Charities play an important role in our society to help the disadvantaged, support specific causes or to advance knowledge. In New Zealand we have more than 27,000 registered
charities, with 230,000+ volunteers and 180,000 paid staff [1]. Many of these charities are
structured as trusts which can be incorporated and run as a trust board by the trustees.
Others are structured as incorporated societies or companies, or as unincorporated bodies. These types of charities are run by a board with specific obligations and responsibilities.
The Charities Act 2005 (which is currently under review) regulates the Charities Register and sets out the statutory rules relating to registered charities. Those rules include a re-quirement for registered charities to report, on an annual basis, to Charities Services (a di-vision of the Department of Internal Affairs).