An endowment fund for Cambridge and by Cambridge was launched yesterday by two semi-retired businessmen who say they set it up because they want the town to benefit financially year after year from it.
Cambridge News 17 October 2024
Pharmacist Kevin Burgess and insurance broker David Cooney have already helped to raise thousands of dollars for community facilities like the Community House and other charitable organisations but say the endowment fund will run as a different model.
“It’s give back time for us,” said Burgess as both he and Cooney had done well financially in Cambridge.
“Philanthropy at its core is about compassion – the act of seeing a need and responding with meaningful support,” said Burgess who announced at a function in Te Awa Lifecare yesterday that 3M developers Mitch Plaw, Mike and Matt Smith had kicked the fund off with a gift of an unencumbered section of land in Bridleways Estate.
Cooney said he had no doubt “tradies would get onboard” and help build a house on the section for nothing and the money from its sale would go into the endowment fund.
The Cambridge Community Fund will be managed by Momentum Waikato, an independent community foundation that enables generous people to grow their donations. It already manages investments for 25 other Waikato trusts including Maungatautari Sanctuary Nest Egg Fund, McKenzie Centre, Te Awamutu College Foundation, Waikato Community Rugby and Waikato Sick Babies Trust.
At the launch last night of the Cambridge Endowment Fund were, from left: David Christiansen, Neil Richardson (Momentum CEO and chair), David Cooney, Kevin Burgess, Simon Wickham (former Momentum CEO), Waipa mayor Susan O’Regan. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Cooney said he and Burgess hatched up the idea following a series of successful fundraisers for the Rotary Trust and their recent semi-retirement from business.
“The intention all along has been to build a meaningful fund to be able to support the Cambridge community,” he said.
“If you go back in time, the vision for what we’re doing now started way back with Jack Shannon and Ron Osmond and those days when some of the older names in Cambridge were looking to do things.
“We’ve got the motivation now and we’ve got the model that will make it happen,” he said.
To make a meaningful difference in Cambridge, the fund needs multi millions.
“I’ve had a passion for this for a long, long time but it’s been hampered,” said Cooney.
“We’ve tried with the original Rotary Trust which has morphed into the Cambridge Community Charitable Trust – you take two steps forward and two steps back. It’s going like that all the time. The need is there you get some money in, and you immediately give it out, so your capital base is not growing.”
Burgess said the fund would be unashamedly for Cambridge, not Waipā.
Ball girl Mia Balzer catches the ball while the action goes on behind her in last year’s Hautapu v Marist grand final. Kevin Burgess wants some of his money to go to Hautapu Sports Club.
Money could be ring-fenced within the fund. For example, Burgess would want some of his money to go to the Hautapu Sports Club and be used for years to come.
“We can customise anyone’s legacy.
“What I’m trying to project to the people of Cambridge, this is going to last a hundred years. We couldn’t do it ourselves; it was impossible.
“David and I have shared the same passion to give back to the (Cambridge) community and it is through philanthropic giving.
“It is more than a simple act of generosity, philanthropy is a powerful tool to uplift, empower and enrich our communities in ways that extend beyond our lifetimes,” said Burgess.
Cambridge, for all its outwardly vibrant, successful and middle class look, had the same social issues other towns faced.
The Salvation Army reports there are at least 30 people sleeping rough in the town and there are high levels of domestic violence.
“We also know from the Cambridge Community House we need more drug, alcohol, budget and mental health counsellors along with affordable and social housing and access to primary care,” said Burgess who said the fund would also look at affordable housing and homelessness.
Susan O’Regan
He had also met Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan and chief executive Steph O’Sullivan to discuss the fund and acknowledged the council’s commitment to providing pensioner housing which the fund would also support.
“David and I are not the decision makers, our job is to establish the thing,” said Burgess.
They chose Momentum – with help from Bill Holland of Tauranga’s Acorn Foundation and The Warehouse founder and philanthropist Stephen Tindall – for its experienced philanthropic governance, intellectual property, back office support, best practice investment principles, collegial support and the lowest possible fee structure.
“Cambridge could not do it on its own,” said Burgess. “But what we don’t want is to be overwhelmed by Momentum Waikato and so it is the Cambridge Community Fund in collaboration with them.”
Momentum Waikato is one of 19 community trusts operating in New Zealand.
Bridging the gap: Kevin Burgess, left, and David Cooney standing on Victoria “High Level” bridge, in a statement of Cambridge coming together. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
