Charities an Important Part of New Zealand's Social and Economic Fabric
Thursday 2 December 2010
Charities Commission chief executive Trevor Garrett has released figures showing that registered charities have a significant economic and social impact on New Zealand.
The Commission has published a Snapshot of the charitable sector, which shows that registered charities reported more than $10.5 billion in income during the year to 31 October, including $0.7 billion in donations. Between them, charities also spent more than $8.2 billion on carrying out their charitable activities.
Around 94% of charities had an income of less than $1m (and of those, around 70% had an income of less than $100,000). Just over 1,100 charities reported an income between $1m and $20m, and 50 charities reported an income of $20m or more.
Charities reported an average of 1.1 million volunteer hours each week in the same period, equivalent to 27,500 full-time staff; and 4.1 million paid hours each week, equivalent to 102,500 full-time staff. Charities reported just over 150,000 full or part-time paid staff, but more than 393,000 people volunteered their time to a charity during the year.
Mr Garrett says that the information filed by registered charities in their Annual Returns provides a valuable picture of who is involved in the charitable sector in New Zealand, what they are doing, and who they are helping. It also provides information about charities' income and how they are using it to make a difference.
"Almost everyone in New Zealand, in one way or another, is involved with a charity at some time in their life – either as a donor, a volunteer, or as a recipient of one of their services. Charities are involved in a huge range of activities, and are in almost every community, large or small. Our engagement with charities is also reflected in the public and the media's close interest in them, and the work they do."
Mr Garrett says that during the year to 31 October, there were around 1.3 million visits made to the Charities Register search page, to find details of registered charities.
The Commission also carried out 540 monitoring reviews of charities, and opened 166 investigations into charities. It deregistered two charities for serious wrongdoing, and made orders against them and their officers, preventing them from re-applying for registration or from being an officer of a registered charity for a period of time.
Mr Garrett says that the Commission ran 16 forums for charities across the country during the year, and is working with charities and groups who can provide governance and management support to the sector. "Our objective is to assist charities to work as effectively and efficiently as possible, and to make the best possible use of their charitable resources, to support and enhance public trust and confidence in the sector," he says.
The Commission's Snapshot of the charitable sector has been published on its website – www.charities.govt.nz