Aoraki Art Fund

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50 years of friendship. 50/50 for the future of art - Help us grow the new Aoraki Art Fund

The Friends of the Aigantighe turn 50 this year. We could have marked the occasion by simply looking back at what the Friends have helped achieve since 1976. Instead, we decided to put something substantial towards the future. We have committed $50,000 from Friends funds to the new Aoraki Art Fund. Now we are asking our community to help us match it. For every new dollar donated, we will add another dollar, up to $50,000. 

Our aim is to begin with:
$50,000 from our community + $50,000 from the Friends
= $100,000 is invested by the Aoraki Foundation and the fund can grow.
And the income can keep supporting visual art into the future

 

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For 50 years, Friends members and volunteers have found practical ways to support art and the Aigantighe Art Gallery. Sometimes that has meant helping with an artwork or exhibition. Sometimes it has been fundraising, conservation, education, events, advocacy or simply bringing people together around a shared interest in art. We want that support to continue. Our usual fundraising will still help us respond to projects and opportunities as they arise. The Aoraki Art Fund gives us something different: a fund that can grow and provide another source of support over the longer term. That is why we felt our 50th anniversary was the right time to begin.

What could the fund help us support?

The Aoraki Art Fund gives us the chance to support good ideas and new opportunities as they arise. That might mean helping care for an important artwork, supporting an exhibition or acquisition, encouraging education, creating an opportunity for an artist, or backing a project that helps more people connect with visual art.

Most importantly, it gives the Friends another way to keep saying yes to good ideas that support visual art in Aoraki Area (Waimate, Mackenzie, Pleasant Point, Temuka, Geraldine and Timaru), now and into the future. We hope the fund will grow over time, giving future generations of Friends the same opportunity to support art, artists and our community.

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About the Aoraki Art Fund

The Friends of the Aigantighe established the Aoraki Art Fund in partnership with the Aoraki Foundation. The Aoraki Foundation manages and invests the fund for long-term benefit. Income generated by the fund can help the Friends support projects and initiatives that encourage a love of visual art in South Canterbury, including suitable projects developed in collaboration with Aigantighe Art Gallery.

For more detailed information about how the fund works, giving options, tax credits and long-term fund management, visit the Aoraki Foundation.

 

Aoraki Art Fund Flyer Draft 1

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AORAKI ART FUND aorakifoundation.org.nz/aoraki-art

DOWNLOAD THE FLYER HERE page 1 / page 2

 

“The Aoraki Art Fund gives our community a direct role in shaping Aigantighe’s public collection. Through this collective support, we can bring significant works into the collection, inspire new ideas and creative connections, and ensure art remains accessible to the people of South Canterbury for generations to come.” – Aigantighe Art Gallery Director

‘We often get donors telling us they want to contribute to the Arts, but they are unsure how best to do this. In South Canterbury there hasn’t been an easy and obvious way to make a difference. I believe the Aoraki Art Fund will change that. It is a way people can contribute knowing that their gift will be protected and grown for the long-term benefit of art in our region.” – Richard Spackman, Chief Executive, Aoraki Foundation​​​​

Will you help us reach $100,000? You do not have to be a Friends member to take part. Perhaps Aigantighe has been part of your life for years. Perhaps you are an artist, a regular visitor, a former volunteer or someone who simply wants art to have a strong future in South Canterbury.

And you do not need to make a large donation. A $20 gift becomes $40... a $50 gift becomes $100... a $250 gift becomes $500. Every contribution moves us closer to the $50,000 we are hoping our community will raise.
+ you can upload your donation receipt to MyIRD, and if your personal donation is over $5, you can claim back 33%. So if you donate $100, you get $33 back.

aoraki Foundation 5050 donation campaign 260809

 

Your effective $66.67 contribution helps put $200 into a perpetual fund for the future of visual art in South Canterbury.

We have put our $50,000 on the table... Will you help us match it? 50 years of friendship. 50/50 for the future of art.

 

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"For 50 years, generations of Friends have given their time, ideas and generosity to support art in our community. As we celebrate this milestone, we are proud to build on what they started. By committing $50,000 to match donations from our community, we have the opportunity to begin the Aoraki Art Fund with $100,000. From there, the fund is designed to keep growing and generating support for visual art in South Canterbury. It is our way of taking the generosity of the past 50 years and carrying it forward for our children, their generation, and the generations still to come.” - Friends of the Aigantighe Art Gallery Inc Committee

 

Geoff Cloake Izzy Hillman Cara Fitzgerald Jill Harland Nicole Timney Fr Ian Hanley Katie Ashbaugh Terpstra Roselyn Fauth and Juliet Crawford

Geoff Cloake, Izzy Hillman (Kairauhī Whakaaturanga / Exhibitions Curator), Cara Fitzgerald (Gallery Director), Dr Jill Harland, Nicole Timney, Fr Ian Hanley MTh (Oxon), Katie Ashbaugh Terpstra, Roselyn Fauth, and Juliet Crawford

A BETTER SOUTH CANTERBURY FOR NOW. FOREVER.

