Registered Charities
Updated February 2010
The Charities Register is a database of charities registered with the Charities Commission. The Register can help funders make better-informed decisions about charities they may wish to support.
On this page:
The Charities Register is a "live" database of charities registered by the Charities Commission under the Charities Act. It currently holds upto-date information on around 25,000 charities.
If a charity is on the Register it has proved to the Commission that it has a charitable purpose, and its name and officers comply with the Charities Act's criteria.
The Register will help build and maintain public trust and confidence in the charitable sector by making information about charities easily and publicly available.
The Register shows the following information about each charity:
The Register also shows each notice of change, Annual Return and financial statement which is filed by the charity.
The Charities Commission restricts public access to certain information and documents if it considers it in the public interest to do so. This means that in some cases, we do not show particular information on the public Register.
Funders can look at the Register to find specific information about charities. In particular the Register can be used:
In short, the Charities Register can help funders to make betterinformed decisions about charities they may wish to support.
Who you can fund will depend on the purposes set out in your governing documents and any relevant legislation.
If your organisation is not registered with us as a charity, it may be able to fund organisations with charitable purposes, noncharitable purposes, or a mixture of both.
Many funders operating under the Gambling Act 2003 can fund organisations with a mixture of both charitable and non-charitable purposes.
If your organisation is registered with us, as a charity it must fund only those charitable purposes set out in its governing documents.
You can use the Register to check that the organisations you are funding, or considering funding, are charitable. You can also fund nonregistered entities as long as you are sure that the funding will be used only for purposes that are charitable.
See our information sheet Charitable purpose.
Registration is voluntary and offers a number of benefits to charities that choose to register.
If your governing document restricts you to funding only charitable purposes, then you may be eligible for registration with the Charities Commission.
See our information sheet The Charities Register - benefits for charities
No. Registration with us does not incorporate a charity as a legal entity or impact on its legal status.
Charities that wish to have the legal status of an incorporated entity must register with the Companies Office under Acts such as the Incorporated Societies Act 1908, the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 or the Companies Act 1993.
This means that some charities are registered with both the Charities Commission and the Companies Office.
No. Registration is voluntary, so not every charity will choose to register with us.
Anyone can look at the Register online to find specific information about charities – for example, their activities, charitable purpose, and financial position.
Or, people are welcome to enquire about a particular charity by calling our free information line 0508 242 748 or contacting us at info@charities.govt.nz.
The Charities Register: Benefits for funders
The information on this webpage is available in PDF format for you to view, download, or print.
Rate our information sheets
Please visit the Charities Commission information sheets survey - 2012 before Monday 14 May to let us know what you think of our information sheets.
