Coromandel communities can shape and secure their future

Originally published in The Coromandel Informer, Tuesday, 16 September 2025.

Empowering Coromandel communities to look after their own needs is the driving principle behind the Coromandel endowment funds that have been recently set up at Momentum Waikato Community Foundation.

As has been reported here in The Informer, six ‘Coromandel Future’ funds have been established by Momentum Waikato, in an initiative spearheaded by Mercury Bay identity Peter Farmer.

Five of these endowment funds cover areas based on council wards – Thames, Coromandel & Colville, Mercury Bay, Tairua & Pāuanui, and Whangamatā, while the sixth covers the entire Coromandel Peninsula.

September is Wills Month, the annual national reminder to create or update your Will, so that your wishes for what will happen when you pass away are clearly and legally recorded.

Whenever you get around to sorting it, you may therefore want to consider including a gift in your Will, a bequest, to one of these new Coromandel funds, to help ensure your town can continue to be a great place to live and visit for generations to come.

The core mechanism for philanthropic investment funds like this is fairly simple – generous people from all walks of life donate, or pledge to leave a gift in their Will, to grow the capital of the fund, and each year its resulting investment income is used to make grants to the charitable groups or projects relevant to the fund’s intent, with a portion reinvested to keep it growing.

This approach becomes ‘smarter giving’ when the fund is managed by a community foundation like Momentum Waikato, which combines all the endowment funds it holds into a multi-million-dollar investment portfolio, so that the scale and diversity of investment provide greater and more certain returns.

Community foundations have existed internationally for a century, all based around the idea that ordinary people pooling and investing their charitable donations together can collectively be philanthropic at a level previously only available to the very wealthy.

The first community foundations set up in New Zealand were Wellington’s Nikau Foundation in 1991 and Tauranga’s Acorn Foundation in 2001. There are now 18 of them across the country, with Momentum Waikato having been established in 2013.

To date, most of the funds at Momentum have been started either by individuals donating their savings and leaving bequests in their Wills, or via charitable trusts transferring across their reserves and sometimes their entire missions, most of which can be described as ‘purpose based’.

Momentum’s first ‘place based’ fund was the Cambridge Community Fund, which was created after the Cambridge Community Trust decided to fold its capital and operations into Momentum. Such funds can give out grants for any charitable purpose within their geographical area, rather than being focussed on particular charities or issues.  

Two of the Cambridge trust’s members have become their Fund’s Champions, who promote its mission and are attracting donations and bequests, while Momentum provides the investment vehicle and back-office admin and marketing support.

The plan for the Coromandel Future funds is much the same, though they have been started from scratch, without an existing trust to convert. Each will also have local volunteer Fund Champions - people passionate about their patch, and willing and able to attract support for its long-term wellbeing.

Geoff Balme has recently been recruited to join Peter Farmer as a Mercury Bay Future Fund Champion.

As a long-time resident, Geoff says Mercury Bay is an attractive place to live and play, and while it can feel a bit isolated, that can work both ways.

“Our community, knowing it is ‘out on a limb’ geographically, responds by pulling together,” says Geoff.

“We’ve used our local knowledge, skills, energy and resources to build much of what we need and have here.

“The age and economic demographics of Mercury Bay suggest that collectively we currently have the ‘ways and means’ to take care of the local community and those things that are important to it.

“There is still much to do however, and we may not always have these ‘ways and means’.

“A gift to the Mercury Bay Future Fund will ensure that our community remains resilient. It could mean better support for local elderly care, looking after our beaches and waterways, or developing new walking trails to enjoy our natural environment,” says Geoff.

The key point is that locals set the priorities for each of these funds, backed up by Momentum Waikato’s professional philanthropy support service.

To find out more about the Coromandel Future funds and how you can support them, please contact Momentum Waikato.