Empowering Coromandel and Colville into the future

Originally published by Coromandel Town Chronicle, Tuesday 1 September 2026.

The new Coromandel & Colville Future Fund provides residents and visitors with the opportunity to donate now, or give through your Will, to a locally driven funding vehicle dedicated to the top of the Peninsula.

It is one of six Coromandel ‘place based’ endowment funds established last year by Momentum Waikato Community Foundation, in partnership with Thames-Coromandel District Council and a network of committed locals.

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

As with all endowments managed by community foundations like Momentum, the Coromandel & Colville Future Fund is being built up through donations and bequests, and then its investment income.

The scale and therefore diversified risk profile of Momentum’s professionally managed investment portfolio, which is made up of dozens of such funds, provides better returns and greater distributions than a single trust or small community could achieve alone.

Once this Fund has reached a sufficient size, most of its income will go out as grants to charitable and community entities and projects in the Coromandel and Colville area, either via decisions of a committee of locals and Momentum reps, or as per donors’ specific wishes. The rest of the return will be re-invested to keep the Fund growing.

Stephen Town was Cyclone Recovery Lead at TCDC, where he saw the need for the Peninsula’s communities to have their own funding sources. He then played a central role in creating the Coromandel Future Funds, and after leaving the Council became a Momentum trustee to provide a Coromandel voice at its Board table.    

“After Cyclone Gabrielle and the other storms around that time, it became clear that for the Coromandel to thrive, everyone needed to co-operate and invest in better infrastructure,” says Stephen.

“This is where generous and forward-thinking locals and businesses can intersect with government, iwi and councils, with each playing a role in building more resilient and successful communities.

“Given the Coromandel is so close to Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga, it's inevitable that visitor numbers will grow and put pressure on our facilities and roads. Accessibility and reliability are essential, not just to cope with more visitors, but just to live our lives, whether it is getting kids to school or visiting the doctor.

“The whole Peninsula needs more public toilets, more public transport services, including ferries and mini-buses, and more locally based medical services.

“There is also a real need to fund environmental work. You may have heard about The Fund for Nature Hauraki Coromandel set up by Predator Free Hauraki Coromandel at Momentum in early 2023. It is now providing ongoing annual funding for their conservation efforts.

“With enough backing from locals, the Coromandel & Colville Future Fund will be able to quickly grow to a size where it can also start making distributions, and as a ‘place based’ fund it will be able to address potentially any local need.  

“The generosity and vision of people who choose to leave a legacy or donate now can make so much more possible. If locals in a comfortable financial position invest in their community through the Coromandel & Colville Future Fund, we will see huge possibilities become a reality,” says Stephen.

Many of you reading this want to help and improve your favourite place, so please consider a gift to the Coromandel & Colville Future Fund - your generosity will go further, forever.

Wills Month is coming up in September, a great time to find out more – please contact Stephen Town via stephen.town60@gmail.com or visit momentumwaikato.nz/coromandelcolvillefuturefund.