July 14, 2015 1:00pm by David Farrar

1,000 fewer charities

Greater scrutiny of the Charities Register has resulted in over 1000 charities being deregistered says Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Jo Goodhew.

A recent inspection of Annual Returns held by the Charities Register found more than 2,000 registered charities had not filed their Annual Returns and financial information for two years or more.

“This clean-up of the Charities Register will provide the public with greater confidence that the 26,866 registered charities in New Zealand are fulfilling their legal obligations to report their financial information,” says Mrs Goodhew.

“Registered charities receive generous tax advantages funded by the taxpayer, and in return they are expected to explain to the public how they are using their funds and resources to benefit the people or cause they were set up to help.”

The inspection has led to 1,010 charities being deregistered, including 106 that voluntarily deregistered, and 904 that failed to respond to the requests to file their overdue Returns.

That still seems a staggeringly high number of charities.