19 April 2013

Media Release

NCWNZ wins back Charitable Status

“The National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) is absolutely delighted that it has regained its rightful place on the charities register,” National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) President Barbara Arnold said today.

Barbara Arnold was commenting on the decision of the Board of the Charities Commission to reinstate NCWNZ as a registered charity, after deregistering it in August 2010.

“It has taken 32 months of hard work and considerable anxiety to have the 2010 decision reversed. We are especially grateful to Sue Barker Charities Law, without whose hard work we simply would not have been able to achieve this outcome,” Barbara Arnold said.

“We always knew the Commission’s original decision was wrong. The fact that NCWNZ was alone among other national councils of women throughout the world in being a non registered charity was a telling factor in itself.

“However the work involved in overturning the decision has been significant. We feel for other charities which may be forced to accept an adverse decision because they do not have the resources to challenge it. We need to ask as a community whether the system we have in place for challenging decisions of the charities regulator is working for us as a country.

“In the 117 years since its establishment, NCWNZ has worked tirelessly for the betterment of women, the family and the community. This decision puts NCWNZ back where it belongs as a registered charitable entity and allows us to get on with what we have been doing for over a hundred years and what we aim to continue doing for many more,” Barbara Arnold said.

ENDS

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