Filling the gaps others don’t reach
Published on 23 May, 2025
ABOVE: Planting underway at Whangamatā, enabled with support from the Waikato Hauraki Conservation Fund. PHOTO: Roselle Gould.
From the Momentum Waikato Annual Report 2024 - see full report in PDF.
The financial challenges involved in organising volunteer conservation work led a Hamilton couple to set up a philanthropic investment fund to fill the funding gaps faced by the region’s nature groups.
Selwyn and Dianne June first established the Waikato Hauraki Conservation Fund at Momentum Waikato with a significant donation in late 2021, which was during the Covid pandemic, so they only started grantmaking and promoting it to environmental networks in late 2023.
Five conservation projects around the Waikato benefited from those first grants - Kakepuku Mountain Conservation Society for trap refills and bait; Rings Beach Wetland Group Inc for possum, mustelid and rat traps; Kaitiakitanga Charitable Trust for engaging youth on pest control and riparian planting projects; Roselle Gould for predator traps near a stream and wetland at Whangamata; and Holthuizer Farm near Walton for riparian planting.
The Junes’ intent is to provide a long-term funding source for conservation work anywhere in the wider Waikato region, that the public can support with donations.
The Fund’s grantmaking prioritises direct predator and pest control, while also offering support for other activities such as monitoring biodiversity, restoration and riparian planting, weeding, species translocations, hiring expert advice and specialised contractors, and volunteer training.
The Junes are stalwarts of the Pirongia Te Aroaro o Kahu Restoration Society (pictured above). Their experience of funding shortfalls led to their focus on filling the resource gaps faced by volunteer conservation groups.
“From what we’ve seen, it is the small things that need reliable funding. They might need to buy some bait stations, perhaps fund some attendees on a first aid course, or buy safety gear,” said Dianne.
Such practical support that attracts, enables and retains volunteers is essential, as their efforts grow the overall conservation capacity.
You can donate to the Waikato Hauraki Conservation fund at momentumwaikato.nz/waikatohaurakiconservationfund.
