Growing generosity to support our people and places, forever.
Nīkau Foundation’s story started 1991 when a group of passionate, community-oriented Wellingtonians came together to discuss how we could do philanthropy better. They had seen the success of community foundations overseas and wanted to harness the power of the collective, introduce a type of giving that made a long-term impact locally and build an asset to support the future resilience of our communities.
“I was aware that the United States was built around community foundations so I could see the enormous potential it had for New Zealand,” says founding trustee, Neil Thorsen. “To set one up in New Zealand would be a great challenge—a challenge not to be turned down.”
Fellow founding trustee, Jenny Gill ONZM (then CEO of the McKenzie Foundation) and Neil (Branch Manager of Guardian Trust) rallied the troops, forming a board comprising of forward-thinking individuals and chaired by Sir Michael Fowler. Officially launched on the 2nd December 1991, the Wellington Community Foundation (WCF) as we were then known, was born.
Like the world’s first community foundation, the Cleveland Foundation, which was founded in 1914 by Frederick Harris Goff, the Wellington Community Foundation aimed to challenge philanthropic norms, grow and futureproof local generosity and to build reliable, long-term funding streams to support the people and places of our region, forever.
How it works
The start of a powerful movement.
With Guardian Trust (now Perpetual Guardian) as corporate trustee, the Foundation acted as a grant-making partner for its first few years, ensuring that charitable legacies were giving back to local causes and helping Guardian Trust clients to give back to their communities. However, without significant operational funding and as the concept was new to New Zealanders, the trustees experienced challenges with growing the movement locally. Following a short hiatus from 1996, the trustees met again in 1999 to discuss the future.
Around the same time, Sir Stephen Tindall had also been inspired by the community foundations movement and was driven to support a ‘model’ community foundation, which would form the blueprint for others around Aotearoa New Zealand. Nīkau Foundation is very proud to be the first of a network of 18 community foundations established accross the country to provide a perpetual source of support to the communities on their doorsteps.
Through the support of The Tindall Foundation, the Wellington Community Foundation recruited its first paid staff, a milestone that allowed us to gain independence as a Foundation and establish our first ever endowment fund in 2007 – the Elma Coxon Fund, set up by Adam Coxon in honour of his late sister, to give back to a range of health, arts and conservation organisations.
A symbol of adaptability and resilience.
This new independence also provided an opportunity for reflection on our identity. Who were we? What did we stand for? What would be the name that defined our next chapter?
The answer was Nīkau. As Aotearoa New Zealand’s only native palm, the Nīkau palm is known for its resilience, adaptability, long lifespan, and ability to support the biodiversity of the surrounding ecosystem. Like the Nīkau palm, we will continue to grow tall as our world changes, our communities face new challeges and new generations grow old, offering support and nourishment to the communities on our doorstep long-term. We were proud to formally become Nīkau Foundation in 2008.
$10m of transformative community support.
Now 34-years into our story, Nīkau is the proud kaitiaki of over 100 funds that have been established and committed by individuals, families, charitable trustees and for-purpose organisations to support a range of causes, from the arts to healthcare, youth to conservation. What started as a $100,000 donation from Adam Coxon in honour of Elma has grown to total funds under management of almost $40 million. Through our model, these collective gifts will continue to be invested, grown and protected so they can continue to make an impact in our communities, forever.
“[Nīkau is] building community capability, so that the community can actually tackle the issues that wants to tackle. It's creating a powerhouse. It is a powerhouse for the community,” says former trustee, Carol Stigley
In 2025, we were also proud to achieve the milestone of giving out over $10 million in grants to our communities. This funding, which keeps vital programmes running, brings ideas to life, strengthens for-purpose mahi and delivers transformative outcomes for our communities, will continue to grow and support our communities, forever.
