It’s not too early: why the vote matters for our sector
This blog is an appeal from the LEAD team for all Not-for-Profit organisations to be active in the November 2026 general election. Who is in government matters. decisions made in Parliament shape almost everything about how our organisations operate and who we are able to help.
Now is a good time for community organisations to think about a quiet but powerful contribution we can make: helping the people in our communities get enrolled and get to the polls.
This is not about telling anyone how to vote. It is about making sure the communities we work alongside are part of the decision making.
Why community organisations are well placed to help
Community organisations sit close to people whom the system often misses. We work with people who have moved house recently, who are younger, who are renting, who are disabled, who are new to Aotearoa, who are disconnected from official processes, or who simply assume their vote will not change anything. These are exactly the groups who tend to be under-enrolled and under-represented at the ballot box.
We also hold something government agencies often cannot: trust. When a familiar organisation says "let's check you're enrolled" or "here's how advance voting works", people listen in a way they may not to an official letter.
There is also a timing reason this matters in 2026. The option to enrol on election day, which existed in previous elections, is no longer available and people who have moved still need to update their own details. If someone in your community is not enrolled by 25 October, they cannot vote at all. That makes the work of checking and prompting enrolment more important than it has been previously.
People can enrol or update their details at vote.nz, or receive forms by calling free on 0800 367656 or by texting 3676, also free. It takes a few minutes, and our organisations are in a good position to make those few minutes happen.
Why it matters who is in government
It is easy to feel that party politics happens somewhere else, removed from the daily work of running a service or supporting a board. But the rules our organisations live by are written, amended and repealed by whoever holds power. Over the past five years, the volume of law touching the not-for-profit sector has been striking, and the direction of that law has shifted noticeably with changes of government. Since 2019 six major law changes have been embarked on that impact on how our organisations are formed, governed and regulated. The discussion on mandating organisations to pay tax is ongoing.
Hundreds of statutes have touched our organisations in some way. These include bills and amendments on Equal Pay, Fair Pay Agreements, disestablishment of The Māori Health Authority; Oranga Tamariki; Local Government; Treaty Principles; Regulatory Standards; Modern Slavery; Emergency Management, to name a few. Many, many others impact on the wellbeing of communities we serve.
The charity "gag" question: can charities speak up?
One issue sits at the heart of why elections matter for the sector. It is the long-running question of whether charities can advocate, campaign and speak into public debate without putting their charitable status at risk.
Registered Charity political activity restrictions
It is probably not surprising that Charities Services have some regulations regarding registered charities and their involvement with political parties. This includes not being allowed to endorse a candidate or political party over social media. Registered charities should check out their site for what you can and can’t do during an election: Link
Charitable status and advocacy
Under the Charities Act 2005, an organisation must have a charitable purpose to be registered, and registration is what unlocks tax exemptions and donee status. For a long time, "political" purposes were treated as non-charitable. The Supreme Court's 2014 Greenpeace decision moved this on, confirming that advocacy can be charitable where there is a genuine public benefit. But the 2022 Family First decision showed the other edge of the same sword. Family First was deregistered, with the courts finding its advocacy was not, in their assessment, beneficial in a charitable sense.
The worry raised by charity law specialists, including Sue Barker, is not about any one organisation's views. It is that the test has become subjective enough that a charity can lose its status for engaging in democratic debate, depending on how a decision-maker views the merits of that debate. As Barker has put it, if one organisation can be deregistered for taking part in the democratic process, the concern is that any charity can be. That possibility has a chilling effect. Organisations may stay quiet on the very issues their communities most need them to speak about, simply to protect their registration.
Funding contracts
Another form of "gag" is more practical and less visible. Government funding contracts have, at times, included clauses that restrict what an organisation can say publicly, or that make a provider wary of criticising the policies of the agency funding them. Even where no clause is explicit, the dependence of many organisations on government contracts can create a quiet pressure not to bite the hand that feeds. The result is the same: a softer, more cautious sector voice.
Why does this connect to the election? Because the rules that decide whether charities can advocate are themselves set by government and Parliament. A promised first-principles, independent review of the Charities Act, which many in the sector hoped would settle the advocacy question, did not proceed. The framework can be designed to enable the sector's voice, or to constrain it. Which way it goes depends in large part on who is making the law.
An independent, confident civil society able to speak for its communities is part of a healthy democracy. Protecting that voice is one of the clearest reasons the sector has a stake in who governs.
Hear the parties for yourself: the Community Networks Aotearoa panel
If you want to understand where the different parties stand before voting, check out the video from Community Networks Aotearoa and Sue Barker Charities Law: "1 Sector, 6 Parties Respond – A 2026 Political Panel". It bought together representatives from nearly all of the parties, each responding to the same set of challenges facing charities, not-for-profits, iwi organisations and community groups. The link to the recording is CNA Panel Link
It is a rare chance to hear all the main parties answer the same sector questions side by side, which is far more useful than piecing together scattered policy statements.
What your organisation can do
You do not need to run a campaign to make a difference. A few simple, practical steps go a long way:
Check and prompt enrolment now. Remind staff, volunteers, members and the people you work with to enrol or update their details at vote.nz before the 25 October deadline. Make it normal to ask.
Help people to register. You can help with the online process and upload the documents. If someone does not have ID you can help them post their form in. You can order bulk forms to hand out.
Promote the registration stands at community events – locations and dates can be found here: Link
Order and distribute posters, information and forms: Link
Act as an address for someone without a permanent address. You just need to agree to hold their mail for them
Talk about the practicalities. Where to vote, how advance voting works.
Reach the people most likely to miss out. Renters, people sleeping rough, young people, those who have moved, disabled people, and people new to Aotearoa.
Make voting easy. Share voting place locations, offer to go together, or build it into existing activities during the advance voting period.
A closing thought
The community and voluntary sector exists to strengthen the wellbeing of people and places. Democracy works on the same logic: it is strongest when the most people take part. When our communities are enrolled and voting, the decisions made in Parliament are more likely to reflect their realities, including the realities of the organisations that serve them.
Recent election cycles have shown how much law shapes our work, and how quickly it can change. We cannot control the result of an election. But we can help make sure the people we care about are part of deciding it. That is well within our reach, and it is worth doing.