The Good Data Series turns the hundreds of thousands of data points held by Charities Services into something useful for small non-profits. This data already exists, but it’s rarely translated into something clear and practical.
Through simple analysis and plain-English explanations, the series helps small organisations and their supporters understand:
what “typical” looks like
how they compare to others like them
what healthy (and risky) financial patterns look like
The goal is to build confidence, context, and better decision-making, because your numbers don’t exist in isolation.
Read part 1 now, on Assets, Income and Resilience for our Tier 4 and 3 charities in Aotearoa.
Each year, approx 14,000 Tier 4 charities and 9,000 Tier 3 charities file returns.
Tier 4 charities spend $140,000 or less per year.
Tier 3 charities spend up to $2,000,000 per year ($5m from March 2024).
2025 returns are not all due yet, so aren’t included in this report.
Year
Tier 4
Tier 3
2018
13,894
8,988
2019
14,074
9,111
2020
14,337
9,268
2021
14,523
9,209
2022
14,588
9,367
2023
14,563
9,609
2024
14,259
9,746
Total Assets
This is the total assets owned by a charity at the end of their financial year.
Examples include:
cash in the bank
term deposits
buildings, vehicles, office equipment
shares and other investments
The value of all of these are added together.
Because there are over 14,000 returns each year, we considered charities by decile. Decile is a fancy way of saying listing everything from smallest to largest and then breaking it up into ten buckets. Similar to how we used to rank schools here in Aotearoa.
Decile 1 = the 10% of charities with least total assets.
Note: the graphs below display charity assets by decile. E.g., Tier 4 Charities in decile 5 have total assets of between $8,275 and $16,034.
Tier 4 (2024)
Combined value of all charities' assets - Tier 4: $2.8 billion
Tier 4 analysis:
20% (~2,800 charities) have no meaningful assets - less than $1,000.
A small number of charities hold millions in assets (decile 10), but spend less than $140,000. They are holding significant assets relative to their level of activity.
Of the $2.8 billion in total assets for Tier 4 charities, those in decile 10 hold $2.1 billion of it - 83%.
Change in Total Assets, 2018-2024
Most Tier 4 charities saw total assets fall - except for decile 10.
Tier 3 (2024)
Combined value of all charities' assets - Tier 3: $23.3 billion
Tier 3 analysis:
Assets in Tier 3 are more equally distributed than in Tier 4.
Total assets in deciles 1 through 4 are comparable to total assets held by most tier 4 charities.
Decile 10 also holds the vast majority of total assets. $14.9 billion of $23.3 billion - 62%.
Change in Total Assets, 2018-2024
In contrast to Tier 4, Tier 3 charities' assets increased across all deciles.
Takeaway thoughts
There are a small number of charities with very large assets.
In tier 4, these large charities spend less than $140,000 a year to operate.
There was a stark contrast in change of assets between Tier 4 and Tier 3 charities from 2018 to 2024. Tier 4 charities saw a decline in assets overall, whereas Tier 3 charities saw growth.
Over 50% of Tier 4 and 3 charities have less than $100,000 in assets.
12% of Tier 4 and 3 charities have no meaningful assets.
Total Income
This is the total income a charity received over its financial year.
Examples include:
Grants, donations and koha
Contracts for programme delivery
Bar and ticket sales
Interest received on term deposits and other income from investments
The value of all of these are added together.
We also consider income by decile.
Tier 4 (2024)
Combined income of all charities - Tier 4: $602 million
Tier 4 analysis:
10% have no meaningful income - $208 per year or less.
Similar to the distribution of assets, the top income receivers outstrip all other charities by many multitudes.
Decile 10 charities represent $286m of the $602m total income for Tier 4 - 48%.
Change in Total Assets, 2018-2024
Tier 3 (2024)
Combined income of all charities - Tier 3: $5.5 billion
Tier 3 analysis:
Income for deciles 1 - 3 is in line with what we might expect for Tier 4.
Similar to the distribution of assets, the top income receivers outstrip all other charities by many multitudes.
Decile 10 charities represent $2.6 billion of the $5.5 billion total income for Tier 3 - also 48%.
Change in Total Assets, 2018-2024
Takeaway thoughts
Income grew for most charities between 2018 and 2024 (not adjusted for inflation).
Similar to asset distribution, income is heavily skewed towards a few large charities in decile 10.
Decile 10 represented 48% of all income for Tier 4 and 3 charities.
Surplus and Months of Operating
Surplus is the amount of income a charity received less the amount it spent. Many charities aim to operate close to break-even, with relatively small surpluses or deficits.
Months of Operating is a human-friendly number that reflects the financial concept of working capital. It tells us, in months, how long a charity could keep operating if it was to receive no more cash.
Months of operating is useful because it is relative to the size of the charity. Assets, income and surplus will typically be larger for larger charities. Months of operating gives us a way to compare small and large charities.
Surplus - Tier 4 (2018-2024)
Surplus - Tier 3 (2018-2024)
Analysis:
Tier 4 and 3 charities show similar trends.
More charities are running with surplus than deficit.
Trends within Tiers and by decile are consistent from 2018 to 2024.
Both surplus and deficits have become more extreme from 2018 - 2024, however.
Months of Operating (2024)
Tier 3 charities - 30% have less than 3 months of operating.
Tier 4 - 26% have less than 3 months operating.
Change in Months of Operating - Tier 4 (2018-2024)
Here we see that for Tier 4, financial resilience has worsened from 2018 to 2024.
Change in Months of Operating - Tier 3 (2018-2024)
In comparison to Tier 4, Tier 3 have mildly improved their months of operating position.
Change in Months of Operating by Year
Tier 4 and 3 show a similar trend of rising through 2021 and 2022, then falling in 2023 and 2024.
However, Tier 4 has fallen below 2018/19 levels, whereas Tier 3 remains above pre-pandemic levels.
Takeaway thoughts
About ~30% (~7,000) of charities are run a deficit each year.
Deficits and surpluses appear to have become more extreme from 2018 to 2024.
Tier 4 charities financial position seems to have meaningfully declined from 2018 to 2024. The number of Tier 4 charities with less than 3 months operating expenses has increased from 16% in 2018 to 26% in 2024.
Notes to report
Analysis and data
Tiers 1 and 2 are not considered because their returns materially differ to tiers 3 and 4. There's also much fewer tier 1 and 2 charities.
Age-based analysis has been excluded due to unexpected patterns resulting from analysis. These require further investigation before reporting.
Limitations
Relies on self-reported data. Charities Services themselves state that up to a third of Tier 4 respondents in 2024 were non-compliant.
XRB reporting standards have changed twice from 2018 to 2024. The charities API has also undergone changes in this time. Best efforts have been made to ensure comparability over time.
Opportunities for future analysis
Comparisons based on age of charity.
Income and Expenditure analysis adjusted for inflation.
A profile of decile 10 asset/income charities that are reporting under Tier 4 and 3.
Comparisons between assets, income and surplus for low deciles. Are these the same organisations? Or different organisations having a bad year?
Final thoughts
Charities largely managed to grow their income and assets over the last 7 years - even with a pandemic!
Across assets, income, and operating resilience, a consistent pattern emerges — a small number of charities hold a large share of resources, while many operate with very limited financial buffer.
The top 10% of charities:
Hold 62% of assets of Tier 3 charities (83% for Tier 4)
Receive 48% of the income
Even where income has grown, it hasn’t translated into stronger financial positions for smaller charities.
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