Acorn Foundation funds top $54m with latest donor gifts

A 50 per cent boost to Acorn Foundation's coffers means Bay charities will benefit from another record funding distribution. Photo / Getty

A 50 per cent boost to Acorn Foundation's coffers means Bay charities will benefit from another record funding distribution surpassing last year's $1.75 million.

The Acorn Foundation has reached another milestone with recent estate gifts propelling the funds under management to about $54m as of June 30.

Meanwhile, an emergence of new ways to donate has seen more people willing to donate to charity, with one man gifting his superannuation or locals donating their Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust rebates.

Acorn chief executive Lori Luke. Photo / Supplied

Acorn chief executive Lori Luke said the sharp increase in endowment funds this year was great news for the region.

"The benefit that these funds will provide to our area via Acorn's annual distributions is so significant and it will just continue to grow.

"We are deeply appreciative of our fantastic donors who want to see the Western Bay of Plenty thrive."

She said $54m was a milestone and a "big deal" for the foundation, with funds under management passing last year's total of $36.4m.

In 2019, the foundation made a record $1.1m funding distribution and another record of $1.75m was distributed in 2020.

While she could not say exactly how much this year's funding distributions to Bay charities would be Luke said the amount surpassed last year's $1.75m.

"That's really the important part, what we can do with the money."

The increase comes after a range of estates were donated and trusts were settled throughout the year, including a "sizeable gift" from the estate of Roy and Mary McGowan last month.

Mary and Roy McGowan. Photo / Supplied

Luke said while she did not have the final total of the estate amount gifted it was millions of dollars, with the McGowans' fund helping to provide perennial support to their chosen charities.

"CanTeen, St John Tauranga/Mount Maunganui, organisations working in youth development, unrestricted funds to support any needs in the region, and the administrative expenses of the peak body of community foundations across the country, CFNZ, were all selected by Mary."

The estate of Te Puke local Tony Woodman was also gifted to Acorn in June.

During his working life, Woodman was employed at the paper mill outside Tokoroa and had a milk run in Whakatāne.

Luke said Woodman had left an unrestricted gift that will always be used to benefit charitable organisations in the Te Puke area.

An estate by Claude and Marjory Hewlett was also gifted earlier this year to support Riding for Disabled in Tauranga, where Claude was a founding member and served as president for 25 years.

Siblings Sam and Nulma Turner moved to the Mount as young children and became entrenched in the community.

Sam spent his career as an accountant, while Nulma was a legal assistant. Their fund provides support for the Starship Foundation, with 80 per cent distributing to other local charities.

Acorn donor and community engagement manager Margot McCool said it was a "fantastic story all-round".

"These wonderfully generous people have recognised both the need in our community, as well as the value of a perpetual fund that will keep supporting their chosen causes, forever."

Several trusts have also re-settled to Acorn to provide tertiary scholarships for Year 13 students.

The Tauranga Girls' College Trust provides scholarships to TGC students for any field of study, while the Alwyn Robert Thompson Memorial Law Scholarship and the Alwyn Robert Thompson Memorial Veterinary Scholarship is each open to applicants from Tauranga Boys' College, TGC and Otumoetai College.

Luke said while generous people can leave a gift in a will through the foundation the emergence of new ways to give had allowed Acorn donors to support the community in "all sorts of ways".

That included workplace giving at Craigs Investment Partners and KPMG, corporate giving from Cooney Lees Morgan, NumberWorks'nWords, ASB Tauranga (inclusive of Bayfair/Papamoa) and others, along with Giving Circles, regular giving to Community Group funds and locals who choose to donate their Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust rebate to the Acorn Vital Impact Fund.

"The most exciting thing is that with the range of giving models Acorn now offers, individuals and businesses can choose the method they like best to support our region."

She said one generous man gives up his superannuation to the foundation.

"Although this is new to Acorn, in the last few years it has grown for us.

"It means that people who don't have a will yet might be able to give through their workplace or choose a community group fund.

"A little always goes a long way."