top of page
Gift Collective Logo (Main Logo) 1 - Black_Green.png

Don't start your own charity — sign up with us instead!

Gift Collective helps charitable initiatives to get up and running quickly—ready to receive philanthropic grants, provide donation tax receipts, manage expenses, and spend money—without getting bogged down in paperwork.

Are you seeking funding?

You'll get the benefits of operating through a registered charitable trust, without having to create one.

​

On your Collective page, you can tell your story, accept donations, receive grants, thank supporters, and post updates. You can manage expense payouts and track your budget transparently.

​

You won't need to seek charitable status, or worry about incorporation, registration, or opening a new bank account. We take care of all of that, so you have more time to focus on your kaupapa and your mahi.

Are you a funder?

You don't want to weigh down the initiatives you're trying to support, but you have to ensure your compliance and reporting requirements are met. We take the risk out of funding unincorporated groups through our expert vetting process, automatic reporting, and transparent budget tracking.

 

We support projects to follow best practice for managing their funds, and as an established charitable trust we can meet your fundholder requirements. Our efficient system enables you to distribute more grants to more recipients with less overhead.

“We want to support organisations making a difference on the ground, regardless of whether they are registered charities. Gift Collective allows us to support them without any red tape or administrative hassle, whilst still ensuring their charitable credentials.”
 

Matthew Monahan, Namaste Foundation

 

Acceptance Criteria

To be accepted into the Gift Collective whānau, your initiative must be focussed on a charitable purpose in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Gift Collective team will assess each application submitted against the criteria below. We'll let you know if we have more questions or if your application has been successful.
 

Your activities must:

  • Have a charitable purpose, according to New Zealand law¹ which includes:

    • the relief of poverty,

    • the advancement of education, or

    • any other purpose beneficial to the community.

  • Be based in and be of benefit to New Zealand².

  • Provide a public benefit, and none of your activities can have a private benefit or provide profit to any individual.

  • Not provide support for political campaigns, candidates, or to support purely lobbying activity.³

  • The Gift Collective will not accept recipients that it believes, in its sole discretion, are supporting or engaging in hate speech or hateful activities, whether online or offline.⁴  

 

  1. For more information on what is considered charitable, see this info from Charities Services.

  2. Expenses cannot be paid internationally, unless express advance written approval is given by the Gift Collective.

  3. A limited amount of lobbying can be classed as a charitable activity; we use the Charities Services definition.

  4. ‘Hateful activities’ means inciting or engaging in violence, intimidation, harassment, threats or defamation, or targeting an individual or group based on race, colour, religion, national origin, ethnicity, immigration status, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.  

Fees

Gift Collective charges an 8% fee on all funds as they come in.

 

Fees cover overheads, admin, use of the Open Collective software platform, expert charity vetting in the application process, and everything else required to run our service. Our own budget is tracked transparently too! 

The credit card processor charges a 2.9% fee on incoming credit card payments. No fees are charged on outgoing payments from your budget.

Who we are

Gift Collective is a joint venture of The Gift Trust and Open Collective NZ. The Gift Trust, a registered charitable trust (CC40774) with a decade of experience in the charity sector in Aotearoa, and a track record of managing millions in philanthropic funding, is the fundholder for all Gift Collective funds. Open Collective NZ is a company founded by a kiwi to bring the internationally successful Open Collective software platform, and the service it enables, to kiwi projects. We're real humans who would love to have a kōrero if you'd like to get to know us better! Just reach out.

gc-criteria
More information​
Gift Collective Icon - Green_White.png
GC-apply

Ready to join?

Read the terms & conditions before applying!

Apply to Gift Collective

Tell us about your community, initiative, rōpū or kaupapa. Once accepted, you'll become a Collective.

300 characters max. For more details about the definition of 'charitable purpose' see our acceptance criteria.

I agree (among other things in the terms) that:

  • I've been honest about our purpose and activities, and will inform GC if they meaningfully change.

  • Our activities will be based in and be of charitable public benefit to New Zealand, not for private/individual benefit.

  • We will involve GC in any agreements with third parties as our legal entity (e.g. venues, contractors).

  • GC is not an employer; anyone paid though our Collective will be an independent contractor.

  • A fee of 8% (+ credit card processor fees if applicable) will be deducted from funds raised by our Collective.

bottom of page