The full commission a real estate agency earns from a Mount Maunganui property listing will be donated to a Bay of Plenty palliative care provider.

Waipuna Hospice and The Northern Group have partnered for the new campaign, Homes for Hospice.

A tidy Mount Maunganui home, at 100 Russley Drive, has been chosen as the listing at the heart of the campaign, with the owners’ blessing.

It is on the market now for a deadline sale on December 11.

The Northern Group expects the commission from the sale to exceed $30,000, all of which will be donated to Waipuna Hospice.

100 Russley Drive goes to a deadline sale on Thursday, December 11. Photo / Boundless Vision

As a not-for-profit organisation, Waipuna Hospice relies on community support and funding from various partners.

David Bryant, its chief executive, said the hospice was only 43% funded by Health New Zealand.

“We have to find $8.4 million every year to keep going.

“We have charity shops that support bridging that gap, but we still have quite a significant gap outside of that. One of our funding streams is to try to connect with local businesses.”

The Northern Group stepped up to the plate.

The money it donates will fund the hospice’s specialist care, including in-home nursing, pain management, bereavement support and counselling.

Last year, Waipuna Hospice looked after 937 patients and their family members.

“At any one time, we’ve got an average of 260 people on our books,” Bryant said.

It delivers 98% of its care to patients in their homes. Less than 2% visit its Te Puna hospice.

Bryant said most people wanted to spend their last days at home, where they were more comfortable than in a clinical setting.

He expects demand for hospice services to increase and the funding gap to grow.

In 20 years, the number of people seeking Waipuna Hospice’s services was likely to be 50% higher.

“With an ageing population, [funding] will be even more imperative.”

Lee Stringer, owner of The Northern Group and agent for the Homes for Hospice property, had already been thinking of ways to support Waipuna Hospice when he was approached about a partnership.

The agency was involved in another charitable house sale for the Blind Foundation last year.

He said his team reached out to see if anyone would be willing to offer their house.

As soon as he mentioned the opportunity to Tonya and Aaron Dowman, they said: “How do we be a part of this?”

The marketing campaign comes at no cost to the homeowners.

OneRoof, Trade Me and Realestate.co.nz, along with photography and video business Boundless Vision, have all donated their services. OneRoof is owned by NZME, owner of SunLive and the Bay of Plenty Times.

“We couldn’t do this without their support,” Stringer said.

For the Dowmans, offering their property was a “no-brainer”.

“It’s a win-win for everybody. You know that something you’re offering up is going to help someone else,” Tonya Dowman said.

“It’s pretty awesome that a real estate company would forfeit all of their commission and offer that to a charity.”

She had lost several cousins to cancer, and her mother had breast cancer, so she and her husband wanted to support Homes for Hospice.

She described their home as a “sanctuary where we go to retreat and recover from life’s stresses”.

The brick-clad 200sq m home is on a 689sq m section and has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and two-car garaging.

It is described as a “private paradise” with open-plan living, tropical gardens, a spa and rockfall water feature, close to Omanu Golf Club, Bayfair and the beach.

Buyers can visit the open home on Sunday from 2.30pm and find out more about the property on OneRoof.

Bijou Johnson is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. A passionate writer and reader, she grew up in Tauranga and developed a love for journalism while exploring various disciplines at university. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies from Massey University.