A mighty legacy

WILLS MONTH BLOG SERIES

In the lead up to September Wills Month we are sharing thought pieces from our network of member Foundations and supporters.

Campbell Higgins
Legacy Giving Manager
Acorn Foundation
18 August 2025

September is Wills Month. It’s the annual nudge to pull out your papers and ask, “Does my Will still fit the person I am and the place I care about?”

Back in 2001, Edna Brown, enjoying quiet retirement in Tauranga, did exactly that. Her family history set the tone: her grandfather Charles Augustus Clarke left Salisbury in the UK in 1868, settled in Tauranga four years later, and soon became a civic leader. Her father, another Charles, taught in Rotorua for 37 years and threw his energy into local sport. Edna, the youngest of ten, was born on 26 July 1913 and grew up around the Clarke family soda factory in Rotorua and Tauranga. Those roots of hard work and community helped guide the decision she made in her Will.

A life of hospitality and hard work followed. She and husband George ran the historic Tin Hut Hotel near Wellington before moving north to a small Te Puke farm and, later, Ōmokoroa and Tauranga. Friends remember her quiet determination, love of ballroom dancing and habit of sharing home-baked treats with friends.

Edna’s final wishes included a $67,000 bequest for the benefit of health-related charities around Tauranga. Two years after her death, her endowment gift became the first donor fund at Acorn Foundation. Through 2025, the fund had granted more than $83,000 to 15 charities while the capital had grown to over $100,000. It is projected to distribute more than $228,000 by 2055 with Edna’s core gift of $67,000 flourishing.

How is that possible? The Community Foundation's Smarter Giving Model invests every bequest in an endowment. Income earned each year is distributed, but the capital remains untouched, just as an acorn grows into an oak that drops fresh acorns every season.

That truth sits at the heart of Wills Month. Life changes, babies arrive, homes are bought, relationships evolve, yet many of us leave our Will untouched for years. Updating it can be as simple as phoning your lawyer and adding a line naming your local Community Foundation as a beneficiary. Whether the figure is 5% or the residual once all your direct gifts are made, your gift will be managed locally and will keep supporting our community long after today’s headlines fade.

Edna never sought the spotlight, yet her quiet generosity is now quoted in philanthropic circles from Ōhope to Ottawa, Canada. Imagine if hundreds of Western Bay of Plenty locals followed her lead this Wills Month. One line in your Will could become generations of care for our community.

Ready to act? First, review your current Will; next, add a clause for a gift to the community through your local Community Foundation; finally, tell your whānau, and let the Community Foundation know so we can honour your intentions exactly.

Updating it can be as simple as phoning your lawyer and adding a line naming your local community foundation as beneficiary. Keen to kōrero? Contact your local community foundation at https://communityfoundations.org.nz/regions

This article offers general information only; please obtain independent legal advice when drafting or updating a Will.