Question 1

How do I search for a specific charity?

Accepted Answer

Use the search box at the top of the page to search by charity name or registration number. You can also use filters to narrow results by sector, rating grade, region, or specific criteria like government funding percentage.

Question 2

What do the letter grades mean?

Accepted Answer

Letter grades range from A+ (excellent) to F (poor) and represent our overall assessment of a charity. A+ to A- charities demonstrate strong financial management, good governance, and transparency. B grades are solid performers. C grades are average. D and F grades indicate significant concerns that donors should investigate.

Question 3

Why might a charity not have a rating?

Accepted Answer

A charity may be shown as "Not rated" for several reasons rather than forced into an artificial grade: it may be a small volunteer / community organisation (under $250K revenue, no paid staff); its most recent annual return may be more than three years old; it may have no balance-sheet figures filed; it may have persistent negative equity for structural reasons (retirement villages, iwi settlement vehicles, infrastructure trusts); or it may be a smaller Tier 3/4 filer whose summary annual-return form doesn't contain enough categorised detail to support a meaningful grade. In every case we show the charity's filed figures alongside an explanation of why a grade was withheld. Any detected red flag disqualifies these carve-outs — if something concerning is on the register, the charity is rated.

Question 4

What sectors do you cover?

Accepted Answer

We cover all registered New Zealand charities across every sector including Health, Education, Social Services, Religion, Arts & Culture, Sports & Recreation, Environment, Animal Welfare, International Aid, and more. Use the sector filter to browse charities in specific areas.

Question 5

What if I think information about a charity is wrong?

Accepted Answer

Use our right-of-reply form at /dispute/new to submit a correction, missing context, or formal 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. The form covers everything from factual corrections to charity profile data, missing context on rating decisions, disputed officer-integrity flags, or any reputational concern arising from our coverage.

Question 6

How do you check whether a charity's officers are qualified?

Accepted Answer

Every charity profile's Governance tab shows an Officer Integrity Panel that cross-references 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. Most charities show a silent green panel — that absence-of-flag is itself the value for any donor or grant officer running due diligence. Where a flag does appear, it includes a direct link to the dispute form so the affected charity can respond. The integrity check does NOT affect the charity's rating — it's a parallel KYC layer.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Frequently Asked Questions