The Aoraki Foundation is a charitable community foundation (independent, not-for-profit organisation) that ensures your gift to the community is everlasting. Your gift is invested and grown, and the ongoing income earned goes to the local causes you love. $12.3 million raised for pass-through projects and $9.9 million as of August 2026 has been invested by the Aoraki Foundation for the benefit of the community. $2.42 million has been distributed to the South Canterbury community through grants and scholarships. The generosity of donors has resulted in almost $25 million in benefits to the South Canterbury region. The Friends of the Aigantighe are excited to open the first Art Fund in the foundation's portfolio. This will build long-term, reliable funding streams for our local art communities by investing and growing the donations they receive. 

 

We wanted the Aoraki Art Fund to do more than simply hold money. We wanted it to keep working for visual art in South Canterbury, year after year. That is why we chose to establish the fund with Aoraki Foundation, South Canterbury’s community foundation.

Aoraki Foundation helps local people and organisations create long-term funds for the causes they care about. It provides the professional investment management, governance and administration needed to look after those funds over time. 

For the Friends, that makes good sense. We can concentrate on why the Aoraki Art Fund exists: supporting visual art, encouraging good ideas and helping people connect with Aigantighe Art Gallery. Aoraki Foundation takes care of the long-term management and investment of the fund.

Just as importantly, it gives us a way for the benefit of local generosity to keep working here in South Canterbury. Money earned, saved or built during one generation can continue making a difference long after the original gift has been made. Rather than doing good only once, a gift can become part of a fund designed to generate support for the years ahead.

That feels especially fitting as we celebrate 50 years of the Friends. We have benefited from the generosity and foresight of people who came before us. The Aoraki Art Fund gives our generation the chance to do the same for those who come next.

 

Imagine our first $50,000 becoming the foundation for something much bigger: invested by Aoraki Foundation, growing over time, and generating support for visual art in South Canterbury year after year. You give, and we match it up to $50,000; Aoraki Foundation invests it, and the fund has the opportunity to grow. The income can continue to support visual art in the future...

 

How Aoraki Art Fund could grow and give bar graph

Why leave $50,000 sitting in the bank when we can use it to build something much bigger? With a $50,000 community match, our starting fund becomes $100,000. From there, the difference compounds. Over 25 years, $50,000 growing at 3% becomes about $105,000. A $100,000 art fund growing at 6% becomes about $429,000. That is the opportunity behind the Aoraki Art Fund: match the gift, double the starting fund, and give it the chance to grow for the future of art. Illustrative figures only, based on assumed annual growth of 3% for bank savings and 6% for the fund.

 

Why we are proud to partner with the Aoraki Foundation?

- Rooted in Timaru, Waimate, and Mackenzie Districts: Aoraki Foundation is our local community foundation, helping local generosity grow into long-term benefit for locals.
- Experienced and professionally managed: it manages established endowment funds with professional investment expertise and financial oversight.
- Strong governance and accountability: as a registered New Zealand charity, the Foundation operates with clear governance, reporting and investment policies.
- Focused on long-term impact: funds are invested with the aim of generating income while growing their ability to support future generations.
- Our purpose remains at the heart of the fund: the Aoraki Art Fund is dedicated to supporting visual art in South Canterbury.
- A partnership that plays to our strengths: the Friends provide the purpose. Aoraki Foundation provides the stewardship.

 

AORAKI ART FUND BANNER donation widget

 

The Aoraki Art Fund has grown from 50 years of friendship, generosity and a shared belief in the value of visual art in our community. We are grateful to the many Friends members, volunteers, supporters, donors and past committee members whose time, energy and generosity have helped shape the Friends of the Aigantighe since 1976.

We also warmly acknowledge the Aoraki Foundation for working with us to establish and manage the Aoraki Art Fund, and for providing the long-term stewardship that will help the fund grow.

Our thanks also go to Aigantighe Art Gallery, its staff, artists and the wider South Canterbury community who continue to make the gallery and visual art such an important part of life here.

And most of all, thank you to everyone who chooses to support this new fund. Every gift, large or small, helps us build something that future generations of Friends can continue to use to support art, artists and good ideas in South Canterbury. Thank you for being part of our next 50 years.

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