A New Normal?
How Aotearoa’s community sector compares to the world in 2026
It will be absolutely no surprise to read that New Zealand's community sector is under pressure. Demand for support is rising, while funding is becoming harder to secure. The Catalytic Foundation's 2026 Community Needs Survey found nearly nine in ten charities are seeing increased demand for their services. Cost-of-living pressures have now overtaken housing as the biggest issue facing communities, and almost 40% of organisations said their corporate sponsorship had fallen.¹
The strain is starting to show.
In the 2024–25 financial year, 862 charities were deregistered in Aotearoa — a 5.8% increase on the previous year. At the same time, overall growth in the number of charities has slowed significantly.² The Salvation Army reports child hardship has reached a 10-year high, with 169,300 children now living in material hardship.³
Funders are noticing the shift too. Perpetual Guardian says grant application numbers have doubled for some funds, even though the amount of money available has stayed the same.⁴ Frontline organisations like Nurturing Families report donations dropping sharply as more families need help.⁵
So is New Zealand uniquely struggling?
Not really. Similar patterns are emerging in many places with an equivilent charitable landscape.
Scotland reports widespread financial stress, with only 13% of Scottish voluntary orgs sure how (or if) they'll have funding next year.⁶ Ireland's charity sector is warning of a return to austerity conditions, while in Canada charities say they are struggling to keep up with rising demand for basic needs.⁷ ