Cooney Lees Morgan has a long history of community involvement. Supporting local causes close to the hearts of its clients and staff is the principal reason why, in 2016, the Cooney Lees Morgan Fund was created with the Acorn Foundation.

Accumulating donations from both the partners and staff through fundraisers and events, the fund now holds more than $77,000 and in 2022, distributions were made to seven charities around the Tauranga area.

Consulting with CLM staff to discuss the recipients of these donations has been a valuable process, involving them in the decision-making whilst highlighting the benefits of the Acorn model. The Acorn Foundation has worked extremely successfully for this fund to achieve the objectives the firm desired, as well as being cost-effective and well managed.

Longer term, the fund is a good way for partners and staff to make bequests themselves. All contributors are welcome, no matter how big or small their commitment. The firm is really excited to agree on and distribute these funds to its chosen recipient(s) and would highly recommend any individual or business  – who wished to achieve a similar objective – work with the Acorn Foundation and their trustees and follow CLM's lead.

It’s great to see the firm’s hard work and its staff’s dedication ultimately benefit our community - and long may it continue.

Craigs Investment Partners has 19 offices in regions throughout New Zealand, and has been a long-time supporter of communities across the country.  In 2019 we were thrilled to launch a partnership between Craigs IP and Community Foundations of New Zealand.

As a result of this partnership, every Christmas since 2019, Craigs has gifted over $150,000 to those in greatest need via community foundations throughout New Zealand.  And this is just the beginning of an ongoing unique and strategic partnership -  read more here.

KPMG New Zealand are working together to inspire confidence and empower change that has a positive and lasting impact on our communities. Fuelling the prosperity of New Zealand – improving the health, wealth and wellbeing for all New Zealanders – is a common purpose that is fundamental to who they are and what they stand for as an organisation.

A commitment to our communities is at the heart of KPMG’s values and culture, and central to their purpose. 

In 2019, KPMG Tauranga established a corporate fund with the Acorn Foundation. The fund will be added to on an annual basis and in addition, they invited employees to contribute through workplace giving - where staff can nominate an amount to contribute each month, and the tax rebate is applied from their payroll so staff don’t need to keep receipts or apply for tax refunds each year. Donations are matched by KPMG up to an agreed level. 

A Giving Committee was established to work together with Acorn to choose recipients of the KPMG distributions. In their most recent distribution in 2023, the committee decided to donate just under $5,000 to two local Tauranga charities.   

KPMG Tauranga’s Office Managing Partner, Glenn Keaney, says, “Personally I have had a long association with Acorn, serving as a Trustee from 2011 to 2019, with four years as Chair. I understand first-hand how much good Acorn is contributing to the community, so when the opportunity arose to be an early adopter of Acorn’s Workplace Giving programme, we signed up. The benefit is that over time we can help make a real difference to our community and the youth involved in these initiatives, which, in the longer term, supports our purpose of fuelling New Zealand’s prosperity.  The programme also helps us create a culture of philanthropy and adds to the team spirit in our Tauranga office. We hope that as the programme continues, more of our team will see the value it brings and join in.”

NumberWorks’nWords Tauranga set up a corporate fund in mid-2019 in an effort to partner with Acorn in their efforts to reduce inequity in Tauranga.

For over 20 years, NumberWorks’nWords tuition centre has been helping students in Tauranga get ahead in Maths and English, improving educational outcomes and, therefore, long-term opportunities for their students. They currently have over 300 students attending weekly at their busy centre on Eleventh Avenue.

However, local franchise owner, Leanne Rhodes-Robinson, is aware that this option is not available to all, as the cost of providing this individualised service is out of the reach of many Tauranga families.

“We have parents who can comfortably fit tuition into their budget, and others who make many sacrifices to afford the weekly payments for their children’s after-school lessons, giving up spending on other things to provide for their children’s future.  But we know, we see only these two types of families through our doors, and out in the Tauranga community are those struggling to afford even the most basic of needs – housing, clothing and food.  Our involvement with Acorn we see as channelling back some of the profit we make from successfully providing an excellent tuition service, to community organisations making a difference to those families who won’t come through our doors."

NumberWorks’nWords tries to be community-minded through providing free term tuition vouchers to schools to use in fund-raising or for disadvantaged students, sponsoring PTA and school events, various children’s special needs projects/events, sponsoring the recent Parenting Show at Baycourt, and their long-standing involvement in providing free tuition to the ‘Homes of Hope’ children who want to attend (for over 10 years). 

In 2019, NumberWorks’nWords started a fund through Acorn as a way of giving to communities and families they are perhaps out of touch with, and, through Acorn’s proven record of investment, in the long-run, making their giving go a lot further. 

“We plan to have 25% of our donation to be passed on to the community annually, to organisations making a difference to disadvantaged Bay of Plenty children, and 75% used to build an Endowment Fund for giving the returns to these organisations in perpetuity.  I love the fact that Acorn has some of the most skilled people in Tauranga working to invest those funds wisely to generate long-term returns, and invest those returns wisely in proven community organisations that provide accountability to Acorn for the money received,” says Leanne.

“I have long admired the work of Acorn, and have loosely kept informed of their work in the community.  It is exciting to now become involved, putting our money in their direction instead of just our admiration.”

The Munro and Church Families’ partnership began Althorp Village in 1999 with a view to creating a vertically integrated environment for those entering their "third age" in life. With the Geriatric Hospital and Lifestyle Village fully established in 2020, the Directors were able to fulfil their goal of giving back to those less fortunate in our community.

Identifying and prioritising worthy recipients proved challenging, so an introductory meeting with Acorn was arranged. A short and professional presentation by Acorn Foundation convinced them that Acorn was the organisation that would meet their needs and in 2020 they set up a corporate fund.

The Directors say that their Acorn fund is an opportunity to serve the community long into the future and is hugely rewarding to all involved in Althorp, including staff and residents.

In 2022, to celebrate 30 years in operation, Farmer Autovillage decided to give back to the local community via the Farmer Autovillage 30th Year Celebration Grants. The grants aimed to drive positive changes in our community that will benefit as many people as possible – in the present and for future generations.

As part of this programme, Farmer Autovillage partnered with the Acorn Foundation to award nine $3,000 scholarships to local students heading off to tertiary study. 

Mike Farmer, Group Managing Director of Farmer Autovillage, said, "This is our way of saying thank you to the Bay of Plenty for all the support this city has shown our business across the last 30 years. Continuing support for the Bay of Plenty community is our responsibility and our future.”

Read more here.

Since 2020, the local teams at ASB Bank Tauranga and the Mount have supported the community by donating each year via the Acorn Foundation.

With the help of the Acorn team, in 2023, local ASB teams decided to donate to three deserving recipients: Tauranga Community Foodbank, Tauranga Women’s Refuge, and Grief Support Services. Read more here.

As part of their commitment to the community, in 2021 Oriens Capital established a corporate fund with Acorn. Every six months the full Oriens team meet and, based on advice from the Acorn Foundation, donate to an organisation which Acorn has identified as being able to benefit from our support. Oriens feel that Acorn is well connected and with their guidance can help the Oriens team to make a difference.

In 2021, Ryan+Alexander partnered with the Acorn Foundation to launch a suite of scholarships for five Tauranga local school leavers, to mark five years in business.

Co-director of the local recruitment firm, Bernadette Ryan-Hopkins, said, "This is our way of saying thank you to Tauranga for all the support this city has shown our business across our first five years. We’re so excited to be able to help some local school-leavers achieve their tertiary education goals."

Read more here.

As a provincial based agency, Metro Marketing punches above its weight in terms of its client base, which is largely due to its progressive, inclusive and socially responsible approach to business. Metro Marketing has always been a values based team and sought to give back to our communities through pro bono services, financial support and through governance roles.

Metro believes if you do good work in your community, that good will come back to you. They set up their Acorn fund in 2018, and feel privileged to work with many local and national organisations that do amazing things in our community and make a real difference to many people's lives.