Charities Commission

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Help with your online application

Before you begin your online application for registration under the Charities Act, please read the following information.

We have prepared guidance notes for most of the questions to help you to complete your answers and find some of the information you will need. Just click on the “Help” icon next to the relevant question on the application screen.

Checklist

There is also a checklist at the end of this document to remind you what to send with your application.

What is the purpose of this application?

It collects information about your organisation so that we can decide if we are able to register it under the Charities Act 2005. It also collects information for statistical purposes to help the Charities Commission meet its obligations under the Charities Act.

Who should apply?

Any individual organisation wishing to register under the Charities Act. See The Charities Register: benefits for charities for more information.

Who should certify this form?

One of the officers you name in the application. Please enter the name of the officer when prompted.

What supporting material do I need to provide?

As well as completing the online application, you must provide:


Form 2 explains more about how to identify who your officers are.

Your rules are the documents that set out what you do, your purposes, and how you operate. We need the most up-to-date version, which means we need all amendments.

Other documents that you might want to supply if relevant to your organisation:
  • if a marae on a Māori reservation, the Gazette notice relating to the reservation of Māori land, or the legal description of the land, or your formal marae name
  • if you have a formal binding ruling from Inland Revenue (these have an expiry date and you would have paid a fee to get one - they are not the confirmation of approval letter), you may wish to include a copy with your application. It means your organisation will be deemed to have a charitable purpose and we will only need to consider the qualification of your officers and your organisation's name.

How do I provide the supporting documents?

Supporting documents can be uploaded electronically or posted to us.

If you choose to scan and upload supporting documents, you might find the following tips useful:

  • Please scan the documents, for example, your rules and each Officer Certification Form, as separate files.
  • Scan the pages in page order.
  • There is no need to scan the Guidelines on each facing page of an Officer Certification Form - just the pages you have filled out – the pages numbered 1 and 2.
  • Try to scan at a minimum resolution of 150 dpi (dots per inch) to ensure each file is legible. A resolution of 300 dpi or higher will create a file that is too large and takes longer to upload.
  • JPEGs are generally the best file format to create with your scanned image and the easiest to upload.

If I decide to post my supporting documents, where do I send them?

Charities Commission
Processing Centre
PO Box 30112
Lower Hutt, 5040

What if I haven’t got all the information you need?

We cannot process incomplete applications. You need to answer all of the questions that apply to your organisation before you can submit your application. The system will prompt you to enter any required details that you may have missed.

You can also start your online application, save it, and return to it later if you wish.

How long will it take to process my application?

The time it takes to process applications varies. We will be in touch as soon as we have processed yours - either to ask for more information or clarification, or to let you know that your organisation has been registered.

If there are many applications in the queue ahead of you, or many complex applications requiring analysis, this can add to processing times.

How will I know if my application is successful?

We will send a certificate with your unique registration number to the organisation’s postal address that you provide in the application.

How will I know if there is a problem with my application?

If we need more information, we will contact you.

If we find something that might result in us declining your application, we will send a formal notice to your address for service and give you the opportunity to have your say on the matter.

If we are still unable to approve your application, we will send a formal notice explaining our reasons.

Will all of the information I provide be available to the public?

If your application is successful, the following information will be publicly available on the Charities Register:

  • the name(s), address and registration number of the charitable entity
  • the Companies Office registration number (if applicable)
  • the balance date of the charitable entity
  • names of the current officers
  • organisational type
  • sectors of operation
  • activities
  • beneficiaries
  • sources of funds
  • areas of operation
  • a copy of the rules and officer certification forms

Each Annual Return and any Notifications of Change that you send to us after registration will also be publicly available on the Register.

The Charities Commission may restrict public access to information on the Register if it believes it is in the public interest to do so. If you would like any of the information in your application restricted from public access, please include a written request explaining your reasons. The Commission will consider your request and let you know its decision in writing.

Where can I get paper forms?

To print copies of our registration forms, go to our Forms page.

If you prefer, you can request paper copies by emailing info@charities.govt.nz or by calling our free information line 0508 242 748. Photocopied forms are acceptable.

Glossary

For definitions of commonly used terms in the application form, please refer to our Glossary.

Further information

We hope this information has been helpful. If you are unsure about how to continue with your application, or you need more information, please call our free information line 0508 242 748 or email info@charities.govt.nz. If you are calling from overseas, please dial 0064 4 473 3862.

