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...

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.