Wills Month – A Beginner’s Guide to Endowment Giving
September is Wills Month! A timely nudge to create or update your will. Most of us know we can leave gifts to family, friends or favourite charities, but fewer realise a bequest can be structured to support the community long after we are gone. That option is endowment giving, and it quietly powers a great deal of good across the Western Bay of Plenty.
When you create an endowment fund with the Acorn Foundation, your gift is invested rather than spent. The capital becomes part of a community nest-egg, professionally managed so it grows over time. Each year, a portion of the investment earnings is granted to local organisations, while the rest is reinvested. Your original gift stays intact, enabling grants to flow in perpetuity, one gift that keeps working for generations, whatever tomorrow brings.
You don’t need to be wealthy to take part. Many donors are teachers, tradies, small-business owners or grandparents who simply want their lifetime of effort to echo forward. A common approach is to add a clause leaving a percentage or the residue of the estate, after family provisions, to an Acorn endowment fund. Pooled alongside gifts from like-minded locals, even a modest residue gathers real strength.
Endowment funds are flexible. You can name specific charities, support a field of interest such as youth development or conservation, or leave your fund unrestricted so future community leaders can respond to needs we cannot yet imagine. Your preferences can be updated with Acorn at any time without rewriting your entire will, so your legacy can keep reflecting your values.
Choosing a community foundation adds a layer of local wisdom. Acorn’s volunteer grants committee lives and works here, so funds are directed where they will do the most good. Administration is kept low and transparent, and you can give your fund a name that carries your story forward. If you’re writing or updating your will, ask your lawyer to include the Acorn endowment clause. To make the process simple, we’ve partnered with a number of trusted local firms:
We’ve partnered with trusted local firms to make the process straightforward:
Anderson Law Office
Beach Law Papamoa
Burley Castle Hawkins Lawyers
Cooney Lees Morgan
Fenton McFadden
Holland Beckett Law
Sharp Tudhope Lawyers
The Mount Lawyers
It’s a simple step that takes only minutes, yet it ensures your whānau is provided for and your community continues to benefit from your generosity for years to come.