Avie told them why she was lucky to be alive, saved by revolutionary cellular therapy available in the US but not available to New Zealand children.
Three years ago, the teenager was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia while her American family were based in New Zealand. As her mother, Jenn, puts it: “One day we were hiking, the next we were in Starship.”
Fourteen-year-old Avie Skye Bensch asking guests to help fund the cellular therapy that saved her life. Photo / Alisha Lovrich
After five weeks of gruelling treatment, the family headed back to the US where Avie Skye underwent more chemotherapy and a stem-cell donation from her older brother, Haydn. But it was advanced cell and gene therapy that eventually saved her life.
The Bensch family, who donated more than $1m to kickstart a cellular therapy programme for children, returned to New Zealand to ask guests to dig deep to boost the fund.
The Bensch family, from left, Hadyn and Avie Skye with their parents, Jenn and Freddy Bensch, at last month’s Star Gala. Photo / Alisha Lovrich
And dig deep they did. Graeme and Robyn Hart, and Gretchen and Duncan Hawkesby, spent the night topping up anything on the foundation’s wish list that didn’t reach its target, donating nearly $1million.
Graeme and Robyn Hart, and Gretchen and Duncan Hawkesby, at the Starship Foundation’s Star Gala at the Auckland Town Hall last month. Photo / Alisha Lovrich
Zuru’s Nick Mowbray and Jaimee Lupton couldn’t attend but bought a $15,000 table for colleagues and pre-pledged $240,000 for one of the “auction” items, the cryopreservation programme enabling children with cancer to have ovarian or testicular tissue removed before chemotherapy to give them a chance for a family later in life.
Those attending that night read like a mini rich list: Sir Brendan and Lady Jo Lindsay, Taika Waititi, Ross and Josephine Green, Sharon Hunter and Tenby Powell, John Darby and Sally Ridge, Ross and Dallas Prendergrast, Fiona and Peter Thompson, and Dame Helen Winkelmann.
Actors and filmmakers Taika Waititi and Cliff Curtis at the Star Gala last month. Photo / Alisha Lovrich
From cake stalls to black-tie functions
It is an example of how philanthropy is changing. The cake stalls, sausage sizzles and quiz nights are still the mainstays of fundraising at a community level. But at the top, philanthropy is well-organised, targeted and accountable.
The big givers don’t particularly need to go home having won a weekend away on Waiheke. Instead, they’re happy to bid on the charity’s wish list.
Gretchen Hawkesby says near the end of 12 years spent fundraising for Starship, people would bid for a bed in the hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) rather than a prize for themselves.
The same applied at Auckland Grammar School, where her three sons attended. Guests would enthusiastically bid for a bunch of life jackets for the rowing team rather than a spa treatment.
The personal connection
Robyn Scott, acting chief executive for Philanthropy New Zealand, says philanthropy is increasingly seen as more than just a financial transaction. Donors give to causes that have “touched their head and their heart”.
Mowbray and Lupton are an example of that. They’re constantly approached for donations and support more than 150 Givealittle fundraisers a year.
But after Lupton faced difficulty conceiving and then lost a baby daughter at 24 weeks, they’ve pledged $20m over the next five years to fund Gingernut’s Angels, which gives grants for IVF fertility treatment to Kiwis struggling to conceive. Nearly $2m in grants has already been distributed, resulting in live births and pregnancies.
Zuru’s Jaimee Lupton and Nick Mowbray have pledged $10m to fund IVF rounds for people trying to conceive.
Lupton says the mother of the first Gingernut baby, Billie, born last year, sent a video of her daughter’s first steps.
“Being able to have those real-life touch points with these families that we have had the honour of helping is, I mean, there’s nothing greater than that.”
Mowbray, who has battled Crohn’s disease for 15 years, throws his financial support behind Crohn’s and Colitis NZ with the ultimate goal of finding a cure.
