Disclaimer

1. Data Sources and Accuracy

CharityData NZ aggregates information from publicly available sources, primarily:

• The New Zealand Charities Register maintained by Charities Services (Department of Internal Affairs)
• Charity annual returns and financial statements
• Other publicly disclosed information

This data may contain errors, omissions, or be outdated. Charities may have updated their information since our last data refresh. Financial figures may be subject to rounding, categorisation differences, or reporting variations between charities.

We do not independently verify the accuracy of information submitted by charities to the Charities Register. If you identify any inaccuracies, please contact us so we can investigate.

2. Ratings and Analysis

Our charity ratings and analysis represent our independent opinions based on our published methodology applied to publicly available data. These ratings:

• Are opinions and assessments, not statements of fact
• Are based on publicly available information that may be incomplete
• Should not be the sole basis for any donation decision
• Do not indicate endorsement or condemnation of any charity
• May change as new information becomes available or our methodology evolves

A low rating does not necessarily mean a charity is ineffective or untrustworthy. Similarly, a high rating does not guarantee that a charity is right for your particular giving goals. Ratings reflect our analysis of specific metrics and may not capture all aspects of a charity's work or impact.

2a. When we don’t assign a letter grade

From v3.1, the engine deliberately withholds a letter grade when the filed data cannot produce one that is both fair and meaningful. This has become the dominant outcome under v3.3 (April 2026), where eligibility is aligned with the Charities Services Tier 2 boundary (NZ$2 million revenue). Reasons a charity may be displayed as Not rated include:

• Revenue below $2 million with zero detected red flags (Tier 3/4 summary filing that doesn’t itemise the fields the template needs)
• Most recent annual return is more than three years old
• Key balance-sheet figures missing with no usable prior-year fallback
• Persistent negative net assets (structural to retirement villages, iwi settlement trusts, and some Crown-loan vehicles)
• Small volunteer community organisation below the operational template scope
• Statutory regulator registered as a charity for tax purposes
• Dormant or inactive — no financial activity reported
• Deregistered from the Charities Services register
• Under an active Charities Services adverse regulatory action

Not rated never means no information.All publicly filed figures are shown on the charity page, and a “Reasons to look carefully” tile surfaces any donor-relevant structural observations (see section 3a below). A charity of any size with a detected red flag is still rated — the Tier 2 threshold is never a shield for detected issues.

3. Red Flags and Governance Concerns

When we identify "red flags" or governance concerns, these are observations based on our analysis of available data patterns. They indicate areas that may warrant further investigation but do not constitute allegations of wrongdoing.

Red flags may have reasonable explanations. For example:

• High reserves may be appropriate for charities planning major projects
• Unusual financial patterns may reflect legitimate organisational changes
• Governance structures may be appropriate for specific charity types

We encourage users to contact charities directly if they have questions about any concerns identified on our platform.

3a. “Reasons to look carefully” concern signals (v3.3)

From v3.3 (April 2026), charity pages where a letter grade has been withheld may surface a separate “Reasons to look carefully” tile. These signals are below red-flag severity and never dock a charity’s score. They are structural observations drawn from the same Charities Services data — for example: a board with only 1–2 current officers, an annual return more than 24 months old, or an operating charity under $500 thousand revenue with reserves covering more than 60 months of expenses.

The tile exists because “not rated” must never be read as “no information”. A donor considering a gift to a small Tier 3-filing charity should have the same structural context they would have when reading a Form 990 on ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer, a GuideStar/Candid transparency seal, or a BBB Wise Giving Alliance accountability summary. Each concern signal has a plausible benign explanation, and the tile’s language is deliberately neutral so it cannot reasonably be read as an accusation:

• A thin board may reflect a recent incorporation still building its governance structure
• An overdue return may be awaiting a lodged extension with Charities Services
• High reserves on a small charity may reflect a multi-year capital-works plan
• Government-funding concentration may be inherent to the charity’s service model

If you represent a charity and believe a signal is inaccurate or would benefit from context, please contact us at hello@charitydata.co.nz.

