Keystone Trust was built on the legacy of Graeme Bringans, a kiwi property developer who was a strong advocate of promoting opportunities for young people to enter the property industry – particularly those whose family, financial or other circumstances were such that their paths might be blocked.

Graeme’s dream was to establish a trust dedicated to helping such young people find their way into the industry. Unfortunately, Graeme died suddenly on 5 February 1994 at the age of 48. In his honour, his widow Binty, and a group of close friends and colleagues formed the Graeme Bringans Property Education Trust. The founding trustees were Binty Bringans, John Bayley, Paul Duffy, Mike Higgins, Mike Hutcheson, Deborah Kelland, Bruce Sanderson, Gregory Shanahan and John Whitehead. Together they raised the seed capital and put in place the structures which allowed the Trust to offer scholarships to students in a wide range of disciplines. Binty is still involved with the trust today.

As we developed and expanded our activities, it became appropriate for us to be renamed, and in November 2003 the name “Keystone New Zealand Property Education Trust” was adopted. This name symbolises our position as the essential keystone linking our sponsors, students, and other stakeholders.