Message from Julia

Last month Charities Services joined forces with the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand (CLAANZ) and Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CA ANZ) to launch New Zealand’s first ever interdisciplinary conference entitled ‘Perspectives on Charities Law, Accounting and Regulation in NZ'. With no fewer than 40 speakers from New Zealand and abroad presenting on various charitable, financial and legal topics, the conference was a brilliant success! Feedback from attendees and speakers alike was excellent, and personally, I was really struck by the breadth of knowledge, expertise and passion present in the room. Discussions and debates in particular were open and robust – a clear example of all the speakers getting into the spirit of creating better awareness of all the strengths and opportunities in the charitable sector.

If you would like to learn more about the conference we have a great article about it below. There is also a particularly useful document on the CLAANZ website that provides descriptions and key messages of each presentation. You can find it here.

We also had a very constructive Sector User Group (SUG) meeting in late May.  As mentioned previously, the SUG is an opportunity for charity sector representatives to engage directly with the regulator. The conversations we continue to have at these meetings really help us to understand the issues and concerns that are ‘top of mind’ for you. Ultimately, we want to support charities to contribute to a well-governed, transparent and thriving charitable sector that has strong public support. Having a pool of different perspectives is absolute key to helping us shape our work in a collaborate way.  As promised, we also have a SUG update for you in this newsletter.

Lastly, it’s almost the end of June which means we are entering peak season for Annual Returns to be filed.  For registered charities with a balance date of 31 December 2017, your Annual Return is due to us by 30th June 2018.  Please, if you need help completing your return, do contact us. We have a vast amount of information available to help you online (we’ll include the links to these resources below) and a dedicated email inbox specifically for tricky queries about preparing your financial statements and performance reports (nrs.charities@dia.govt.nz).  As always, we are here to help! For general queries, call us on 0508 CHARITIES (0508 242 748).

Kia mahana tātou (stay warm everyone).

Ka kite ano,

Julia Wootton

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Charity Law, Accounting and Regulation Conference

Last month, Charities Services teamed up with the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand (CLAANZ) and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) to host a conference on the 'Perspectives on Charities Law, Accounting and Regulation in New Zealand'. 

The line-up of speakers was impressive. With local and international speakers from legal, regulatory, accounting, academic and charitable sectors, it was a truly interdisciplinary conference.

To set the context, the purpose of the conference was to discuss important topics for charities, strengthen links within the sector community and to share best practices that have worked within New Zealand and beyond. 

An excellent turn out at the 'Perspectives on Charities Law, Accounting and Regulation in NZ' conference held at Te Papa.

The day started off with a debate on whether there are too many charities in New Zealand.  A wide range of individuals discussed the challenges posed by the fact we have more charities per person than any other comparative jurisdiction. Some commended that our number of charities is a testament to the ingenuity and diversity of New Zealanders in identifying and relieving the needs of the community. Others pointed to the administrative waste in having so many charities and noted advantages in merging or using Community Foundations or Donor Advised Funds to advance charitable purposes. This undoubtedly remains an active issue which we’ll make sure we explore in more detail in an upcoming blog.

The next sessions dove deep into the issue of charitable purpose. With topical issues of social housing and advocacy being robustly debated, it showed how the matter of charitable purpose can be dividing across jurisdictions and how it may be a tricky issue to solve. 

The second day started with a quite a bang, with our Minister Hon Peeni Henare addressing the conference and discussing his plans for a review of the Charities Act.

Minister Hon Peeni Henare addressing the conference in day two.

Increasing public trust and confidence was another hot topic for the day, with two regulators and an academic highlighting the importance of charities being accountable by publicly reporting on their accounts and the regulator focussing on ensuring the integrity of that data. 

Finally, the attendees gave their reflections on the conference. Religion, the place of Te Ao Māori on the Charities Register, social enterprise, and a potential charities tribunal, were all keenly discussed.

Highlights of the event were Honourable Justice Rebecca Ellis’  presentation on the limitation of the Charities Act, and a very poignant catch phrase from the Irish academic, Professor Oonagh Breen, who said, “be a magpie" - find the shining examples of the best ideas from the different jurisdictions of the world and apply them in New Zealand. That’s an idea that has certainly left Charities Services with lots of food for thought for the upcoming year!

