This How-to Guide will be revised to remove duplication, when time allows.

Meanwhile, it contains information and links for people wanting to set up an incorporated society, charitable trust, Māori organisation or other legal entity. Choose the right structure for your community or voluntary organisation, whether it is a club, society, service organisation charity, trust or interest group. The guide includes: sample constitutions, links to relevant IRD and Companies Office documents, and checklists.

A good place to start is  Choosing a structure. You'll find more details about each legal structure in Publications / Resources.

Read some Case Studies or browse the Community Groups Links to see what similar organisations have chosen, then download a sample constitution from the Templates section. 

You'll also find more information in other Websites. 

Please help make this How-to Guide even more useful.  Email news, links or other information to information@community.net.nz. 

Currently, we are looking for a new editor for this How To Guide, with the Departments' Digital Strategy Team looking after it in the meantime. If you have an interest in Governance and Management and would like to take on this role, please email us as above.

News

• Recent tax changes for Tertiary Education Institutions, Schools, and Non-Resident Charities

  Date added: 3 June 2008

• Charities required to register for tax exemptions

  Charities Commission,
  Date added: 13 August 2007

Publications / Resources   (Go to full list of 12 items)

• Who can help?

  The following list of organisations and sources are available to assist with queries.
  Date updated: 17 June 2008

• Setting up an Incorporated Society

  An overview to help you set-up an incorporated society and register it with the Companies Office.
  Date updated: 28 May 2008

• Choosing a legal structure

  An overview of advantages and disadvantages of becoming a legal entity and a comparison of the distinctions between the most common structures.
  Date updated: 26 January 2006

Full List

Templates

• Incorporated Society Documents

  Downloadable sample constitutions and registration forms.
  Date updated: 12 January 2006

• Charitable Trust Documents

  A sample Trust Deed, application and statutory declaration forms and sample letters to the IRD in Microsoft Word and Rich Text Formats.
  Date updated: 10 January 2006

• View existing constitutions, deeds and rules

  The Societies Office holds information about trusts and societies. This includes Constitutions and Trust Deeds, and it can be very helpful to read the deeds of existing organisations with a similar purpose to yours.
  Date updated: 19 November 2005

Case Studies

• Wellington Somali Community Association

  The Wellington Somali Community Association shares some of the background to their work, and the challenges they faced getting incorporated.
  Date updated: 1 November 2006

• Māori organisational governance studies

  These two joint Te Puni Kōkiri/ Federation of Māori Authorities studies each contain 10 case studies from a range of for-profit and not-for-profit Māori organisations.
  Date updated: 14 December 2005

Websites   (Go to full list of 4 items)

• Societies and Trusts online

  Register for charitable trusts, incorporated societies, companies and other legal entities that are incorporated. Here you'll find an Online search for organisations, forms for registering new organisations, and filed constitutions, annual accounts ...
  Date added: 10 November 2002

• Inland Revenue Department (IRD) - non-profit information

  Tax information for incorporated societies, clubs, associations, charitable trusts.
  Date added: 10 November 2002

• SPARC's Starting Your Club

  Designed for sports clubs, this section of the SPARC's Club Kit on getting a club started has useful resources for any organisation. It is designed to help figure out what a club can achieve and the ...
  Date added: 4 October 2007

Full List