New Zealand's most financially healthy charities — and how we can tell
29 June 2026
We looked at every New Zealand charity that brings in more than NZ$500,000 a year — that's 4,508 of them — and ranked them on how financially healthy they look, using only the public numbers they have to report.
To be clear about what this is not: it doesn't tell you whether a charity is doing good work, or whether it's the “best”. It only tells you which ones look solid and honest with their money. Effectiveness is a human judgement we can't measure from a spreadsheet.
What we checked
We scored each charity out of 100 on seven things:
- Their books get checked. An independent accountant looks them over each year (an “audit”).
- The accountant didn't flag problems (no “modified” opinion).
- Sensible savings. Enough to keep going for a while, but not a huge pile sitting unused.
- Not much debt. Their debts are small compared to what they own.
- A small surplus, not a big one. They spend most of what comes in on their work — running a tiny bit ahead is healthy; big losses or hoarding big surpluses score lower.
- Money from more than one place. They're not relying on a single funder.
- Growing or holding steady. Their income over the last couple of years isn't shrinking.
The 25 below came out highest. The “trend” column shows whether their income has gone up, held steady, or dropped over the last ~2 years.
Key: “Money in” = gross income for the latest year. “Savings” = how many months they could keep running on reserves. “Trend” = income over the last ~2 years.
| # | Charity | Sector | Score | Money in | Savings | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whatever It Takes Trust Incorporated CC36770 | Sport / recreation | 95/100 | NZ$10.9M | 15 mo | Up |
| 2 | Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) Incorporated CC48210 | Economic development | 95/100 | NZ$7.5M | 14 mo | Up |
| 3 | The Regent Theatre Trust CC41202 | Education / training / research | 95/100 | NZ$1.1M | 14 mo | Up |
| 4 | Prisoners Aid And Rehabilitation Society Of The Manawatu District Incorporated CC22031 | Fund-raising | 95/100 | NZ$1.0M | 10 mo | Up |
| 5 | Christchurch School Of Music Incorporated CC20378 | — | 95/100 | NZ$961K | 18 mo | Up |
| 6 | Wellington Early Intervention Trust CC41132 | Marae on reservation land | 95/100 | NZ$943K | 12 mo | Up |
| 7 | Johnsonville Community Centre Incorporated CC10818 | Environment / conservation | 95/100 | NZ$735K | 11 mo | Up |
| 8 | Rata St Pre-School Charitable Trust CC24436 | Emergency / disaster relief | 95/100 | NZ$729K | 17 mo | Up |
| 9 | Teviot Valley Educare Centre Incorporated CC27329 | Emergency / disaster relief | 95/100 | NZ$630K | 11 mo | Up |
| 10 | Huntly Early Childhood Centre Incorporated CC22676 | Emergency / disaster relief | 95/100 | NZ$539K | 17 mo | Up |
| 11 | North Shore Theatre and Arts Trust (The PumpHouse Theatre) CC47003 | Education / training / research | 95/100 | NZ$524K | 9 mo | Up |
| 12 | Te Taiwhenua O Heretaunga Trust CC20582 | Sport / recreation | 92/100 | NZ$58.0M | 8 mo | Up |
| 13 | Waingākau Housing Development Limited CC58007 | Accommodation / housing | 92/100 | NZ$58.0M | 8 mo | Up |
| 14 | Te Hauora O Te Hiku O Te Ika Trust CC29644 | Sport / recreation | 92/100 | NZ$23.0M | 8 mo | Up |
| 15 | Activate Foundation Trust CC24620 | Emergency / disaster relief | 92/100 | NZ$18.9M | 17 mo | Up |
| 16 | Purapura Whetu Trust CC38084 | Sport / recreation | 92/100 | NZ$16.8M | 9 mo | Up |
| 17 | Blue Light Ventures Incorporated CC21948 | Fund-raising | 92/100 | NZ$12.1M | 12 mo | Up |
| 18 | Youthline Auckland Charitable Trust CC21032 | Sport / recreation | 92/100 | NZ$11.4M | 11 mo | Up |
| 19 | Otago University Students Association Incorporated CC40731 | Emergency / disaster relief | 92/100 | NZ$10.1M | 12 mo | Up |
| 20 | Te Puna Oranga o Ōtaki Charitable Trust CC60355 | Sport / recreation | 92/100 | NZ$3.3M | 9 mo | Up |
| 21 | Oxford Health Charity Limited CC37898 | Sport / recreation | 92/100 | NZ$2.8M | 14 mo | Up |
| 22 | Te Tira Whakamātaki Limited CC57424 | Religious activities | 92/100 | NZ$2.6M | 11 mo | Up |
| 23 | New Zealand Spinal Trust CC43195 | Marae on reservation land | 92/100 | NZ$2.2M | 15 mo | Up |
| 24 | Jesus Is Lord Church New Zealand Inc CC11466 | Economic development | 92/100 | NZ$1.7M | 11 mo | Up |
| 25 | Rubicon Charitable Trust Board CC32478 | Fund-raising | 92/100 | NZ$1.3M | 13 mo | Up |
Is your charity on this list?
You're welcome to share it. Here's a short link you can put on your website or in a newsletter — it helps people find independent, register-sourced info about your charity.
<a href="https://charitieswatch.nz/blog/most-financially-healthy-charities/" title="Named among New Zealand's most financially healthy charities — CharitiesWatch NZ">A financially healthy NZ charity — CharitiesWatch</a>How we worked this out (the technical bit)
Composite score (max 100) computed from the Charities Register, across seven measures: audited accounts (15); no modified audit opinion (15); reserves in a healthy sweet-spot, tapering outside it (15); low liabilities-to-assets / solvency (15); a sensible operating margin — a small surplus scores best, big deficits and very large surpluses score low (15); funding diversity — not over-reliant on a single source (15); and income held steady or grown over the last ~2 years (10). Only charities with gross income >= NZ$500,000 are considered. This measures FINANCIAL HEALTH and TRANSPARENCY, NOT how effectively a charity achieves its mission — that would need cost breakdowns the register does not consistently report.
Every number here comes straight from the public Charities Register (Charities Services) and is worked out automatically — nobody typed them in. This is about how healthy and open a charity's finances look, not whether its work is effective, and it's not an endorsement or a rating of being “best”. Always check the official register. See our disclaimer.