Money well spent
Those who have money, plenty of it, want to know exactly how their donated funds will be spent. Their view is that although most charities have well-meaning intentions, not all of them are well run and they don’t want their money wasted.
Top-level philanthropists employ staff who not only scrutinise requests from charities but make sure the organisation is running efficiently and offer professional help if it is not.
Billionaire businessman Hart is low-key about the family’s philanthropy. News of lump-sum donations appears here and there: $10m to the University of Otago to establish a dental teaching and treatment facility in South Auckland; $6.5m to upgrade Starship’s PICU; and massive aid relief, after an eruption-driven tsunami smashed into Tonga in 2022, in the form of 30 fishing boats, eight tractors and containers of food.
But in fact the philanthropy is ongoing. The Hart family employ two people fulltime to help decide which charities, appeals and organisations get what. Hawkesby says they do a “truckload” of due diligence on each of the charities, give feedback and advice, and report back to the family.
“Then as a family we make a decision.”
Those decisions tend to be in areas of children’s health, poverty, education, mental health and immediate needs – like buying food for families at Christmas time.
Kiwis donated $3.8 billion
New Zealanders are known to be generous by nature in terms of supporting charities and crowdfunding pages, and volunteering.
Last year, Kiwis donated an estimated $3.8 billion to philanthropic causes. And they responded generously to individual pleas for help, donating $31.6m to Givealittle.
Kiwis also dig deep when disaster strikes, donating $8.3m to a Givealittle page for disaster relief after Cyclone Gabrielle. Before that, they donated $92m to the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust in 2011 and, after the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019, donated more than $21m.
But times, and available cash, are tougher now with everyday donors faced with a cost-of-living squeeze, high fuel prices and 29,200 registered charities competing for desperately needed philanthropic dollars.
John Green, who now chairs the Hugh Green Foundation, a multimillion-dollar legacy left by his father, thinks some wealthy New Zealanders could and should do more to help those less fortunate.
John Green, chairman of the Hugh Green Foundation, a legacy left by his father.
“They’re entitled to do what they want with it (money) but the way the world and New Zealand’s going, relying on governments to get people out of trouble is not going to happen, is it?”
But he also thinks New Zealanders, by their nature, aren’t skilled at asking for help or money. He thinks if wealthy people are approached the right way, they will invariably help.
Green is a member of the exclusive golf club, Tara Iti at Mangawhai, and admits that, before joining, he was expecting members to be out of touch and unaware of the need around them.
“But they actually do (understand).”
He shoulder-tapped members and others to donate to a cause this year and found no shortage of those prepared to help.
Scott says that Inland Revenue (IRD) could do more to encourage donations by making the claiming of the 33% tax credit easier. She and others in the charity sector are dismayed that the Government has capped tax credit donations to $100,000 a year, meaning a maximum of $33,333 can be claimed.
Robyn Scott, acting chief executive of Philanthropy New Zealand.
She and others in the sector want to simplify the system after research by Community Foundations of Aotearoa showed that less than half of Kiwis claim the credit, largely because they say the reclaim process is too hard.
What will happen to the Baby Boomer wealth?
Millennials and Gen Z are expected to benefit from $1.2 trillion in wealth from Baby Boomer parents in the next two decades, some of which will be left in “willanthropy” to charities and research.
Last year, 17 philanthropists left large amounts of money to the University of Auckland in their wills. In total, the university received $51.5m from 2788 donors, $28.2m of which went to medical research.
But younger generations, inheriting millions from their Boomer parents, may not have the same benevolent attitude towards philanthropy and, if they do, might want to support different causes from their parents.
New Yorker columnist Evan Osnos, author of The Haves and the Have-Yachts, studies the uber-rich and says there’s increasing evidence that the new generation of wealth, particularly in areas like Silicon Valley, do not have the same view of philanthropy.
