Leave a lasting legacy

LASTING LEGACIES

Kiri Randall from Legacy Funerals explains the importance of giving back.

PHOTOS SALINA GALVAN

Gifting back profits to the community is by no means a new concept, but it’s not a common one in today’s business world. Which is surprising considering how much a business gets back if they choose to go down this road. For us, it’s built into the way we run.

Legacy Funerals here in Tauranga and its sister funeral home in Cambridge are both owned by Legacy Trust, and as far as I’m aware, the only funeral homes in the country to operate as not-for-profit businesses. This means it isn’t owned by any individual or private organisation.

The charitable trust was established in 2007 after the founder, former funeral director Greg Brownless, travelled to Thailand to assist with the repatriation of the deceased lost during the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004. Greg owned a funeral business in Tauranga, Greg Brownless Funeral Homes, but after that lifechanging experience, he returned and set up Legacy Trust, vowing to make a difference in his own small part of the world.

So how does Tauranga’s local community benefit? Families who choose Legacy Funerals to farewell a loved one pay a normal fee and, after our usual operating costs are taken care of, the profits are returned to the local community. The Trust has gifted over $3.6 million since its inception directly back to local Taurangabased charities, secondary schools and clubs. Not only do our families appreciate that in choosing Legacy’s service, their actions make a real and tangible difference to our local community, but our staff really value being part of a socially minded business too. Day to day we provide a caring and compassionate service to our families and it’s nice knowing that this extends far beyond our funeral homes through gifting our profits. People can apply directly to the Trust for funding and our directors and trustees meet every month where we review applications from schools, community groups and charitable organisations and allocate our profits accordingly. We do also have some organisations that we regularly donate to. Waipuna Hospice is one local organisation that we are a principal supporter of. Close to $300,000 has been donated to assist the Hospice, helping to provide specialist palliative care for patients living with a lifelimiting illness.

Greg’s Thailand experience completely changed the way the business worked and is therefore changing lives. In turn, this way of working gives us a greater sense of purpose in our everyday working lives.