Questions about registering your NPO, legal obligations under the NPO Act 2019, and staying compliant.
Do I need to register my community group or NGO under the NPO Act 2019?
We run a small community group in our area — environmental clean-ups, a bit of youth mentorship, that kind of thing. Nothing massive, maybe 15 active members and we raise a few thousand dollars a year through bake sales and small donations. Someone told us we have to register under the NPO Act 2019 but […]
What documents do I need to submit when registering an NPO with the Registrar General?
We've finally decided to register our organisation properly. We've been operating informally for about two years and now a potential donor is asking for our registration certificate before they'll consider us for funding. I went to the Registrar General's website and honestly it's not very clear about exactly what we need to bring. Do we […]
How long is an NPO’s Certificate of Registration valid, and do we need to renew it?
We registered about four years ago and I've been getting anxious about whether our certificate is still valid. I vaguely remember something about a five-year validity period when we first registered but I can't find the paperwork and I'm genuinely not sure if anything has changed recently. Does anyone know the current rules on this? […]
What are Annual Returns and are CSOs required to submit them?
I keep seeing 'Annual Returns' mentioned in things I read about NPO compliance but I honestly don't know what they are or whether we're supposed to be filing them. We've been registered for three years and nobody has ever contacted us about it. Are these the same as tax returns? Do we have to pay […]
What is “beneficial ownership” and what does it mean for our NPO?
I've been reading through some of the new requirements for NPOs and I keep coming across the term 'beneficial ownership' and I genuinely don't understand what it means in our context. I get what it means for a regular business but for a non-profit it seems different. Is it just about who's on the board? […]