Sourced from: https://www.charities.govt.nz/news-and-events/hot-topics/charitable-purpose-and-political-activity/

A recent decision by the Supreme Court has developed the law on what may qualify as a charitable purpose. 

In its decision on an appeal brought by Greenpeace New Zealand, the Supreme Court has found that political activity may itself be accepted as a charitable purpose (rather than just being "ancillary” to an organisation’s main purpose). Refer to the Supreme Court judgment [PDF, 360 KB] and media release for details.

The Department of Internal Affairs - Charities Services and the independent Charities Registration Board are reviewing our approach to assessing applications for registration in the light of the Court’s decision, and Charities Services will issue new guidance for organisations considering applying to register as a charity. We will publish updated guidance on this website when it is available.

To be eligible to register as a charity, an applicant has to show that its purpose and activities meet the definition of a ‘charitable purpose’ set out in the Charities Act 2005—relieving poverty, or advancing education or religion, or other things beneficial to the community. There is a long history of case law that helps to define what can be considered charitable, and the Supreme Court decision now forms part of the law that we apply when considering each application.

Many not-for-profit organisations try to influence change by raising awareness of a societal issue or by lobbying to change the law. This has never been treated as a bar to registration as a charity, provided that the activity was ancillary to an entity's main charitable purpose.

While the Supreme Court decision found that political activity may now itself be accepted as a main charitable purpose, an applicant will still have to demonstrate that its purposes and all its activities provide benefits to the public or a sufficient section of the public, not just to an individual, organisation or closed group, as well as being charitable. Applicants must also demonstrate that they meet all of the other requirements of the Act.

The Court’s decision does not invalidate the independent Charities Registration Board’s previous decisions to decline to register any applicant, or to deregister any previously registered charity, on the basis of political advocacy. Those decisions were made applying the law as the courts interpreted it to be at the time.

The Charities Registration Board and the Department of Internal Affairs - Charities Services will now apply the law as it has been clarified by the Supreme Court. Current applications which have an element of political advocacy will be considered in the light of the Supreme Court decision.

Any organisation that has previously been declined registration on the basis of political advocacy that was not “ancillary” to a main charitable purpose can, if it wishes, submit a fresh application for registration. Applicants will need to demonstrate that they meet all of the requirements of the Act. All applications will be considered carefully on their own merits.