Hawke's Bay Foundation

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Hawke's Bay Foundation

We are a registered charitable trust encouraging giving throughout the region to build assets and resources for future generations of our community.
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Hawke’s Bay Foundation enables generous people to make a bigger impact in their communities, by investing donations and distributing the returns to causes close to their hearts, year after year.

09/10/2026

This year, $464,337 is going to work across Hawke's Bay.

Our 2026 funding round is complete, and 76 local organisations will receive funding to carry out their mahi across the region.

From youth and health to disability support, the environment, the arts and food security, this backs the people working hardest for our communities, from Wairoa to Central Hawke's Bay.

That total includes $64,092 through our partnership with The Tindall Foundation .

Every dollar of it comes from the returns on gifts given by locals who believe in this place. The original giving stays invested, so this isn't a one-off. It happens every year, for good.

To every organisation funded this year, congratulations. We can't wait to see what you do with it.

💛 The full list of recipients can be seen here:https://hawkesbayfoundation.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2026-HBF-Community-Impact.pdf

05/10/2026

Our region's treasures now have a home. And a way to be cared for, forever.

Last week, our Executive Officer Alesha Hope joined the Hawke's Bay Museum Foundation for a breakfast at Amokura, the beautiful new home for the taonga, photographs, art and objects that tell our region's story.

We're proud to hold the Hawke's Bay Museum Community Fund. Like all our Community Funds, it's invested and grown so it becomes a lasting, sustainable source of funding, with the Museum Foundation receiving its annual distributions to care for and develop the collection long into the future.

Amokura is named for the red-tailed tropicbird, known for carrying knowledge home across vast distances. That's exactly what this fund is built to do: carry Hawke's Bay's story safely to the generations still to come.

Our history isn't just kept in storage. It's who we are, the people, the places and the moments that shaped this region.

If that matters to you, the Hawke's Bay Museum Fund is one way to help protect it, and it's growing.

💛 Learn more about the fund here: https://hawkesbayfoundation.org.nz/give/our-funds/

01/10/2026

Wills Month is officially over. The offer of a cuppa is not.

If September got you thinking about leaving a gift in your will, there is no rush. These things take a while, and they usually start with a conversation.

So get in touch whenever you are ready. Ask anything you like. No pressure, no obligation, and no need to have made up your mind first.

06 870 4648 | hawkesbayfoundation.org.nz

Live here. Give here.

29/09/2026

Recently, we were reminded of the bigger picture. And it's a good one.

Alesha and Van joined our fellow community foundations at the Community Foundations of Aotearoa NZ hui this month, and came home reminded further about why we love this mahi

In case you didn't know, Hawke's Bay Foundation is one of 18 community foundations across the motu. Same model, same belief, each one working for its own patch. Together, the numbers tell a powerful story:

💛 $130m distributed into New Zealand communities over the past 10 years
💛 $366m+ growing in managed funds, protected and invested for good
💛 2,130 grants made to local communities in the past year
💛 785+ bequests already pledged for the future

Every one of those numbers started as someone local deciding their community was worth investing in.

It's a good feeling, being part of a collective like this. Proof that when people give where they live, right across the country, Aotearoa is in good hands.

Live here. Give here.

28/09/2026

Willis Legal has looked after Hawke's Bay families for generations. They have just signed on to help us do the same.

Willis Legal has joined our Foundation Family, a special group who invest their time, resources, donations and expertise to help us build a more vibrant and prosperous Hawke's Bay for all.

By supporting the Foundation's operating expenses, they help us continue to deliver positive change across the region. It's quiet, behind-the-scenes support, and as a charitable foundation, we simply couldn't do what we do without generous people, businesses and organisations like them.

There is a nice symmetry in it. A firm that has served this region for generations, through the Willis family, backing a fund built to keep giving long after all of us. Both of us are in the business of thinking in generations.

