…along with a call to action.
A recent consultation seminar I and others were invited to attend about the purpose of charities continually referred to this key question.
The usual response from policy makers is that the Commission and the Charities Act are there to determine which organisations are eligible for income tax exemption and also so that donors can claim a tax rebate on their donations.
But for community organisations it has also had a significantly wider purpose.
I recall this was the subject of lots of discussion prior to forming the Commission prior to 2005, and this was re-ignited at this forum.
I believe most want the Commission to provide confidence and trust that charities are in fact being charitable, that both as organisational structures and in their activities they are pursing altruistic or public-good objectives.
Justice Joe Williams address to the meeting beautifully expressed this in “Where is the aroha here?”
This is a recognition of the voluntary commitment and work that forms and maintains these organisations and activities as being for the community, for love and for service. It confers a status and creates an environment in which people can engage and participate, donate and volunteer, knowing their effort is for the good of the public rather than someone’s personal gain.
This is a tricky thing to achieve.
How wide should the scope for charities be? Should they be all voluntary organisations? Just those that fit a specific definition?
To help throw some light on this, several options had been developed in a great background paper prepared by the specialist not-for- profit law unit at the University of Queensland.
One of these options was to replace the existing definition based on 400 year old British tradition and come up with new criteria based on altruism, voluntarism and public good. In Aotearoa in 2012 this appeals to me as a start for a discussion that we should here have as part of a promised review of Charities Act by 2015.
We think this review is important, and we would like this debate before decisions about the form of the Commission are made. In light of this, it is incredibly short sighted for Government to change the status of the independent Charities Commission into a unit within the Department of Internal Affairs, as is planned from 1 July this year.
It is nearly too late – the Crown Entities Reform Bill which disestablishes the Charities Commission and transfers it to DIA is about to have its second reading in Parliament – so any opportunities to talk with your local MPs about this issue are important right now!
If you’d like to see the letter to key Ministers which we wrote as well as our submission to the Select Committee, we could make available to you if it helps.
Use the contact form on our website to get back to us .