Message From Charlotte

I have spoken of our intention to make our engagement with you as tailored and meaningful as possible, with a focus on the needs of you as a sector. We recently held webinars on ‘Changes for Charities’ which had unprecedented numbers of registrations and attendance. We responded to the high demand scheduling extra sessions which were all well attended. Thank you to those who took advantage of this opportunity and especially to those that provided feedback. Following this positive response, we are happy to let you know that we will be holding more webinars in September.

Our team has also been getting out and meeting you in our Community Sessions. Thank you to those who joined us most recently in Kirikiriroa, Hamilton. These sessions have been a fantastic opportunity, not only to keep you informed, but also for us to learn about the challenges you are facing. We look forward to seeing you in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland in September and Ōtepoti, Dunedin in November for our remaining sessions.

A final change to note is the roll out of the new annual return forms. If you are a Tier 4 charity (most charities with annual operating payments under $140,000 are Tier 4 charities) you’ll find the combined annual return is much simpler. All the new annual return forms will simplify the process of submitting your annual returns and will provide the sector with valuable data. Please note that you don’t have to use the new annual return forms until April 2025, but you can use them sooner if you choose to. Read more about the new annual return forms on our website.

Thank you for the important mahi you continue to do for your communities and Aotearoa.

Nā Charlotte Stanley

Kaiwhakahaere Matua, General Manager

Updates for charities  

Lots of changes have happened for charities over the past year, including changes to the Charities Act, the reporting standards and Charities Services' forms. We’ve been talking to charities about the changes in our recent Community Sessions around the country, and in our webinars. We've also updated the Charities Act Hub on our website to keep you updated. 

A key update for charities is that the amendments to the Charities Act are now in effect. These changes are below:

Model rules published  
Model rules documents have now been published.  You can download them from our website.

Changes to officer definition
Who counts as an officer is now wider than the previous definition and may now include people who have “significant influence over substantial decisions”. We have an article that explains the changes.

Requirement to review your governance procedures
Your charity now needs to review its governance procedures at least once every three years. This change ensures your officers regularly think about how your charity runs, and whether your rules and processes are still fit for purpose. You can find out more about reviewing governance procedures on our website, download a governance checklist to help guide your review. 

Application response time has increased 
If we need any additional information as part of your application for registration, you now have two months to respond instead of 20 working days.

Consultation on publications 
We’ll consult with charities when we’re considering publishing guidelines on new or changed processes that might affect the sector.

Disqualification of officers
Te Rātā Atawhai, the independent Charities Registration Board, now has powers to disqualify officers for serious wrongdoing without having to deregister the charity they are associated with. Previously an officer could only be disqualified if their charity was also deregistered.

Objections and Appeals
Charities will be able to object to some of our decisions. These include decisions to register or deregister charities; to publish or restrict details about charities on the public register; to backdate the effective date of registration of charities; or to grant exemptions from compliance with the Charities Act 2005. This means that people will be able to appear before the Board or Charities Services to object and be heard before decisions are made. Charities will be able to appeal decisions made by us or the Board to the Taxation Review Authority (before the High Court).

Data improvements
We have embedded some improvements to the data on the Charities Register.

Visit the Charities Act Hub for more information. 
 

Changes for Charities Webinar

There has been huge interest in our Changes for Charities webinars held in August. Thank you everyone who has participated so far.

We have recordings available on our website, but due to the high level of interest, we’re running four more webinars in September, which will run from 12pm - 1pm on the dates below.

You can register by clicking on a date below.

Tuesday 3 September
Thursday 5 September
Monday 16 September
Wednesday 18 September
 

Auckland Community Session

Our next Community Session will be on 24 September at Māngere Memorial Hall in Auckland from 1pm to 4pm.

We will be holding drop-in sessions where you can pop in for a chat and get some general support and information for your charity. You can talk to us about governance, reporting, registering your charity, recent Act changes or updating your details on the register.

We’ll also be joined by Hāpai Hapori Community Operations, who can talk to you about funding opportunities. There’s no need to sign up for the afternoon, just pop in and see us!

Pacific Community Workshop

On 24 September, from 5.00pm – 7.30pm we are holding a free workshop for Pacific charities at Māngere Memorial Hall in Auckland. The workshop will discuss the recent changes for charities, including the changes to reporting, reporting tiers and to the Charities Act. We recommend that two people from each charity attend. Dinner will be provided.

Sign up for the workshop here.

We will keep you updated on the other sessions happening throughout the year in our newsletter and Facebook. If you're not in any of the areas we're visiting or you’re unable to attend, but still need assistance with your reporting, please book a one-on-one clinic with us.

Annual Return Fees

Please help us find your payment! When paying your annual return fee by internet banking, please make sure you reference your payment properly. It makes it easy for us to find out who has paid if you include your charity registration number. It always starts with CC.

Charities Services Open Data Service has been updated! 

The Charities Register holds a wealth of information about registered charities across the country. It’s an open register, which means people can access the data held in the system. It is used by community funders, researchers, developers and many others.

We are pleased to let you know we’ve now updated the Open Data Service (from 24 July 2024) and added some new fields to reflect the recent changes to the Charities Act 2005, the reporting standards, and our updated forms.

This update is great for charities, because it means your information can be easily accessed by funders who use the Open Data Service to help inform their funding decisions. You don’t need to provide so much information to some of your funders because they can access information through the register. This leaves you more time to get on with your valuable mahi.

If you are a funder and you currently use the Open Data, please note the changes are only to introduce new fields which can be viewed in the updated data dictionary.

Granted: Explore pokie data

Granted.govt.nz was launched in September 2022 to increase transparency, and to help communities and not-for-profit organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand discover who benefits from class 4 gambling (pokie) grants.

Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) do not have any say in which organisations receive this type of grant funding, but we want charitable organisations to know that this type of funding is available should they wish to apply.

The instructional video on the home page shows how to work the data in many ways, including right down to a territorial authority level. You'll also find tips on about how you can navigate the application process.

Update from Inland Revenue: myIR accounts  

Are you a charity that is registered for GST and PAYE? Did you know that myIR provides secure online services to help you manage all your accounts including GST and PAYE?

To register a myIR account for a non-individual such as a company, school, society or club, you must be linked in our records with the entity you are registering. For example, as an officer of a club or society.

You can also:

• update contact details for your organisation
• add or change bank account details
• make payments and file tax returns
• send and receive secure web messages
• receive correspondence and notifications from Inland Revenue

If you already have a personal myIR logon, you can add access to the linked organisation through your existing login. If you choose not to, you will need to create a separate myIR login for the organisation.

To protect your organisation’s information and prevent unauthorised access, it is important that login details are not shared between multiple people even if they are currently involved with your organisation. New logins should be created as board members and authorised people change, and then ceased when they are no longer associated.

You can find more information about registering for myIR on Inland Revenue’s website myIR Secure Online Services (ird.govt.nz)

Resources

Read the plain version of this email here.