Registered Charities
The Charities Act 2005 emphasises transparency and the availability of information about registered charities to "promote public trust and confidence in the charitable sector".
The Act requires information on the Register to be available to the public. However, it also allows Charities Services to prevent the public from seeing information if it is in the "public interest" to do so. 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.
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Yes. Section 25 of the Charities Act says that Charities Services may restrict public access to information and documents on the Register “if it considers it in the public interest to do so”. Restricted information will still be on the Register but members of the public won’t be able to see it.
Section 24 of the Charities Act says that the Register must show the charity's:
The Register must also show each notice of change, Annual Return and financial statement that is filed by the charity.
If you have a reason that you think is in the "public interest", you can make a written request asking for your information to be restricted so the public cannot see it. There is no special form or process to follow. Simply write a letter detailing:
For example, if you claim it would be unsafe for an individual or members of the public if certain information is shown on the Register, provide evidence to support your claim. Or, if applicable, explain how restricting information will help promote philanthropic giving.
If you claim that there will be unreasonable prejudice to your charity's commercial position, you should:
Include the letter with your application form or, if you are already registered, include it with the form you use to advise us of new information.
We will consider your request (on a case-by-case basis) and write to you to let you know our decision. See our information sheet What you can do if you disagree with our decisions.
If you want information to be restricted from public access you should send us your request at the same time that your send us the information that the request relates to. This may be when you are applying for registration or when you are updating information already on the Register.
If you are updating information that is currently restricted from public access, you must ask for this information to remain restricted, if that is what you want.
Please note that we are not able to consider a request to restrict public access to financial information before we have seen the financial information that the request relates to.
The Act does not define the phrase "public interest". However, we use its plain meaning, keeping in mind the overall purpose of the Charities Act, which is "to promote public trust and confidence in the charitable sector".
The following are some examples of public interests that may justify restrictions to information:
We are unlikely to accept the following reasons as a basis for restricting financial information:
We are also unlikely to grant a request to restrict information if it is already in the public arena – for example, if this information is already available on the Companies Office register or on your own website.
If we do not agree to your request, we will not put the information on the Register before talking to you about your options. These can include:
See our information sheet What you can do if you disagree with our decisions.
Government - Legally, we must allow access to government agencies. For example, Inland Revenue and Statistics New Zealand may access your information even though it is not publicly available.
Official Information Act request - Section 25 of the Charities Act does not limit the Official Information Act, so information held on the Register (even though it is not publicly available) could be accessed under the Official Information Act.
We consider requests made under the Official Information Act on a case-by-case basis, using the criteria under that Act.