Registered Charities
Updated February 2012
Funders, potential supporters, media and others frequently use the Charities Register. To ensure your information on the Charities Register is accurate and up-to-date, you need to advise us when certain important changes take place.
Once your charity is registered, information you have provided about it will be publicly available on the Charities Register. Funders, potential supporters, media and others frequently use the Charities Register.
To ensure your information is accurate and up-to-date, you need to advise us when certain important changes take place. We also need to be sure that your registration status isn’t affected by any changes you make.
On this page:
You must let us know about changes to these key areas:
You must also tell us the date that any change comes into effect.
You must use one of these forms:
All our forms are available at www.charities.govt.nz
You can complete Form 3 and Form 4 online or on paper.
Form 8 must be completed on paper, but (once completed) it can be scanned and attached to an email, or posted to us.
You must notify us of any changes no later than three months after:
Helpful tip - Some changes that you need to tell us about may take place at your annual general meeting (AGM).
In this case you may choose to report them as part of your Annual Return; as long as we receive your Annual Return form within three months of the changes being made.
If your charity is registered with the Companies Office - as an incorporated society, a registered charitable trust, or a company - you must send changes to its name to the Companies Office for their approval before notifying us.
Send us one of these forms (online or on paper):
We will then update your page on the Register.
If you are reporting changes to your rules, you must send us a copy of the:
If your charity is registered with the Companies Office - as an incorporated society, a registered charitable trust or a company - you must send changes to your rules to the Companies Office for their approval before notifying us.
Send us one of these forms (online or on paper):
We will then update your page on the Register.
When you appoint a new officer or remove an officer, use one of these forms (online or on paper):
If an officer becomes disqualified after they have been certified – for example, if they become bankrupt, you must let us know by completing a Notification of change for a disqualified officer form – Form 8. You can send Form 8 to us by printing it out and attaching a scanned copy to an email, or by posting it to us.
Note: If even one of your officers is disqualified, it means that your charity is no longer qualified for registration.
Please read our information sheet Disqualified officers for more details about your options in this situation.
If you want to change your balance date and:
we must approve this proposed change before the change is made.
Otherwise, you can change your balance date, and then notify us.
Use one of these forms (online or on paper):
It is possible that you could make a change that stops your charity from being eligible for registration.
If we have concerns about a change, we will write to you and give you the opportunity to have your say about it.
If we are still unable to accept the change, we may decide to deregister your charity. We will send you a formal notice explaining our decision and the reasons for it.
We can require a charity to pay a penalty if we are not notified of a change within the required time. Also, if a charity persistently fails to notify changes, we can remove it from the Register.
What to do when something about your charity changes
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.