Ngā mihi nui, Willis Legal.
🔗 hawkesbayfoundation.org.nz

24/09/2026

Shannon Bray is one of our trustees. He has also left us a gift in his will. 💛

Shannon is a landscape architect and managing partner at Wayfinder in Hastings. He and his wife came back from ten years in London for the sunshine and the w**e, and stayed. He has been a donor for years, and joined the board this year.

"The reason I'm a trustee, why we donate regularly, and why we have a bequest to Hawke's Bay Foundation are all the same. By donating to Hawke's Bay Foundation we are giving in perpetuity. And we know that Hawke's Bay Foundation is much better positioned to determine who would benefit most from our giving than we are."

Shannon believes in the kaupapa and backs it himself. That is walking the talk.

Ngā mihi, Shannon.

Live here. Give here.

21/09/2026

When completing your will, the most important question about giving might just come from your professional advisor.

Over 60% of New Zealanders give to charity each year. Far fewer leave a gift in their will, and new research suggests the reason isn't reluctance.

A CFANZ survey of more than 3,000 New Zealanders found over half were open to leaving a charitable gift. But fewer than one in five who receive professional advice are ever asked about it. The willingness is there. The conversation often isn't.

That's where professional advisors come in. Solicitors, accountants and trustees financial advisors are uniquely placed to raise the possibility, gently and without pressure, at exactly the right moment.

Kevin Callinicos, our board chair and a lawyer of 40 years, puts it in six words: "Have you ever considered a charity?"

Once a client's family is properly provided for, he simply asks. If the answer is no, the conversation ends there. If it's yes, the options get explored together.

It's a small question that could help local causes for generations, because a gift through Hawke's Bay Foundation supports the region forever.

Read the full piece here: https://hawkesbayfoundation.org.nz/the-six-word-question-every-advisor-should-ask/

18/09/2026

Alesha was on The Breeze this week talking Wills Month.

The cliffs notes version is: a gift in your will does not have to be large to matter. As Alesha put it, one or two percent of an estate can make a genuine difference to Hawke's Bay without changing what is left for family.

Gifts are pooled and invested, the capital is protected, and 4% of the returns goes out to local causes every year. The same gift keeps giving.

Thanks for having us, The Breeze.

Live here. Give here.

11/09/2026

Jules turns 65 this month. Instead of banking her pension, she's giving it away.

Jules Nowell-Usticke has been part of Hawke's Bay Foundation for more than 17 years, as a founding donor, a manager, a trustee and a board chair. Now she's found one more way to give.

Every fortnight, when her government pension lands, she transfers it straight to the Foundation.

She's clear-eyed about why she can. "As we stand right now, my family is financially stable and I won't need to rely on my pension. I would much prefer it did good elsewhere."

Originally from Zimbabwe, Jules moved to Hawke's Bay in 1995 and was welcomed here. Giving her pension, she says, is a way of paying that forward. And because it's flexible, she can pause or stop it if her circumstances ever change, a safeguard she wants anyone considering the same idea to know about.

"Maybe this will encourage other people to start donating theirs, as well."

💛 Read Jules's story here: https://hawkesbayfoundation.org.nz/a-super-idea-for-the-regions-future/

08/09/2026

More than half of New Zealanders want to leave something to a cause they care about.

BERL surveyed more than 3,000 New Zealanders for Community Foundations of Aotearoa NZ this year. 52.3% said they were interested in leaving a charitable gift in their will. 17.4% already have.

The easiest time to do it is when you are already updating your will for another reason.

Our Legacy Partners are Hawke's Bay professional advisers who can talk you through the options in that same appointment. Nexia Hawke's Bay , Craigs Investment Partners , Epplett & Co Ltd - Chartered Accountants and BWR Chartered Accountants - Hawke's Bay .

If updating your will, take a moment to consider whether you would like to leave a gift to the community you love.

Address

Hastings
4122

Telephone

+6468704648

Website

http://www.hawkesbayfoundation.org.nz/

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