Statement on Shooters Lottery Incorporated from the Independent Charities Registration Board

Published 14 June 2019

In its decision dated 14 June 2019 the independent Charities Registration Board (the “Board”) has decided to decline Shooters Lottery Incorporated’s (the “Society”) application 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 promote its own specific viewpoints on firearms issues in a way that cannot be found to be in the public benefit in the charitable sense. Further, the Board considers that this non-charitable purpose is the primary purpose of the Society and cannot be considered ancillary to another charitable purpose being undertaken by the Society.

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

View the decision here.(external link)