On 15 September 2010 the Charities Commission granted registered charity status (Reg. No. CC. 45333) to “The Vegan Society of Aotearoa“, which is not an incorporated entity. Its “Trust” Deed dated 1 May 2010, lodged on the Charities website, states: “The parties to the Deed wish to establish a charitable trust” and have the three trustees “incorporated as a Board under the provisions of the Charitable Trusts Act 1957.” This application for incorporation signed by a Justice of the Peace on 1 May 2010 was never submitted to the Companies Office, so the entity has never been incorporated under the Act.
At the time the entity’s application for charity status was before the Charities Commission, the latter’s Registration Team should have known that The Vegan Society of Aotearoa had never been incorporated and therefore its name had not been “established or constituted by any Act”. In such cases s. 15(e) of The Charities Act 2005 requires the Commission to ensure that its “name is not liable to mislead the public“.
“The name of an entity [seeking charity status] complies with this section [S. 15] if … (e) in the opinion of the Board, the name is not offensive; or liable to mislead the public.” [Emphasis added]
The public are entitled to accountability from any entity registered as a “charity” with Charities Commission. However, the 20010/2011 financial accounts of The Vegan Society of Aotearoa that were required to be filed with the Charities Commission no later than 30 September 2011, have yet to be filed and are now almost twelve months overdue. And yet Despite this very serious breach of the Charities Act 2005, this unincorporated “charitable trust” has NOT been deregistered and removed from the Charities Register.
The granting of charity status in 2010 to “The Vegan Society of Aotearoa “- by the Charities Commission, and its acceptance of that entity’s name – might well be of concern to some; given the fact that an incorporated charitable trust with effectively the same name has been in existence since 2002 – The Vegan Society of New Zealand Charitable Trust. Only the latter is a charitable trust incorporated under The Charitable Trusts Act 1957. Both Trusts have used the country name New Zealand-Aotearoa/Aotearoa-New Zealand in their respective names. But they are NOT the same charitable entity.
There has been, and there remains, a very real potential for the public to be misled by The Vegan Society of Aotearoa – as to its real status. It has not been incorporated under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957.
Appendix
Name of entity
The name of an entity complies with this section if—
(a) the entity is incorporated under that name under the Incorporated Societies Act 1908; or
(b) the entity is incorporated under that name under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957; or
(c) the entity is incorporated under that name under the Companies Act 1993; or
(d) the entity is established, or constituted, by an Act under that name; or
(e) in any other case, in the opinion of the Board, the name is not—
(i) offensive; or
(ii) liable to mislead the public.
Section 15(e): amended, on 1 July 2012, by section 16(1) of the Charities Amendment Act (No 2) 2012 (2012 No 43).
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2005/0039/latest/DLM345025.html
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