Understanding the Role A charitable trust exists to advance one or more charitable purposes, not private benefit, and its trustees are those legally responsible for making that happen. If the trust is incorporated as a charitable trust board, the board becomes a legal entity, but the individuals on it still Read more
Updated 13 December 2025 Late in November we received a newsletter from lawyer Sue Barker which contained the following information: “In a new consultation paper issued on 14 November 2025, entitled Taxation and the not-for-profit sector: Targeted consultation on detailed design, IRD is proposing to create a new category of “donor-controlled” charity Read more
We recently came across an article with the above title. This time of year and the start of the new is a time when many boards are looking back and starting to think about strategic planning for the future (once the festivities are over!). So we thought that the article Read more
Our friends at GoodNumbers have recently provided some advice on the above topic, a topic which can cause confusion or even disharmony in an organisation. The GoodNumbers article is entitled “What are Related Party Transactions? It starts: “What are transactions with close relationships (sometimes called related party transactions)? These are Read more
Website GOOD NUMBERS recently posted a guide entitled “How to open a Bank Account for your Charity”. The guide starts: “As many in the sector know, opening a bank account for a charity can be anything but straightforward. Bank staff are often unfamiliar with the process, and it’s not uncommon Read more
Q. I am a member of an incorporated society. I have asked both the secretary and the president, at various times, for the opportunity to speak at a general meeting of the society. Each time, this has been denied. what are (in general) my rights? A. Under the Incorporated Societies Read more
“Charities cut ties to Sarah Ferguson over reported Epstein email” – 1 News 23 September 2025 The ideal patron today is an active ambassador for a charity’s vision, a responsible steward of their own and the charity’s reputation, and an engaged partner — however public or private — in the Read more
Recent months have seen a large number of changes, in the regulatory sense, for NZ charities and non-profit organisations. We recently used an AI programme to check whether we are missing any changes and updates. Here we reproduce the response (from Perplexity AI) in full noting, as always with AI, Read more
AI is ‘all the rage’ at the moment and used properly (and carefully) it can be a very useful tool. But there are potential pitfalls. Parry Field Lawyers have put together a number of resources aimed at helping organisations navigate through the subject. Access the Parry Field AI Hub here
Did you know that all registered charities must review their governance procedures (Rules, Constitution etc) every 3 years? Steven Moe of Parry Field Lawyers has published a blog on the subject. Entitled “Not ‘Just another Governance Burden for Charities”, the blog starts: “All registered charities must now review their governance Read more
Barry Baker and Jadene Windley of Grant Thornton have recently published a blog with the above title on this very topical subject. The article starts: “New regulations are changing how some incorporated societies report their finances. The Incorporated Societies Act 2022 replaces the 1908 Act, marking the first major overhaul Read more
Our newsletter is published monthly (except January, and occasionally if the team are taking a well-earned break) around the 27th of the month. Inevitably, no sooner has the newsletter been published than an interesting snippet of information will appear in our email inbox. We do not send out emails between Read more