4. Not Professional Advice

Nothing on this website constitutes professional advice of any kind, including but not limited to financial, legal, tax, or investment advice. The information is provided for general educational and informational purposes only.

Before making any decisions about charitable donations, particularly significant ones, you should:

• Conduct your own research and due diligence
• Verify information directly with the charity and official sources
• Consult with qualified professionals as appropriate
• Consider your own financial circumstances and giving goals

5. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by New Zealand law:

• CharityData NZ, its operators, directors, employees, and affiliates exclude all liability for any loss or damage arising from your use of, or reliance on, information on this website
• We shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or exemplary damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, data, or goodwill
• We do not warrant that the website will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of viruses or other harmful components

Nothing in this disclaimer excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under New Zealand law, including liability under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 where applicable.

6. Fair Comment and Honest Opinion

All ratings, assessments, and commentary on this website constitute our honest opinions based on facts as we understand them from publicly available sources. We exercise good faith in our analysis and do not act with malice toward any charity or individual.

Under the New Zealand Defamation Act 1992, we rely on the defences of honest opinion and qualified privilege. Our analysis is provided in the public interest to help New Zealanders make informed decisions about charitable giving.

7. Charity's Right to Respond

We welcome feedback from charities featured on our platform. If you represent a charity, person, or company and believe any information is inaccurate, missing context, or warrants a formal right-of-reply, you can submit a dispute via our public form:

→ Dispute information or submit a right-of-reply

Every submission is reviewed by our editorial team within five business days. We capture the claimant's name, role, and supporting evidence; review the underlying source data; and either correct the surface, accept the additional context, or record a public response. All decisions are logged for audit. Concrete examples of what we route through this mechanism: factual corrections to charity profile data, missing context on rating decisions, disputed officer-integrity flags (sanctions matches, insolvency cross-references, §36B attestation interpretations), and any reputational concern arising from our coverage.

For sensitive matters or where a public form is not appropriate, you can also email hello@charitydata.co.nz directly.

7a. Officer integrity flags — how we surface them

Some charity profiles display an officer integrity panel cross-referencing current officers against four NZ public registers: the NZ Sanctions Register (UN, MFAT Russia, NZ Police counter-terrorism designations), the MBIE Insolvency Register, the Companies Office prohibited-director list, and the charity’s own Charities Act 2005 §36B self-attestation filed with each annual return. Where any check fires on a current officer, that row carries a direct link to the right-of-reply form pre-populated with the affected officer’s context.

We apply two editorial guards before surfacing any officer flag publicly: (a) the officer must be currently active — past officers are silently excluded because the §36B field is sometimes used by charities as a bulk departure marker, and (b) sanctions matches below the strongest tier (name + supporting identifier such as date of birth or NZBN) sit in an internal review queue until a human verifies them. Where a flag does surface, the copy is constrained by the source data: we describe what the register says, not what we infer about the person. For example, the §36B catchall field is rendered as “the charity has not certified this officer’s qualifying status” rather than the stronger “this person is disqualified” framing — because the data often does not support the latter.

8. No Affiliation

CharityData NZ is an independent platform. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected to:

• Charities Services or the Department of Internal Affairs
• Any charity featured on this platform
• Any government agency or regulatory body

9. Updates and Changes

We may update our data, ratings, and analysis at any time without notice. Historical information may be retained for reference purposes. The absence of updated information should not be interpreted as confirmation that previous information remains current.

10. Reporting Concerns

If you have concerns about a charity's conduct, you may also wish to contact:

• Charities Services: The official regulator of New Zealand charities
  Website: charities.govt.nz
• Serious Fraud Office: For suspected fraud or serious financial misconduct
  Website: sfo.govt.nz

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this disclaimer, wish to report an error, or believe any information requires correction, please contact us at:

Email: hello@charitydata.co.nz

We aim to respond to all enquiries within a reasonable timeframe.