Visit our Guidance for Charities pages for fact sheets and more information about registering your organisation under the Charities Act. Alternatively, call 0508 242 748 or email info@charities.govt.nz and ask for the fact sheets to be sent to you. If you are calling from overseas, please dial 0064 4 473 3862.

Beginning your application

Privacy and information use

The information that you provide in this application will be held and used by the Charities Commission to determine your eligibility for registration and to carry out its functions under the Charities Act 2005.

The Charities Act 2005 authorises the supply of information or documents held on the Register of charitable entities to the Inland Revenue Department to assist in the carrying out of powers and functions under any of the Inland Revenue Acts.

The Statistics Act 1975 allows for the information, once collected, to be used for statistical purposes by Statistics New Zealand. Information supplied to Statistics New Zealand will be used for statistical purposes only and will be arranged to prevent particulars published about any person from being identifiable (except by the person who supplied the information,) unless the person has agreed or publication identifying the person is unavoidable.

The Privacy Act 1993 provides that you may access or correct information about you held by the Charities Commission. If you wish to access or correct your personal information, please contact the Charities Commission, PO Box 8072 Wellington, 6143

Create user account

Before you can apply for registration online, you will need to create a user account. Once you have entered the details that are required, you will be allocated a username and password. You will need to enter the username and password next time you login to the Charities Register.

If you do not receive our acknowledgment email with a username and password, please contact us on either 0508 242 748 or info@charities.govt.nz. Unfortunately, some spam filters block our emails and may prevent them from reaching you.

Legal name of the charity

This is your organisation’s legal or most formal name. It is the name you are registered under if you are already an incorporated society, registered under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957, or a company.

It should be the name that is used on your formal documents such as your rules, trust deed or other governing document. There may be a clause in your rules that states your full and correct name.

It is important to include words like “The”, “Te”, “Trust”, “Inc”, “Incorporated”, “NZ”, or “New Zealand” if they are part of your name.

Primary contact

Who can the Charities Commission contact if we have any questions about your application?

Please give us the name and contact details of someone who is familiar with the information in this application. We will contact this person if we need to discuss anything in relation to this application. His or her name and contact details are not part of the application and will not be available for the public to see on the Charities Register.

Alternative contact

You can also give us the name and contact details of another person who is familiar with the information in this application that we can contact if the primary contact is not available .His or her name and contact details are not part of the application and will not be available for the public to see on the Charities Register.

Other names

For example, if your legal name is “The New Zealand Volcano Education Society Incorporated” but most people know you as “Volcanoes New Zealand”, you would answer “Volcanoes New Zealand” as your other name. If your organisation is not known by any other names please leave this blank.

IRD number

If you have an IRD number you should find it on any communication you have received from Inland Revenue. Your IRD number will have either eight or nine numbers. If it has only eight numbers please write “0” at the beginning like this:
012 345 678.

If you do not have an IRD number, please leave this blank. If you get an IRD number in the future, please write and tell us.

End of financial year/Balance date

This date may be set out in your rules. The person who does your accounts will know what your balance date is. Balance dates are usually at the end of a month and often at the end of a calendar quarter, for example 31 March, 30 June, 30 September, or 31 December. Select the day and month.

If you do not enter a date the system will automatically enter 31 March as your balance date.

Address for service

We will send formal correspondence to the postal address you provide here.

Charity’s other details

You do not have to give us these optional contact details but you may wish to have them available on the Charities Register so the public knows the best way to contact you quickly. If you do not wish to have these optional details on the Register please leave this blank.

Organisational type

Most trusts have been formed by a trust deed or are governed by trustees. If you are a trust, please select “Trustees of a trust”.

If you are not a trust, the Charities Act considers you to be a society or institution. Please select “Society or institution”– this covers all organisations that are not trusts.

Registration requirements

Trustees of a trust (including Māori trust boards and trustees of a marae on a Māori reservation)

In your trust deed you will need to have a clause or clauses that set out all of the purposes for which you receive income. These are sometimes referred to as the objects of your trust. Look at your trust deed and enter the numbers of the clauses, not the headings or the wording, that you think relate to the charitable purposes for which you receive income. We will also be reading your trust deed so we can identify your charitable purposes.

If you are a marae on a Māori reservation, your trust deed – in this context – may be your charter. Have a look in your charter, as well as any rules or trust deed you have, to find these clauses.

Māori trust boards

A small number of Māori trust boards have had their declaration of trust approved by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue. You will know if you are one of these.

