Charitable purpose
Updated June 2026
To register as a charity, your organisation must have a charitable purpose. This means it exists to do something the law recognises as charitable.
Your charitable purpose explains what your organisation exists to achieve. You may also call it your mission, goal or objective.
Your purposes should be set out in your organisation’s governing document, such as its rules, trust deed, constitution or charter.
Types of charitable purpose
The Charities Act 2005 sets out four types of charitable purpose:
Your organisation’s purposes must fit within one or more of these categories.
What is not usually charitable
Many organisations do valuable work, but not everything that benefits people or the community is charitable under the law.
Examples of purposes that are not usually charitable include:
- supporting high-performance or elite sportspeople
- supporting or promoting a for-profit business
- supporting the economic development of a community that is not in need of regeneration
- helping people into home ownership, unless the people are in charitable need and have no other reasonable housing options
- providing benefits only to a closed group of members, unless the people are in poverty.
Ancillary non-charitable purposes
A purpose is ancillary if it:
- supports or helps carry out your charitable purposes, and
- is only a small or minor part of what your organisation does.
Example
A community sporting group may mainly encourage public participation in sport, which is a charitable purpose.
If it also provides additional training for a small number of players, this may be ancillary if the training:
- supports the group’s overall aim (for example, by developing coaches or role models who encourage wider participation), and
- remains a minor part of the group’s activities.
Assessing charitable purpose
When we assess an application, we look at the purposes set out in your rules and the activities your organisation carries out or plans to carry out.
You will need to describe these activities in your application. We check that they support your organisation’s charitable purposes and provide a public benefit.
Learn more below
Public benefit and charitable purpose
This page explains public and private benefit, and how your purposes affect your application.Find out more
Community and economic development
This page explains when community and economic development organisations may be considered to be charitable.Find out more
Sport and recreation
This page explains when sport and recreation organisations may be considered to be charitable.Find out more
International charities and activities
This page outlines our position regarding registering charities that are based overseas or entities based in New Zealand that carry out activities overseas.Find out more