Thank you for considering donating to the New Zealand Labour Party or to one of our campaigns.
This document contains responses to the questions we get most asked by potential donors. If you have a specific question, or one which isn’t answered below, please call us on: 0800 4522687 or email us on [email protected]
Why does Labour fundraise?
We fundraise for a number of reasons! Our goal is for a Labour-led government to lead New Zealand on behalf of all New Zealanders, not just the few. A large proportion of the donations made to us by our supporters goes towards the work needed to achieve that.
However, the Labour Party is also committed to campaigning across the country on behalf of New Zealanders, on the issues which matter most to us all.
Our headquarters team is small and efficient. Running HQ is not an expensive operation. However, there are some costs we can’t avoid: we need a few full-time members of staff, and keeping IT systems up to date, and accessing printers and printing costs for our leaflets and newsletters, are particularly expensive budget items. We do our best to keep these costs down it’s why we’re sending more and more emails rather than letters but it’s not something which can be avoided totally.
Don’t my taxes pay Labour’s costs?
Public funds are used to pay the costs of running the Leader’s Office at Parliament, and MPs offices in and out of Parliament. However, apart from the broadcasting allocation in election year, there is no public funding for political parties in New Zealand. This means that the Labour Party itself and the work we are doing to maintain a strong Labour government is all funded by our supporters – people just like you.
Do you save details of donors and donations?
The New Zealand Labour Party is required by law to keep records of all donors and donations. These are kept private on our secure servers, unless public disclosure is required by the Electoral Act.
Are my donations secure?
We use 128 bit SSL technology to secure your donation, just like a bank does. This means that all the details are encrypted and safe. The companies that run and maintain our payment systems are used by thousands of businesses and organisations around the world and your credit card details are never transferred to the Labour Party. Our payment providers are eWay, Stripe and Flo2Cash.
What’s the most I can donate?
You can donate as much as you would like, so long as you are a New Zealand citizen, or an organisation or company registered in New Zealand.
If you donate more than $5,000 in a calendar year we are required by law to publicly disclose your name and address, and the amount you have donated, in our annual return to the Electoral Commission, which is sent in by the end of March in the following year and is published on the Commission’s website.
We are also required by law to make an immediate disclosure to the Electoral Commission where a donor gives a party more than $20,000 in a 12-month period, which is made public on the Commission’s website.
International donations
Individual donations – New Zealand political Parties cannot accept donations exceeding $50 from overseas people. An overseason person is an individual who resides outside New Zealand and is neither a New Zealand citizen nor a registered elector.
Body corporate donations – New Zealand political Parties cannot accept donations exceeding $50 from a body corporate incorporated outside of New Zealand or an unincorporated body that has its head office or principal place of business outside New Zealand
Donations exceeding $50 that do not meet the required criteria will be returned to the donor. Please see the Electoral Amendment Bill (No 2) for more details.
Donations to political parties are not tax-deductible in New Zealand.
Further information about making donations to political parties in New Zealand can be found here:
Why are you asking me for donations, I’m not particularly well off?
The Labour Party is committed to speaking for all New Zealanders. We’re proud that we’re supported by many hundreds of thousands of Kiwis, and that through the donations we receive an average value of $64 per donation we’re able to run an effective operation.
Of course, we are very grateful for any large donations we receive, we’re just as grateful for the hundreds of smaller donations we receive from Kiwis up and down the country, too.
If you want to read more about the larger donations political parties receive, you can view an up-to-date list of donations over $30,000 received by New Zealand’s political parties:
What if I make a donation by mistake? Will you refund it?
If you contact us within 7 days of making the donation we will return it to you within 21 days without charge. Refunds requested after 7 days will be provided at the discretion of the New Zealand Labour Party. You can contact us on 0800 4522687 or [email protected].
How do I cancel a recurring donation?
We know that sometimes your circumstances might change, meaning that your existing donations aren’t always possible. If you feel you need to cancel an existing donation, we completely understand – we’re just so grateful for your support up to this point.
To cancel your donation simply get in touch with us by calling 0800 4522687 or email [email protected] and we will process your request.
What if I donate to a specific action, but for some reason the action can’t be completed or you raise more than you need?
Sometimes, circumstances may make it impossible for us to use your donation for a specific action. For example, we may be prevented from buying advertising space, or we may win the campaign before we carry out the action. We may even simply be oversubscribed for that action!
In those instances, it is our policy to use your donation to support further campaigning on the same issue. If that’s not possible, we’ll put the money in our general campaign fund for use on other campaigns and our wider work. If for any reason you’re not happy for your donation to be used in this way, we will of course refund your donation just call up the office team on the details above and ask to speak to a member of our fundraising team.