Momentum Waikato Update - Wills Month September 2025

Nau Mai, Haere Mai!

September is Wills Month, the annual reminder to create or review your Will.

So here below is some reading and listening on how making a bequest in your Will through Momentum Waikato can make a real and sustained difference for your community and or the causes you care about...

The gift that grows beyond your lifetime

Have you considered leaving a charitable gift in your Will?

Our smarter giving model invests and protects your gift, so it grows to become an ongoing source of funding for your favourite charities and local community.

September is Wills Month, the annual national reminder to create or update your Will, so that your wishes for what will happen when you pass away are clearly and legally recorded.

Having an up-to-date Will, even when you’re fully intending to be around for a long time yet, gives you the peace of mind that comes from having planned for the people and things you care about.

It also makes it easier for your loved ones to do the right thing when the time comes. So you will naturally want to talk to your family about what you’ll put into your Will - and ideally that discussion will be about your values, as well as your valuables.

Providing for your loved ones is of course your first priority, but together you may also decide to leave a gift or gifts in your Will to the charities you care about and or the community where you’re living a great life.

That’s where we come in as your local community foundation.

A gift-in-Will, a bequest, left to Momentum Waikato is invested as an endowment, so it will keep growing and generating investment income after you are gone, providing grants to your chosen charities into the future, forever.

Read more.

A Wills Month podcast!

What is Wills Month in September all about? Why is a bequest in your Will a great way to leave a legacy for your community or favourite charity?

The answers to these questions and more await you in the Wills Month edition of the Connect with Community Waikato podcast, a 30-minute interview with our Bequest Ambassador Ken Williamson and Communications Manager Mark Servian, recorded at FreeFM last year by Holly Snape.

LISTEN TO WILLS MONTH PODCAST.

The gift in Amanda's Will reflects her life of service

Amanda is a woman who has everything she needs, and absolutely no more.

Living alone in a small home, her kitchen has just one of each size of plate, pot and pan, and her airing cupboard holds just a couple of towels and sheets.

“I am just an ordinary woman who has worked hard, and these few things are all I need.”

Amanda has always lived in a simple and generous manner, guided for over fifty years by the Franciscan principles of life, which are based on the teachings and example of St Francis of Assisi, including serving others, building community and seeking peace and justice.

She has therefore always been acutely aware that there are many people in the world who have little or nothing, or are otherwise suffering, and has dedicated her life to helping them.

“I just want to lift people up a bit,” she says, holding her thumb and forefinger a few centimeters apart to show how far, “not all the way up, just so they’re better than they’d otherwise would be, and can move forward with their lives”.

Read more of Amanda's Giving Story.

Kiwis intentionally shaping their legacies

ABOVE: Diana and Dave have started a personal endowment fund with Hawke's Bay Foundation to support dementia services, motivated by their personal experience of dementia and its effect on family.

By Eleanor Cater, Community Foundations of Aotearoa New Zealand.

It’s really hard to give well. Many people have shared this same thought with me over the years as they try to work out where it would be best to place their donations and giving intent, in order to shift the dial on the problems that they see locally.

There’s a real Kiwi drive to make a difference, we see it in our consistently high place on the World Giving Index (though that is slipping) and we hear it in countless giving stories from across the nation. From the Ashburton farmers (two brothers) who have launched local tertiary scholarships, to the Hawke’s Bay family who have started a fund supporting dementia services in honour of their wife and mum, to the Wellington mother who has discovered, through her giving journey, political activism. We see countless journeys of people who are learning how to give well into communities, who really want to make their donations count, and who are discovering something significant about themselves along the way.

Read more on Community Foundations of Aotearoa New Zealand website.

Top tips for leaving a charitable gift in your Will

By The New Zealand Law Society Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa.

Giving gifts in your will is a sensible way to ensure your legacy remains after you pass. Leaving donations or bequests this way also ensures you can fit them into your budget – these gifts are given after the debts and costs of your estate have been settled.

Endowment funds, like those offered by Community Foundations across New Zealand, ensure that the support you want to give to an organisation or purpose lasts for a long time. This means your legacy lives on in the way you want it to.

When considering leaving gifts in a will, there are some key things to remember to make sure your intent for settling your estate is clearly captured.

Read more on the Community Foundations of Aotearoa New Zealand site.