Canvas for Conservation
July 24th, 2026
More than 50 Project Tongariro supporters gathered at the beautiful home and gardens of Helene Phillips and Peter Jarvis for Canvas for Conservation, our inaugural charity auction and the launch of the Project Tongariro Legacy Fund. It was a wonderful afternoon celebrating conservation, community and the extraordinary landscapes that connect us, bringing together volunteers, members, supporters, sponsors, partners, elected representatives and friends of Project Tongariro.
Thanks to the incredible generosity of everyone involved, the charity auction, donations and hamper raffle raised an amazing $10,000 for the Project Tongariro Legacy Fund. The event was about more than fundraising. It was also an opportunity to look beyond the conservation work happening today and think about what we can leave for the generations that follow.
A legacy for the future
Project Tongariro itself was born from a legacy. Following the tragic loss of five people serving Tongariro National Park in 1982, their whānau, friends and colleagues chose to create something lasting. More than 40 years later, that spirit remains at the heart of our organisation.
Over those years, generations of volunteers, members, donors and supporters have contributed their time and resources to protecting and restoring the places we care about. Many have planted trees knowing they may never sit beneath their shade, but they planted them anyway, for those who would come after them.
That same thinking sits behind the Project Tongariro Legacy Fund. Conservation doesn't happen in annual funding cycles. Restoring forests and wetlands, protecting native wildlife and connecting future generations with nature are long-term commitments. The Legacy Fund has been established to build a lasting source of support for this work, giving future generations of Project Tongariro greater capacity to continue protecting and restoring the places that make our region so special.
The Fund has been created in partnership with the Geyser Community Foundation, who will manage the Project Tongariro Legacy Fund for the long term. We are very grateful for their expertise and support in helping us bring this vision to life.
Welcoming our first Legacy Circle members
Canvas for Conservation also marked the launch of the Project Tongariro Legacy Circle, recognising those who have chosen to leave a gift to Project Tongariro in their Will. We were delighted to welcome our first four founding members to the Legacy Circle and look forward to growing this special community of supporters in the years ahead.
Whether through volunteering, donating, supporting an event, or choosing to leave a gift in a Will, every contribution becomes part of a much bigger story.
Thank you
An event like this took many people to bring it together, and we are incredibly grateful to everyone who helped make Canvas for Conservation such a success.
A special thank you to Helene Phillips and Peter Jarvis for their guidance and so generously opening their home to us, and to the Geyser Community Foundation for their partnership in establishing the Legacy Fund. We are also very grateful to artist Steve Harris for donating the auction centrepiece original painting ‘Mt Ruapehu’.
Thank you also to our event supporters and contributors, including Westerman Realty, Bayleys Real Estate, with Grant generously providing his auctioneer expertise, Quality Print for sponsoring the printing of the beautiful auction brochures designed by Anna Calvert, Contact Energy, Blue Duck Station, Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, Zoe Rossal, and Murray Neilson, along with the many more volunteers, donors, sponsors and bidders who helped make the afternoon such a success.
We were also very fortunate to have Deborah Jarvis of Jarvis Photography capture the afternoon for us. Deborah and Richard Jarvis are Taupō-based photographers who are active in the local community and have generously provided their photography skills to a number of community organisations and events. Their beautiful photographs have given us a wonderful record of Canvas for Conservation and the people who made the afternoon so special.
Thank you to everyone who joined us and continues to believe in Project Tongariro and the future of conservation in our region.
