The crucial funding programme for Cranford Hospice has been given a major boost through the formation of a six-person "working team". Its goal will be to meet the annual cost of running the Hastings facility.
Cranford general manager Helen Blaxland described the formation of the independent Cranford Foundation Trust as a "significant step" in ensuring the hospice's financial viability going into the future.
"The focused objective is to attract large scale investment funds for the hospice," she said. It has a fundraising target of $2.1 million per year to keep it fully operational.
The driving force behind setting up the independent trust had been Cranford Hospice patron John Buck.
"Over the next thirty to forty years the demand for palliative care in Hawke's Bay will at least double," Mr Buck said. "These numbers will require Cranford to substantially increase its infrastructure - in the past year the hospice has provided care for almost seven hundred people throughout Hawke's Bay."
Joining him, drawn from volunteers from Wairoa, Napier, Hastings and Waipukurau, are Danielle Dinsdale, Chris Tremain, Alison McEwan, Ray McKimm and Dave Martin.
Cranford Hospice Board chair-person Hayley Anderson said the formation of the Cranford Foundation Trust was something the Cranford Hospice Board had been working toward for over two years.
Ms Blaxford said the $2.1 million annual target was the reason behind a string of fundraising events which were annually staged throughout the year, each year.
"The Cranford Foundation Trust will be a separate run trust to attract larger investments for the longer term use to develop the Hospice infrastructure needs," she said.