2026 Wills Month Success

September’s Wills Month has once again shown what’s possible when South Canterbury’s professional advisors and the Aoraki Foundation work together. This year’s campaign continued to build on the momentum of the past few years.

Through a combination of advisor referrals and conversations at our Wills Month pop-ups in Timaru, Temuka and Geraldine, we have established, or are working through, eight new legacy fund opportunities. Each one represents a local person or family choosing to leave a lasting gift to the community they love, invested forever and distributed to South Canterbury causes year after year.

A special thank you to the South Canterbury Property Lawyers, whose ongoing support makes Wills Month possible. Throughout September, participating firms added a gift to the Aoraki Foundation to existing wills at no cost, removing one of the biggest barriers for people wanting to give back.

We’d also like to thank Serena Choie (RSM Law), Lisa Cowan (JMJ Lawyers) and Kerry Clough (ANZ Private Wealth) for referring clients to us. Thank you as well to Alice Caird (Timpany Walton) and the team at Hope & Associates Legal for working alongside us to put their clients’ gifts in place.

We’re especially grateful to the donors who generously allowed us to share their stories in our 2026 Willing Community brochure. Their stories show the changing nature of how South Cantabrians are choosing to give back, and they have inspired many others to consider doing the same.

Thank you also to MediaWorks for helping us spread the Wills Month message across the region.

Why does this matter? Gifts in wills are growing in South Canterbury, and the timing couldn’t be more important. An estimated $1.6 trillion will pass between generations in New Zealand over the coming decades, the largest transfer of wealth the country has ever seen. If even a small share of that stays local, it could transform our region’s future.

To our advisor network: we know many of your clients are already thinking about their legacy. Thank you for helping them turn that thinking into lasting impact.