Continue your giving, even after you’re gone.
Leaving a gift in your will to a local community foundation, like Nikau, is a powerful, practical way to give back to our communities and a great way to ensure the causes closest to your heart continue to be supported long into the future. Once you have made provision for your loved ones, a gift in your will can be the perfect way to make a difference, without impacting on your current financial needs.
Growing generosity, forever.
Nikau understands that healthy, happy, thriving communities require long-term, sustainable support and resources. That’s why we invest and grow the gifts we receive, however big or small, to create positive change for our region today, tomorrow and long into the future.
Through our model, your gift will be invested and grown so it continues to create meaningful change for our communities. We exist in perpetuity so, even in 50, 100 or 150 years, your gift will continue to make an impact. It quite literally is the gift that keeps on giving!
How we work alongside you
We understand that giving is really personal. While some wish to provide opportunities for youth to fulfil their potential, others wish to preserve our region’s flora and fauna, foster the arts or make sure our region’s most vulnerable are supported for generations to come. When you establish a fund with Nikau, we work alongside you to understand your giving goals and to ensure that the causes closest to your heart are supported through your generosity, forever.
Here is how we will work with you:
We meet with you to discuss your future giving plans, the causes close to your heart and the impact you’d like to make in our communities.
We work with you to determine how and when you wish to give. While some choose to establish a fund in their lifetime, others choose to establish it via a bequest.
We will establish your fund, while you add a simple clause within your will to include a gift to the fund (or a memorandum of wishes for a family trust).
As a Nikau donor, we will keep you connected with bespoke events, stories from our communities and tailored communications showcasing organisations, projects and initiatives in your area of interest.
Your gift will be responsibly invested and grown to create positive change for our communities long into the future.
Once your fund balance reaches $75,000, we will make annual grants to the things you care most about.
For the next chapter of your giving, we are a safe pair of hands.
All with different visions for our communities, the below individuals have left gifts in their will to deliver transformative support to the people and places of our region for generations to come.
Futureproofed funding to support social change.
From her time facilitating in-prison public speaking programmes; first at Rimutaka and then at Arohata, Margaret Nixon is very aware of the extreme inequities that face many in our communities.
It was this knowledge along with a lack of wrap-around services to support positive reintegration that encouraged Margaret to establish the Reintegration on Leaving Prison Fund, which will be bolstered by a gift in her will.
Everlasting support for Hutt Valley High students.
When Audrey died in 2010, she left a gift in her will to establish a Trust to support Hutt Valley High School students in the Lidgett name. For many years, the Lidgett Scholarships Trust has supported students to pursue fine arts and design in their tertiary studies. In 2023, the Trustees established The Lidgett Scholarships Fund to ensure that Audrey’s vision could continue to provide these opportunities for students, forever.
An enduring gift to the city Mark helped to build.
“I made my money in Wellington, and I plan to leave it here when I go,” says Wellington property developer and committed philanthropist Sir Mark Dunajtschik. We are delighted to announce that Nikau Foundation will be the guardian of Mark’s bequest; a gift set to make a transformational difference in the lives of those living with disability.
Discover other ways to give.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to giving through Nikau Foundation. While some choose to establish an individual fund based on their interests, others choose to give as a family, leave a gift in their will or give monthly online.
Leaving a gift in your will
Many donors inquire what wording they should use in their Will to create their forever fund. We recommend the following phrase:
To transfer ( x% of the residue of my/our estate or whatever sum you wish to leave) to the Nikau Foundation (CC24793) to be paid into the “XYZ Endowment Fund” which I/we have established to be dealt with by the trustees of the Foundation in accordance with the terms of that Fund.
Connect with us
We would be delighted to discuss your giving goals or how we can support you to give in a practical, meaningful and sustainable way.
To have a chat, please get in touch by clicking below.
