Launched mid-June 2024 in Te Anau, the Fiordland Endowment Fund has received its first contribution to get it off the ground. Local Te Anau couple Neil & Jocelyn Hodges have been working with the Southland Foundation and are excited to help kick-start what will become a locally managed fund that helps lay the foundation for a resilient and thriving region.
The Fiordland Funds' establishment will occur through ongoing donations and bequeaths, which are invested and grown, and the ongoing income earned is distributed to local Fiordland causes important to our community. The funds will remain with this community forever, growing over the years from investment returns and ongoing donations. This will become a contestable fund that local Fiordland charitable organisations can apply too.
The Fiordland Fund is the first sub-regional fund for the Southland Foundation. Southland Foundation Development Manager Rachel Cockburn said members of the Fiordland Community spoken too during the initial stages of the investigation were 100% supportive of a local fund that is locally distributed to benefit local causes. “It is very exciting to have Neil and Jocelyn kick starting this so soon after we launched the Foundation here in Te Anau. The support for the Southland Foundation has been so positive”.
Neil & Jocelyn (pictured above) have been long time locals, having spent 48 years in business first operating a furniture manufacturing business then graduating into hardware retail with the Mitre 10 group. They feel strongly about giving back to the community who were so supportive during their business years and felt that contributing to the Fiordland Fund was a good way for them to support the community in perpetuity. “We enjoy being a part of the Fiordland community and feel that if we can get the Fiordland arm of the Southland Foundation up and running it will be of huge benefit to the community”.