New Yorker columnist and author of The Haves and the Have-Yachts, Evan Osnos. Photo / Pete Marovich
“They are much more suspicious of charitable obligations that have, in their minds, a liberal bent.”
That sense of old-style “noblesse oblige” has diminished, he says.
Osnos uses Tesla and SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk as an example. Musk tops the Forbes 2026 Billionaires List, with a worth of $1.4 trillion, but doesn’t feature in the Forbes list of America’s 25 biggest givers. Instead, he considers Tesla qualifies as philanthropy because it helps to contain climate change.
“These guys at the very top have a hugely influential effect because younger tycoons who are coming up, they watch what the biggest players in the field are doing and they’ve taken the cue very clearly that philanthropy is not as important as it was to a previous generation of tycoons like Warren Buffett.”
Giving while living
Hawkesby says increasingly philanthropists embrace the “giving while living” concept, rather than leaving lump-sum donations in their wills after they die.
An astonishing example of this is MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has so far given away more than $44 million of her fortune since 2019, including $12.3m donated last year.¶
MacKenzie Scott is intent on giving away her fortune in her lifetime. Photo / AP
Kiwi philanthropists Neal and Annette Plowman have a similar view, setting up the Next Foundation and investing millions of dollars into the restoration and conservation of vast tracts of New Zealand bush and coastline.
Next chief executive Andrew Grant says the Plowmans want to see the impact of their philanthropy in their lifetime. They’ve invested $150m in a 10-year conservation project, adding to $100m donated in the previous decade, in areas including Taranaki, Rakiura/Stewart Island, the Abel Tasman National Park, the South Westland District, Fiordland, and urban areas.
Neal and Annette Plowman have donated extensively in New Zealand through the Next Foundation.
Sir Brendan and Lady Jo Lindsay also intend to give away most of the $660m they received when their company Sistema was sold 10 years ago. They set up the Lindsay Foundation which disburses millions of dollars to more than 50 charities in the family, education, mental health and animal welfare sectors.
The Lindsays also helped to fund The New Zealand Liberation Museum Te Arawhata in Le Quesnoy, France, commemorating the bravery of WW1 soldiers who liberated the town.
Sir Brendan: “It’s really important, I think, for the next generation of Kiwis and my grandchildren and their grandchildren to have a place for them to go to remember the sacrifice that New Zealanders made.”
Sir Brendan Lindsay and his wife, Jo, donate millions of dollars to charities through the Lindsay Foundation. Photo / Dean Purcell
The next generation
Many of the next generation of Kiwi philanthropists are increasingly having a say in how the money is donated. Leading the way were Sir Stephen and Lady Margaret Tindall’s children who founded the Next Gen Fund 10 years ago.
Siblings Robbie, Ben, Liz and Kate gave away $1.4m last year to more than 20 organisations, supporting the arts and creative programmes for young people. Amelia, the eldest of the Tindall grandchildren, is now the third generation to be involved in philanthropy.
Brianna Green, aged 32, runs a philanthropic offshoot of the Hugh Green Foundation, Next Gen, with six of her siblings and cousins. They donate to “needs on the ground” in the community.
Five years ago, the multi-generational heirs of the late construction pioneer and philanthropist Hugh Green signed away what will amount to billions of dollars in future earnings and assets for the benefit of the Hugh Green Foundation.
Brianna Green helps to run the Next Gen arm of the Hugh Green Foundation, a legacy left by her grandfather.
Now a mother of three young children, Brianna Green says she attended charity functions with her father, John, from the age of 15, and later worked for the foundation while at university.
Below is a selection of donations made by some of New Zealand’s major benefactors
Buchanan Foundation: $5.32m in 2025; $1.42m in 2024
Set up by eye surgeons Drs Caroline and Trevor Gray, the foundation focuses on education and eye health. Last year it donated $2.9m to the University of Auckland to help run a mobile optometry clinic in South Auckland.