The event ended with fantastic feedback from Jennifer Batrouney QC, one of the most prominent charities and tax lawyers in Australia, who commented: “I have never been to a conference that I have enjoyed more in my entire career - and I have been to a LOT of conferences!”.

Many of the resources of the conference are available for public viewing, including videos of most of the presentations, at the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand’s website.

NZBN - The Future of Business

Later this year, we’ll be making a small change to the charities register that you will need to know about.

By 31 December 2018, the charities register will have an additional field to allow charities to record their New Zealand Business Number (NZBN). 

If you don’t have a NZBN or don’t know what one is, then we have a blog post just for you! Read it now to find out how a NZBN will make it easier for you to pay your bills, liaise with suppliers, work with your accountant and deal with government agencies – just to name a few. 

The NZBN is now available to all Kiwi businesses, including charities!

Farewell to Caren Rangi

Of Cook Island Māori descent, from the islands of Rakahanga, Rarotonga and Aitutaki, Caren has been a chartered accountant for 23 years and has sat on a number of boards in the government and community sector since 2002. She has recently been appointed as the chair of the independent panel to review Whanau Ora, and is currently the Deputy Chair of the Arts Council of New Zealand, Director of the Cook Islands Investment Corporation and a trustee of the Pacific Island Homecare Services Trust, and Director of Pacific Co-operation Broadcasting Ltd.

She is the principal consultant for Ei Mua Consulting Ltd, her own company, established in August 2008 and won the Linden Estate Hawke's Bay Business Leader of the Year in 2017.

Her way of cutting through complex legal issues to simple and concise ideas, and the warmth and humour that she brought to the meetings of the Board will be missed. At the recent charity law conference, Caren gave a talk at the dinner, and regaled attendees about her time as a Board member. Highlighting the importance of the Board’s role in encouraging trust and confidence in the charitable sector, she noted her development of governance policies to support the Board and the challenges of balancing supporting the sector with applying the law.

We have been fortunate to have worked with someone of Caren’s calibre and we wish her all the best for her future. We all look forward to her future contributions to the community sector and wider New Zealand and Pacific society.

SECTOR SHOWCASE

            GRG is a registered charity that operates nationwide.

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust NZ

One of the best things about talking to charities is coming across inspirational stories about everyday Kiwis doing their part to make our community a better place. 

As luck would have it, one of these stories landed in our laps when we recently learnt about a Kiwi actor’s epic trek of the Te Araroa Trail (The Long Pathway from Cape Reinga to Bluff) to raise funds for the charity, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust NZ.

Bruce Hopkins, best known for playing the role of ‘Gamling’ in the Lord of the Rings, began his fundraising effort six and a half months ago. 3,000km later (that’s around 4,000,000 steps by our calculations) his ‘odyssey’ has raised over $25,000 for the trust.

Such a spirited feat got our attention! 

We wanted to know more about GRG, so we reached out to Kate Bundell (Chief Executive) who walked us through what it’s like to run a charity that supports over 6,000 grandparents to raise their grandchildren on a full-time basis. 

         Actor, Bruce Hopkins, looking rugged and happy outside Stodys Hut in Otago.

Down the garden path

Chatting with Kate, one thing is clear - while refilling the empty nest can be life changing and joyous for many grandparents, it’s not all roses. For more than 95% of the families that GRG works with, these grandparents have become full-time caregivers as a result of unexpected or traumatic events – and often due to drug or alcohol abuse, child neglect, or the death of one or both parents.   

With the number of grandparents raising grandchildren growing every year and the age of the carers getting broader, the fact is that not even great-grandparents or great-great grandparents are exempt, indicating that “generational family breakdown and family dysfunction is a very real and current issue”.

But this is where GRG comes in. For almost two decades, they have been equipping families with the tools to spearhead positive changes in the lives of thousands of children in New Zealand.  

Founded by Diane Vivian, the charity was steered with determination and grit ever since. 

Diane was even recognised by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II this year for her inspirational work in setting up GRG, and was awarded the prestigious Commonwealth Point of Light award - talk about a crowning achievement! 

