Relief of poverty

byUpdated June 2026

Charitable organisations can apply for registration under the “relief of poverty” charitable purpose. This page explains what this means and provides examples of how organisations describe this purpose in their rules or governing documents.

For more information, see the Charitable purpose and your rules page.

What your purpose must include

To qualify under this category, your organisation’s purpose must:

  • be directed at people who are poor, in need, aged, or suffering genuine hardship

  • provide relief.

What “poverty” means in charity law

People may qualify for assistance if they:

  • are in financial need
  • Are aged and on limited means.
  • Are experiencing genuine hardship due to a temporary or long-term change in their circumstances.

What “relief” means

To provide “relief”, the people you support should have:

  • an identifiable need arising from their circumstances that requires support
  • difficulty meeting that need themselves

  • an identifiable need arising from their circumstances that requires support, and

  • difficulty in addressing that need themselves.

Examples of wording

These examples show how charitable organisations describe purposes that relieve poverty.

To relieve poverty...

  • by providing basic amenities, including food, clothing and shelter to (for example, one or more of) the poor, needy, necessitous, underprivileged, low income, those in financial need and of small/limited means

  • by providing the poor with a food bank

  • by operating and maintaining a shelter for the homeless and by providing counselling and other similar programmes

  • by providing and operating nonprofit residential accommodation and incidental facilities exclusively for:

    • persons of low income

    • senior citizens primarily of low or modest income

  • by providing food and other basic supplies to persons of low income, by establishing, operating and maintaining shelters for the homeless, and by providing counselling and other programmes.

More information

The book Charity Law in New Zealand by Dr Donald Poirier includes detailed information about each charitable purpose, including references to relevant case law.

The following legal decisions are particularly useful for understanding why applicants have been declined registration under relief of poverty.