Caroline and Trevor Gray. Photo /Norrie Montgomery
David Levene Foundation: $3.2m in 2025; $3m in 2024
Sir David Levene has donated millions of dollars to charities and for medical research, including $5m to the University of Auckland for brain research.
Sir David Levene. Photo / Doug Sherring
Douglas Goodfellow Charitable Trust: $2m in 2025; $1.4m in 2024
Founded by the late Sir Douglas Goodfellow, the trust funds education in medicine and health sciences, research and various charities, largely in West Auckland.
Edgar Family Foundation
Following in the footsteps of the late philanthropist Sir Eion Edgar and Lady Jan Edgar, the family continues to support community organisations, sports, youth, education, the arts, recreational trails and medical research.
Sir Eion Edgar, centre, with his wife Jan and sons Hamish (left) and Jonty (right). Photo / Tracey Roxburgh
Friedlander Foundation: $4m in 2025; $3.73m in 2024
Set up by businessman Sir Michael Friedlander and his wife, Harriet, the foundation supports various charities and organisations across the arts, youth wellbeing and medical research.
George Mason Charitable Trust: $25m in 2026
Set up by the late Dr George Mason, the trust donated $25m this year to four New Zealand universities, Auckland, Victoria, Massey and Waikato.
Hugh Green Foundation: $6.4m in 2026; $13.4m in 2025.
The foundation is a major funder of medical and health research at the Malaghan Institute, University of Auckland and the Matāi Medical Research Institute in Gisborne. It also supports community organisations, youth work, education, breast cancer and hospice.
Businessman and philanthropist Hugh Green. Photo / Steven McNicholl
Hugo Charitable Trust: $2.53m in 2025; $1.5m in 2024
Set up nearly a decade ago by Maryanne Green in honour of her father, Hugh, the trust supports medical research, education, poverty relief, community organisations and health.
The late Hugh Green’s eldest daughter, Maryanne. Photo / Doug Sherring
Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust
Established by Sir Neil and Lady Diana Isaac to preserve 1100ha of land on McLean’s Island in Christchurch as a conservation space open to the public. It includes a bird sanctuary and breeding programme, and a historic village.
Jasmine Charitable Trust: $19.9m in 2026; $16m in 2025
Established by Trade Me’s Sam Morgan, the trust supports conservation in New Zealand and funds social ventures to alleviate poverty in developing countries.
Sam Morgan, founder of Trade Me.
Joyce Fisher Charitable Trust: $6.34m in 2025; $3.72m in 2024
Established by the late Lady Joyce Fisher after the death of her husband, Sir Woolf Fisher, the co-founder of Fisher & Paykel. The foundation supports a wide range of charities including The Hearing House, Outward Bound and the SPCA.
JR McKenzie Trust: $9m in 2025; $8.47m in 2024
Established in 1940 by retailer Sir John McKenzie, founder of McKenzie’s, the trust funds community-driven organisations, youth, social cohesion, Māori and Pacific people. His son, Sir Roy McKenzie, donated the land at Anakiwa for Outward Bound.
Julian and Josie Robertson
The late Julian Robertson and his wife Josie, who developed golf courses Kauri Cliffs in Northland and Cape Kidnappers in Hawke’s Bay, left a $268m bequest of modern masterpieces to the Auckland Art Gallery. They contributed millions of dollars to other charities and causes in New Zealand.
American billionaire and philanthropist Julian Robertson and his wife, Josie. Photo / Ross Setford
Marilyn and Grant Nelson
This Christchurch philanthropic couple have donated more than $50m in their lifetime through their charitable trust, the Gama Foundation. They donate to conservation, research, education and disability.
Marilyn and Grant Nelson. Photo / RNZ
Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation: $2.3m in 2025; $2.3m in 2024
Founded by a Wellington judge, the late Ian Borrin, in memory his parents, the foundation supports legal research, education and scholarship.