Marae on Māori reservation

Only marae on a Māori reservation need to answer this question. If you are a marae on a Māori reservation, there will be a Gazette notice relating to the reservation of your land.

If you have answered “yes” to this question, it would help us in considering your application if you supply the name of the reservation, or the legal description of the land, or a copy of the Gazette notice. You can find The New Zealand Gazette at all public libraries and at http://online.gazette.govt.nz for copies after 1993.

Funds of the marae

To find out what your funds are used for, you should look at your rules, your previous financial records and accounts.

If you think you spend money on purposes in addition to the upkeep of the marae buildings and land or charitable purposes, select “yes”.

If you think you spend money only on the upkeep of the marae buildings and land or charitable purposes, tick “no”.

We will also look at your rules so that we can identify your purposes.

Society or institution

In your rules you will need to have a clause or clauses that set out all of the purposes for which you receive income. Look at your rules and enter the numbers of the clauses, not the headings or the wording, that say your organisation is established only for charitable purposes and maintained only for charitable purposes. We will also look at your rules so that we can identify your charitable purposes.

Please also enter the numbers of the clauses that you think relate to winding up and preventing private profit, if you have any. We will also look at your rules to identify these clauses. We must be sure that your organisation does not permit private profit while it operates or on winding up.

Charitable purpose and rules

Charity rules

Your rules will be the document or documents that set out your purposes, what you do and how you operate. We need the most up-to-date version, which means we need all amendments made to each document. Do not send us the original document; a good quality, easily readable copy is fine. It does not need to be a certified true copy. If you have an electronic copy, you are welcome to upload this as long as the wording is exactly the same.

Your rules may be your trust deed, governing document, constitution, charter, or an Act of Parliament (if you are specifically set up under one). Organisations set up by an Act are likely to have their name as part of the name of the Act, such as “St Michael’s Brookfield Parish School Society Act 1924”. If your rules are contained in an Act, that Act is the document you need to supply.

If you decide to post your rules

Please post your rules (and any other supporting documents) to:

Charities Commission
PO Box 30112
Lower Hutt, 5040

Sectors

Select as many options as you need to show the sectors (areas) you currently work in. If you are a new organisation, select the sectors that you plan to work in over the next year.

If you have selected “Other” please name the other sector.

Main sector of operation

From the options you have selected above, use the dropdown menu to select the one that you think is the main sector of operation.

Activities

Select as many options as you need to show the activities that your organisation carries out. By activities, we mean activities and services that your organisation provides to your beneficiaries. For example, select “Provides buildings/facilities/open space” if your activity is to hire out buildings.

If you are a new organisation, select the activities that you plan to carry out over the next year.

If you have selected “Other” please name the other activity.

Main activity

From the options you have selected above, use the dropdown menu to select the one that you think is your main activity.

Beneficiaries

Select as many options as you need to show who directly benefits from your activities.

If you are a new organisation, select the options to show who you think will directly benefit from your activities over the next year.

If you have selected “Other” please name the other beneficiary.

Main beneficiary

From the beneficiaries you have selected above, use the dropdown menu to select the one that you think is your main beneficiary.

Sources of funds

Select as many options as you need to show where you:

  • get funds from now and
  • intend to get funds from in the future.

If you have selected “Other”, please name the other sources of funds.

Areas of operation

If you operate in all regions of New Zealand, select “Nationwide”.

If you do not operate in all regions of New Zealand, select the regions you operate in.

If you operate overseas, please select “Overseas” and type in the countries, or regions that you operate in from our list below:

  • Oceania (Oceania includes Australia and the Pacific region).
  • Antarctica
  • Asia
  • South America
  • Africa
  • North America
  • Europe

To type in the details begin each country or region with a capital letter, finish with a comma and leave a space before entering the next one.

Percentage of New Zealand funds

Please provide, as a percentage, a reasonable estimate of the money sourced in New Zealand that was spent overseas during your last financial year. This means money spent carrying out your charitable purpose. For example, include in your estimate money spent overseas delivering aid, development, or disaster relief. Do not include money spent on conferences overseas or on goods and services sourced overseas but used in New Zealand.

If you are a new organisation, please provide, as a percentage, a reasonable estimate of the money you will spend carrying out your charitable purpose overseas over the next year. If you do not think you will spend any money overseas on delivering your charitable purpose in the next year, please leave it as 0%.

Officers

Add officer

Please add the names of each of your officers. We can then match up your Officer Certification Forms with the names of the officers on the list. For example:

Joe Bloggs or Bloggs Trustees Ltd

Please also enter the position that the officer holds within the organisation.

