19 December 2023
CHARITIES SERVICES
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
PO Box 12318, Thorndon, Wellington
6011, New Zealand
Freephone 0508242748
www.charities.govt.nz
Henry via fyi-request-24949
dia.govt.nz
Sent via email to: [FYI request #24949 email]
Tēnā koe Henry
Official Information Act 1982 Request – OIA 2324-0377
Thank you for your request for information about the application processing times for
Charities Services that was received by the Department of Internal Affairs (the Department)
on the 29 November 2023.
You have requested the following:
•
1. The number of application for charitable status received within the last 36 months;
•
2. The typical (average) time taken by the Board to assess those applications, the
maximum time; and least time taken for each of (a) those that applied; (b) those that
were approved; and (c) those that were rejected. Please also provide the number of
application still outstanding, and the average time since the application was received.
In response to your request, I can provide you with the following information.
Te Rātā Atawhai, the Charities Registration Board, is an independent three-person body
which makes decisions about registering or deregistering charities.
In practice, most decisions are made by Charities Services acting under formal delegation
and guidance from the Board. However, the Board always deals with more complex or novel
cases and those where organisations disagree with Charities Services’ decisions. Charities
Services has therefore provided all applications approved, declined, and withdrawn under
the delegation from the Board.
Processing times vary greatly depending on complexity of the application however during
the past 36 months the average working days to completion was 27.3 days. Please note that
the working days are paused whenever Charities Services has requested information from an
entity and is awaiting a response.
• Between 1 Nov 2020 and 30 Nov 2023 Charities Services received a total of
4510
complete applications.
• The average working days to completion was
27.3 days.
•
3915 applications were approved.
•
592 applications were withdrawn either by the entity or withdrawn by Charities
Services under section 18(3A) of the Charities Act 2005.
•
3 applications were declined by the Charities Registration Board – The Self-
Sovereignty Faith, New Zealand Entrepreneurs Rescue (NZER) and Enhanced Future
Charitable Trust. These decisions can be viewed on our website here:
https://www.charities.govt.nz/charities-in-new-zealand/legal-decisions/view-the-
decisions/.
• The longest application time for registration that was approved in the last 36 months
was 368 days (due to application being placed on hold awaiting a High Court
decision).
• The least time for registration for an application that was approved was on the same
day of application (due to a Team Leader approved fast tracking of the application for
exceptional circumstances).
• The longest application time for registration for an application that was withdrawn
was 291 days.
• The shortest application time for registration for an application that was withdrawn
was on the same day.
• The longest application time for registration for an application that was declined by
the Charities Registration Board was 287 days.
• The shortest application time for registration for an application that was declined by
the Charities Registration Board was 73 days.
• As at 1 December 2023, 289 applications were in progress and 193 applications yet to
be assigned. The average time since the application was received was 43 working
days.
The details of Charities that have been registered in this period is publicly available on the
advanced find of the Charities Register
(https://register.charities.govt.nz/CharitiesRegister/Search) or through our data visualisation
here: https://register.charities.govt.nz/PowerBI
You have the right to seek an investigation and review of my decisions about your request by
the Ombudsman pursuant to section 28(1) of the Act. The Office of the Ombudsman can be
contacted by writing to PO Box 10-152, Wellington or by email to
[email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Penelope Cox
Manager Regulatory
Charities Services
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