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Board Statement on Nelson Grey Power Association Incorporated from the Charities Registration Board, Te Rātā Atawhai
Board Statement on Nelson Grey Power Association Incorporated from the Charities Registration Board, Te Rātā Atawhai
Published 21 May 2020
In its decision dated 21 May 2020, the Charities Registration Board, Te Rātā Atawhai (“the Board”), has decided to decline the application of Nelson Grey Power Association Incorporated (the Society) to be a registered charity because it does not advance exclusively charitable purposes.
The role of the Board is to maintain the integrity of the Charities Register by ensuring that entities on the Charities Register qualify for registration.
The Board makes its decisions by applying the law to the facts before it. The Board must decline to register applications from organisations when they do not advance exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit.
The Board has declined the Society’s application to be registered because the Society does not advance exclusively charitable purposes. The Board considers that the Society has an independent purpose to support the Grey Power New Zealand Federation, which does not have exclusively charitable purposes. The Board considers that the Society also has a primary purpose to promote its viewpoints on any issue that it considers impacts on older persons, in a way that cannot be found to be in the public benefit in the charitable sense. The Society’s broad advocacy is not restricted to supporting older people in charitable need or advancing any other charitable purpose. The Board considers that these non-charitable purposes cannot be considered ancillary to another charitable purpose being undertaken by the Society.
In reaching its decision the Board acknowledges that the Society undertakes a number of activities that are consistent with a charitable public benefit to relieve the needs of the aged, such as providing direct support to those with age-related conditions or who are experiencing social isolation or exclusion because of their age. The Board has found, however, that the Society’s broad advocacy for points of view on issues of concern and its support for the Federation mean that its activities do not qualify as being for the public benefit in a charitable sense. The Board also notes that the Society has the freedom to continue to advocate and communicate its views on any issue of concern on behalf of older people.
In making its decision, the Board is not taking a position on whether or not the Society’s viewpoints are of benefit for New Zealand, but on the Society’s eligibility for registration under the Charities Act 2005 and relevant case law.
Roger Holmes Miller
Charities Registration Board
To view the decision click here(external link).