Leave a legacy

A gift that keeps on giving. 

Bequests are one of the simplest ways to provide for Te Papa’s future. By including Te Papa in your will, you can associate yourself forever with this unique institution and ensure that Te Papa will enrich the lives of generations to come.

Making a gift in your will is a relatively straightforward process but you might like to consider the following steps as part of your estate planning.

Seek Legal Advice

We recommend that you seek the advice of a qualified legal professional before reaching any decisions or changing your will. The lawyer will guide you through the process and ensure all the legal requirements are met to effectively express and enforce your wishes.

Te Papa Foundation is a registered charity (CC52173) set up to manage gifts to Te Papa. 

Gift Options

A Legacy: You may consider leaving in your will a specific sum of money.

A Residual Legacy: You may want to bequest the residue of your estate once all payments have been made and legacies to family or friends have been attended to, or a percentage of those residual funds.

A Gift from a Family Trust: You may wish to instruct the trustee(s) of your family trust to facilitate a gift from the trust to be made to the Te Papa Foundation.

Gifting assets: gifts of artefacts, art and other objects are welcome and may be transferred to Te Papa subject to its Collection Acquisition Strategy.

Explain your wishes to your family and Executor

Talk to your family about your will and intended gift to avoid any confusion and help them to fulfil your wishes after you have gone. You may prefer to leave a written statement with your will stating your reasons for giving to charity and in particular to the purpose of supporting the Te Papa Foundation.

Next steps

If you’re interested in leaving a legacy gift or acting on behalf of a donor, contact our Foundation Manager directly: rebecca.galloway@tepapafoundation.org.nz. You may have questions about the Te Papa Foundation, how your gift would be used or how best to specify your wishes in your will.

Please be assured that any information you provide is held in the strictest confidence and no details of your gift will ever be made public unless you expressly give permission.

If you have already made provisions in your will, please let us know so that we can thank you for your generosity and keep you up to date with Te Papa Foundation activities.

Gifting art or artefacts

Te Papa’s collection holds many amazing taonga, artworks and objects gifted by generous donors over the last 150 years and these objects continue to be cared for by Te Papa’s staff and appreciated by millions of visitors today.

The vast collections held by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa date back to 1865 when a tiny Colonial Museum opened in Wellington – the earliest of Te Papa’s predecessors.

Find out more about donating an object to the national collection