The Officer Certification Form (PDF, 296KB) explains how to identify who your officers are and whether they qualify as officers under the Charities Act.

Edit Officer details

Click on the relevant filed and change the details as required.

If you decide to upload your Officer Certification Forms

Please note that each Officer Certification Form must be saved as a separate document (separate file) and only one document (file) can be uploaded at a time. If there is more than one officer, the upload process will need to be repeated for each corresponding Officer Certification Form (PDF, 296KB).

Select the relevant checkbox next to the officer’s name and then click on the Browse button.

You will be presented with the Windows standard dialog box to locate the document. Once you have found the document, highlight it and click Open. This will take you back to the Upload screen and will display the document filename and file path. Now click on the Upload button located below the “Filename” box.

The screen will refresh and will display the filename and description of the document you have just uploaded.

If you decide to post your Officer Certification Forms
Please post completed Officer Certification Form (PDF, 296KB) (and any other supporting documents) to:

Charities Commission
PO Box 30112
Lower Hutt, 5040

Request to withhold information

The Charities Commission may restrict public access to information on the Charities Register if it believes it is in the interest of the public to do so. If you would like any of the information in your application restricted from public access, please indicate below and include a written request explaining your reasons with this application. The Commission will consider your request and let you know its decision in writing.

Please note:

  • The Charities Commission may, under section 25 of the Charities Act 2005, prevent or restrict public access to information or documents if it considers it to be in the public interest to do so. Please note that this information or these documents will still be subject to requests under the Official Information Act 1982 that will be considered by the Charities omission on a case-by–case basis.
  • All requests to prevent or restrict public access to information or documents will be evaluated and you will be advised of the Charities Commission’s decision.

Please post your request to withhold information (and any other supporting documents) to:

Charities Commission
PO Box 30112
Lower Hutt, 5040

Upload documents

Only one document can be uploaded at a time.

Select the appropriate option of either a “Charity Rules” document or “Other” document such as a “Gazette Notice” and then click on the Browse button to locate the document .

Once you have clicked on Browse you will be presented with the Windows standard dialog box to locate the document. Once you have found the document, highlight it and click Open.

This will take you back to the “Upload” screen and will display the document filename and file path. Now click on the Upload button located below the “Filename” box.

The screen will refresh and will display the filename and description of the document you have just uploaded.

Checklist

Reminder: We cannot begin to process your application until we have all of the supporting material with the completed application form.

Have you either uploaded or arranged to post:

To assist the Commission to process your application we recommend that you supply:

  • marae on a Māori reservation – the Gazette notice relating to the reservation of the land or the legal description of the land, or your formal marae name
  • Māori trust board – a copy of your approval from the Commissioner of Inland Revenue
  • if you have one – a copy of any binding ruling from Inland Revenue regarding your charitable purposes.

Login

If you applied for registration online and provided an email address, an email containing your username and password would have been sent to you.

If you posted an application for registration, then a letter would have been sent to your charity’s postal address containing your username and password.

When you are ready to log in to the Charities Register for the first time, write down your username from the email and copy and paste (rather than cut and paste) your password . Go to the login screen, type in your username (using capital letters), paste in the password and then click “login”.

If this is the first time you are logging in, you will be asked to change your password to one of your choice. You must ensure your password is a minimum of seven characters and contains at least one capital letter and one numeric. Your password cannot contain your username.

Examples of valid passwords are: Testing1 or char1Ty or 123Hello

If you have logged in previously and your password has now expired, you will be prompted to create a new password. The same rules, as explained above, still apply and there is one additional rule - your new password must not be the same as any of your previous 10 passwords.

If you have trouble logging in, the best thing to do is to enter your username and select “Forgotten your password?” The Forgotten Password screen will display. Enter your username in the space provided and click “submit”. The system will generate another password and email it to you.

Forgotten Password

If you have forgotten your password you can enter your details on the screen, click the submit button and the system will generate a new password for you.

If you have provided an email address when you applied for registration, an email containing the new password will be sent to you as soon as you click the submit button.

If you have not provided an email address, a letter containing the new password will be sent to your charity’s postal address.

Change Password

To change your password, please enter both your old password and your new password in the designated boxes.

You must ensure your password is a minimum of seven characters and contains at least one capital letter and one numeric. Your password cannot contain your username.

Examples of valid passwords are: Testing1 or char1Ty or 123Hello