Open Data FAQs
About the new options
I'm confused. What's the difference between the Charities Register, the Advanced Search option and Open Data?
- The Charities Register is the main place where you can perform basic searches and can easily look up individual charities. Each charity has a summary page which includes all the information about them and also features attachments and scanned documents they have uploaded.
- Open Data — this is essentially the ‘raw data' that makes charities' data available at an application level, via the internet (aimed at web/software developers, academics and government).
- The Advanced Search option —the Charities Commission has created the first application (we hope software developers will create many more) that uses the Open Data to perform complex searches and download complete search results in .csv format.
Why has the Charities Commission launched the Advanced Search?
The Charities Commission supports open data and data reuse, and wants to ensure that the data they collect and currently make publicly available via the Charities Register, is even more accessible and useful to the public.
The Advanced Search will make the data much more useful to government, funders, beneficiaries and the private sector, who can use the data to better inform their own work, thereby benefiting the charitable sector.
Why is the Charities Commission publishing details of Charities?
Under the Charities Act 2005, the information the Commission collects via the Registration and Annual Returns process, is made publicly available on the Charities Register. The Open Data project and the Advanced Search option, publish no new data — they simply make the data easier to search and of more use, to more people.
Has the Charities Commission asked Charities what they think of the search?
We encourage feedback from everyone that uses Open Data or the Advanced Search option so that we can continually improve the service.
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Privacy and data
Is it legal for the Charities Commission to give out this data?
Yes, it is legal for the Commission to publish this data under the Charities Act 2005.
I want to withhold my charity's data — can you do this for me now?
Yes, if it is in the public interest to do so. Charities can request their details be withheld so that the public are prevented from seeing information. For example, there could be circumstances where it would be in the public interest not to show the name of an officer on the Register in order to protect his or her safety.
The Commission has also agreed to some charities' requests to withhold their financial data from the Register, because they were able to show it was in the public interest.
No, the Open Data project isn't a breach of the Charities Act, nor is it a breach of the Privacy Act. We are of the view that all of the possible search functions of the open data project, fall safely within the parameters laid out in the Act.
The provisions in the Charities Act, made it possible for us to create the Charities Register in the first place — publishing all information held about every Charity (except for those who have been granted withheld status). The open data project publishes no new material.
We are also governed by the Official Information Act which means that all information we hold is official information.
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Does the Charities Commission check the data regularly for accuracy?
No. The data is exactly what charities supply to us. We do not check or change this data. We encourage all of our charities to regularly check information held on the Charities Register summary page and to update it if it is incorrect in any way.
Where does the Charities Commission get the data come from?
Information appears exactly as charities provide it to the Commission via their Registration application forms.
Comma Separated Value (.csv) files are one of the most widely recognised file formats in the world. We wanted to ensure that anyone could use the Advanced Search option, regardless of what Operating System or software they used.
The Advanced Search is best used by advanced users who know how to further use the data they get in the .csv file.
I don't use Excel, how I can access the data?
Many operating systems will be able to open a .csv file using other software, but users will still need to be advanced users. Users that are not familiar with complex searches (e.g using Boolean search terms), and are not comfortable manipulating data using different software programs, may find the Charities Register, an easier search tool.
Can the search function provide me with charts and graphs instead of an excel sheet?
No. The data is only produced in a .csv file. If you are an advanced user, you should be able to use Excel to convert your search results in to a graph or table.
I've got these (large results) I've downloaded can you please print out and send to me?
No, we can only provide the data electronically via the Advanced Search option.
I'm stuck and don't understand the results. Can you help me do a search or understand the results?
No, we don't have staff available to help you search. The Advanced Search is for advanced users only. We suggest using the Charities Register if you are not an advanced user. If you want to learn more about .csv files or Excel software and spreadsheets, we encourage you to look at this information:
No. The data is reflects the 25,680 charities currently registered with the Charities Commission. This does not cover all Charities (being registered as a charity is voluntary). It also excludes non-profit organisations that aren't also registered as charities.
Is publishing this data safe? What if it gets into the wrong hands?
This data has always been available publicly and nothing new is being published. The Commission is aware that commercial organisations may use the data to contact Charities and try to sell them products and services, but our primary aim is freeing up the data we have. Third party organisations are still bound by things like spam laws when they use data for commercial activities.
If the change you want to make is small, for example a typing or spelling error, you can call our call centre (0508 CHARITIES) and request the change over the phone.
If you think that any of the data is incorrect and want to change it (for example income details or your rules), you will have to complete a notification of change. Click here to look at a form.
The Charities Commission does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the data.
However, if you are going to be publishing the results of your search, or using them for a major news story, we are happy to help look over the data for you.
We are familiar with most of our key statistics, so may be able to identify any anomalies (you may also like to take a look at our Snapshot of the charitable sector (PDF, 1.2 MB), as a comparison).
What licensing convention are you using?
We are releasing the data under the NZ Creative Commons attribution (CC BY 3.0).
APIs will be available in ATOM and JSON.
What authentication will be required?
No authentication is required by users.
I am a commercial operator and want to download your whole dataset — can I?
Yes, any user can potentially download the entire data set.
I am a web/software/app developer and want technical documentation or a question answered, who can I ask?
Please email paul.stone@charities.govt.nz
I did a search last week and the same search this week, but got different results. Why is that? What is going wrong?
Nothing is going wrong. The data is dynamic, which means as we receive and process notifications of change, or add or remove Charities from the Register, the data is automatically updated. This is why your search results may change from day to day.
We understand that some people prefer .pdfs because they see them as secure. We are choosing .csv files because they allow the data to be mixed with other data (e.g statisticians or funders using some of our data and some government data for a new purpose) easily.
.csv files are our preferred format, because they are one of the most universally recognised and flexible formats in the world.
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