endowment Trust (ACEET) is a charitable trust that offers grants to Haemophilia New Zealand (HNZ) members with haemophilia and other rare bleeding disorders to help them access academic or employment-related study. Over the years, ACEET has helped many people to change their lives, providing them with the financial support for their education that they may not otherwise have been able to access.

The ACEET grants are not just for university study. The ACEET trustees will consider applications for primary, secondary, undergraduate, postgraduate, trades, or vocational training. That means, if you have a bleeding disorder, a dream, and a course that will help you to get where you want to be, then an ACEET grant could be what you need. Previous recipients have used their grant to complete courses from reading assistance to business management to graphic design.

The way ACEET operates is determined by the trust deed. This legal document establishes the terms of the trust, including who the interested parties are and the powers and obligations of the trustees. It also outlines the criteria for offering grants.

ACEET is administered by three trustees, who make decisions about how the capital is managed and how grants are distributed. ACEET Chair, Colleen McKay, is a former HNZ outreach manager with a family history of bleeding disorders. Dr Paul Ockelford is a recently retired haematologist and former director of both the Adult Haemophilia Centre and Thrombosis Unit at Auckland City Hospital. Emeritus Professor Julie Park is a social, cultural, and medical anthropologist and bleeding disorder researcher.

The trustees rely on the HNZ outreach workers to initially determine if an applicant meets the requirements of the trust deed and are undertaking current or future study programmes. They then assemble an application for a grant and assist the applicant in making a case to support their application. Trustees meet at least twice a year to assess applications and decide where to award grants.

Following their course of study, recipients are expected to feed back to the trustees about how the grant helped them towards their goals. Here's what some recent recipients had to say about their ACEET experiences:

"Studying law meant expensive books, expensive course fees and, being in Wellington, expensive coffees! ACCET couldn’t help me with the last one but it did assist me with course materials - which when you’re paying $160 for a 2 cm thick book is very handy! I was successful in obtaining a grant through the Trust to assist me but perhaps more important than the financial assistance, it felt like a vote of confidence from the trustees. They believed in the work that I was doing and wanted to support that."

"As my health conditions already make university on its own difficult for me to manage, I am understandably unable to take on any part time work while in school, so receiving the ACEET grant was a major weight off of my shoulders, as it made me able to afford the materials and supplies I need for my (fashion design) course."

If you are an HNZ member and you have an educational or employment goal, then an ACEET grant may be right for you. To find out how to apply contact your outreach worker