What Kind of Organisation Are You?

So you're setting up a voluntary group or organisation – fabulous!  But what kind of structure should you have?  

Many small voluntary groups don’t have a formal structure, and that works really well for them.  But when you start raising significant funds or embarking on projects that involve some risk, it is a good idea to put a legal structure in place to protect your organisation and your volunteers.  

Luckily there is a hive of information online which will help you decide what kind of structure your organisation should have and how to set it up.

Remember, the small sections of underlined text in the article below are all links to the websites being discussed.

Where to start

Community Net Aotearoa has a How-To Guide called “Getting Started: Legal Structures” – a link to the guide is right here.  

The guide covers choosing a structure and has a useful chart comparing the three most common legal structures - Incorporated Society, Charitable Trust or Company.  It also has a step by step guide to setting up a charitable trust and setting up an incorporated society as well as a section on tax exemptions and charitable status for community groups.   There are also templates and case studies, so you can see how other voluntary groups have tackled this issue.  

This guide also offers a section called Putting Pen to Paper which provides information and guidance about partnering agreements, such as Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs).   

Complete overview of structures

The Community Resource Kit, which is available on the Community Net website, also has a section on organisational structures for voluntary groups and organisations. 

The Community Resource Kit was launched in 2006 and is designed to be a practical “hands on” resource to help voluntary organisations get started and to develop good practice in the voluntary sector. The Kit can be read online or you can download it and print the sections you need.  

SPARC’s Club Kit

Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) has an extensive section called its Club Kit, which covers everything you need to know on running a sports club – including details on how to go about starting a Club and what structure you should take.  While written specifically for sports clubs this Club guide has useful information that would be relevant to any voluntary group or organisation.   

Simple How-To Answers

The Ministry of Economic Development has a website for societies and trusts.  The Ministry is the government agency responsible for administering corporate body registers, including the Societies and Trusts Register and the Companies Register.  

This website has some How-To type information and clearly walks you through the processes for setting up Incorporated Societies and Charitable Trusts, including offering templates and examples (which is always helpful!).  This site also has a useful chart analysing the differences between charitable trusts and incorporated societies – to see that chart just click here.  

Through the Ministry of Economic Development’s site you can search for a trust or a society for free and also file all required documents online – and we think that makes life a lot easier!  

Legal Obligations

The Keeping It Legal website has been designed to give organisations, groups, trusts, and societies simple, accurate information about their legal obligations.   

The website has been developed by the New Zealand Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations and the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector. It has three key areas:  

• Check – helping you identify the information you need to know
• Learn More – so you can find out about requirements and your responsibilities
• Take Action – where you create Action Plans to identify what needs to be done, who is going to do it and when!  

One of these checklists is on the legal form of your organisation – to have a look at this resource just click here.  

If you know of any other information you would like to see included in this section – or if there are questions about this topic that you would like answered – please let us know by clicking here .