So what is the key to GRG’s success? “Reliance on grassroots support from volunteers and local trust members is essential!”.

Through 36 support groups nationwide, education services, advocacy, publications and a 0800 GRANDS crisis helpline, which fielded 8,744 calls last year alone!

When asked “what’s the most important thing in the world of GRG?” Kate’s perspective is clear, “what we have learnt through our work is that it’s all about people, people, people!” Whether it’s a government department making a decision that impacts a child’s life or an agency like GRG that works to meet a community need, “it is ultimately people who can make the difference”. 

GRG’s golden tips for other charities:

1. ‘Stick to your knitting’. Focus on your core business and what your charity is set up to achieve. Don’t try to be all things to all people.                             

2. Know your subject matter well and ask yourself the big questions: What is the need in the community that you are meeting? Are you best placed to meet that need or is there another organisation that can do it better?                         

3. Never assume that you know all the answers. The ability and willingness to reach out into the community for feedback and ideas is a must! 

To find out more about Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, visit their website or search for them on the Charities Register. 

NEWS OF INTEREST

Sector User Group Update

The Sector User Group (SUG) met last month and had productive conversations across a wide range of topics. Big ticket items included Charities Services’ compliance approach, the development of a registered charity logo, and a project aimed at supporting charities to improve governance.  As always, the meeting was an invaluable opportunity for information sharing between us and representatives of the sector.

Compliance approach

As a regulator, it’s important that we maintain regular and direct engagement with the sector in the interest of compliance. Part of this is having a compliance approach that assures the public that registered charities are meeting their obligations.

The SUG was presented with our proposed approach for 2018/2019, which focusses on adopting a firmer approach to granting extensions to Annual Return due dates, continuing to check a random sample of performance/financial reports, and looking at charities with modified audit opinions. (If your charity has a modified audit opinion, it will be clearly indicated on your audit report.)

On the whole, the SUG was supportive of the approach and provided suggestions to further our thinking into how we make it easier for charities to comply.  A couple of quick-win recommendations included making videos to clarify areas where charities are finding it difficult to comply with the reporting requirements and leveraging our communications to promote the value of reporting.

 Registered charity logo

An essential part of promoting trust and confidence in the charitable sector is making sure that registered charities are identifiable to the public. One of the ways we are helping to do this is through developing a logo which would be a visual representation of a charity’s registered status.  

Being registered with Charities Services is something charities can really be proud of, and it’s our vision that this logo will help charities to promote their registered status. We anticipate that all registered charities will have the option to download this logo and use it on their charity’s website, email signatures, publications and other promotional material.   

We’re really pleased that feedback has been positive and the group sees the benefits in having this resource.

Governance Project

The Governance Project is one of our leading items of work this year that’s been initiated based on an identified need to improve governance in the charities sector. 

Right now we are talking to funders, philanthropists, charities and consultants who all agree that there is a real need to build governance capability so charities can run more effectively. 

One of the key things we have identified so far is that despite a high number of resources and education material in the public domain, many charities do not utilise these resources and therefore could probably use some support.

A common theme that derived from SUG discussions was around enabling better collaboration across the sector for best results and the need for access to mentorship.

The SUG is particularly interested to hear more about this project as it progresses, so we’re making sure we’re in a good position to provide this at our next meet up.

The next SUG meeting is tentatively scheduled for October 2018.

The Sector User Group is an initiative that provides a channel for information sharing between the regulator (that's us) and the charities sector, to allow for more visibility of Charities Services' work, and create a forum for discussion, feedback and consultation.

Small Charities Assurance Needs 

Systems Update - What's Happening? 

Charities services will be undergoing a systems update scheduled for Friday 6 July (12pm) until Monday 9 July (9am).

How will this impact me or my charity?

The systems update will have little impact on charities. It will upgrade our system behind the scenes, and will not affect how you interact with Charities Services. During this time however, there will be limited access to your charity’s online account. You will still be able to view your online account details but will not be able to file any annual returns or update details. 

Just a reminder:

For many registered charities, your Annual Return is due to us by the 30th of June. If this is your charity, please ensure that you complete your filing before or on this due date. You can access your account here.

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