Mitch and Kate Plaw
The Waikato-based philanthropists and business owners support the arts, sports, including the Black Sticks, equestrian and cycling, and native regeneration projects. They donated the site of the Hamilton Hotel for the development of the new Waikato Regional Theatre.
Kate and Mitch Plaw, at their Takapoto Estate show-jumping property at Lake Karapiro. Photo/ Libby Law, Photosport
Next Foundation, Neal and Annette Plowman
Apart from $250m pledged to conservation projects, the Plowmans have supported many charities and have established a wildlife sanctuary on Rotoroa Island, gifting the island to Auckland.
Peter and Fiona Thompson, and Barfoot & Thompson
Peter and Fiona Thompson donate millions of dollars annually, both personally and through Barfoot & Thompson, to a range of causes, including the Starship Foundation and Mercy Hospice. The Thompsons also helped to fund the New Zealand Liberation Museum in France.
Fiona and Peter Thompson at the Star Gala last month. Photo / Alisha Lovrich
They invest heavily in family support through sport, sponsoring teams, clubs and major events at all levels. They have been a major partner of the New Zealand Olympic Foundation since 2010.
Roger Fewtrell
Dunedin philanthropist Roger Fewtrell, a multi-millionaire who founded supply company Southern Hospitality, is in the process of building 250 affordable homes and donating $25m to subsidise the buy price.
Retired businessman Roger Fewtrell made his fortune as the founder of hospitality giant Southern Hospitality. Photo / Ben Tomsett
Sir Mark Dunajtschik and Dame Dorothy Spotswood
Property developer Sir Mark Dunajtschik and his life-and-business partner, Dame Dorothy Spotswood, committed more than $50m to build a new children’s hospital in Wellington, followed by another $50m to build a new adult mental health facility in Upper Hutt.
Dame Dorothy Spotswood and Sir Mark Dunajtschik are well-known philanthropists in Wellington.
Ted Manson Foundation: $2.4m in 2025; $1.63m in 2024
Founded by property developer Sir Ted Manson, the foundation funds low-decile South Auckland schools, providing teachers, educational psychologists, buses and vans, and a hearing and vision unit. The foundation also supports a variety of charities and social housing projects.
Sir Ted Manson, founder of the Ted Manson Foundation.
Tim and Cathie Edney
Tim and Cathie Edney have donated millions of dollars to the University of Auckland’s Liggins Institute in the past decade towards the “gut bugs” project. The clinical research involves transferring gut bacteria from healthy donors to improve the health of people with mental and physical conditions, including obesity.
Tim Edney and his wife, Cathie, have financed the “gut bugs” project at the Liggins Institute for a decade. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Tindall Foundation, $18.3m in 2025; $9m in 2024
Founded by Sir Stephen and Lady Margaret Tindall more than 30 years ago, the foundation has donated more than $244m to 700 organisations.
Sir Stephen Tindall and Lady Margaret Tindall, founders of the Tindall Foundation. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Todd Foundation: Donations, $2.7m in 2024
Established in 1972 by the Todd family, the foundation has given away more than $100m to schools and community organisations.
Woolf Fisher Trust: $3.85m in 2025; $3.3m in 2024
Established by the late Sir Woolf Fisher, the trust supports education in the form of scholarships, fellowships, research, and overseas travel and study.
Zuru Group
Zuru Group has partnered with Captivating International for the past 10 years to improve the lives of underprivileged women and families in China.
Zuru co-founders brothers Mat and Nick Mowbray. Photo / Composite
In 2021 Zuru donated $500,000 to the expansion of Starship’s PICU and has helped to raise millions of dollars for Starship in two dollar-for-dollar campaigns. The company donates more than $10m in toys in New Zealand annually. Linda Mowbray, Nick, Mat and Anna’s mother, organises a Christmas distribution of toys to neurodiverse and special needs children in Hamilton, donating more than 60,000 toys in the past three years.
Jane Phare is a senior journalist based in Auckland
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