Empowering your Coromandel community into the future
Published on 18 February, 2026
Originally published in The Coromandel Informer, Tuesday, 17 February 2026.
Create a Legacy.
The Coromandel Future Funds are a set of charitable endowment funds held by Momentum Waikato, the community foundation covering the Peninsula, that are being supported and promoted by some forward-thinking local champions.
The intention of this visionary and sensible initiative is to enable you, your family or organisation, to create a legacy that supports and empowers the Coromandel’s communities, forever.
There are six Coromandel Future Funds, one for each of the five main population areas – Mercury Bay, Coromandel-Colville, Tairua-Pāuanui, Thames and Whangamatā – plus one for the entire Peninsula.
Sitting behind the funds is an organisational partnership between Momentum and the Thames Coromandel District Council, so they are mapped and named as per the local body wards.
A small team of locals have been enthusiastically backing this initiative, not just formulating ideas and plans, but also putting up their own money to get things kick-started.
Peter Farmer is a key person as a Mercury Bay Fund Champion. Known by many as the owner-operator of Farmer Auto Village in Tauranga, Peter had the vision to see the opportunity for endowments here when he moved to the Whitianga Waterways.
Geoff Balme was an early ally – as recently profiled in the Informer, he is also now a local Fund Champion. And Leigh Hopper has put his hand up to support and encourage others to take advantage of Momentum’s ‘smart giving’ model.
“Everything is now ready for individuals or families to support and invest in the future of the community here,” says Peter.
“I believe the Mercury Bay Future Fund will become a critical resource for enabling our community to retain and develop the services we need, such as medical and social infrastructure.
“This endowment fund will back the development of the whole area – including Matarangi, Kuotunu, Cooks Beach, Hahei.
“Soon our other Coromandel funds will become fully operational, when we have recruited at least one Fund Champion for each of Thames, Whangamatā, Tairua-Pāuanui and Coromandel-Colville,” says Peter.
“We are incredibly humbled to have people like Peter and Geoff give their free time to grow local generosity in support of the Coromandel Future Funds,” says Janice Lapwood, Momentum’s General Manager Endowments.
“There is no ‘one size fits all’ - some people may choose a gift in their Will, others may leave land, or make donations ‘with a living hand’.”
There are 18 community foundations across the country, including Momentum. Their endowment funds are set up for a variety of purposes - sometimes to back a specific charity or project, other times to support a field such as ‘education’, or any charitable activity in a particular community.
These perpetual endowments collectively form the foundation’s professionally managed investment portfolio, which by virtue of its scale, and therefore diversified risk profile, provides better returns over time, and thus greater distributions back into the communities they support.
When the six Coromandel Future Funds reach a sizeable amount, grants will be made to whatever charitable entities or projects are specified in the supporting deeds or by the donors’ wishes, with the rest being re-invested to keep the funds growing.
The Informer is excited about the Coromandel Future Funds because in telling the stories of people of our community and their concerns, we have gained a clear perspective of what people here believe is needed to sustain a quality lifestyle and sustain a thriving community that connects us at all stages of life.
And as Geoff Balme said in his recent Informer profile, in future rates and taxes will be insufficient to pay for all the services and facilities needed here.
The generosity and vision of people who choose to leave a legacy or donate now can make so much more possible. If just five percent of the locals in a comfortable financial position invest in their community through Momentum’s Coromandel Future Funds, we will see huge possibilities become a reality.
The time to make the Mercury Bay Future Fund and the other Coromandel endowments grow is now. We can all see that our communities could do with a trustworthy way to meet their own needs and aspirations, to benefit both residents and visitors, and to attract more people to live and invest here.
Many of you reading this are looking to help and improve your favourite place, so please consider a gift to a Coromandel Future Fund - your generosity will go further, forever.
You can find out more about how you can contribute to these Coromandel Future Funds, by contacting Peter via peter@farmermotorgroup.co.nz, or Geoff via gbalme@xtra.co.nz, or Momentum Waikato via info@momentumwaikato.nz or 07 834 0404.
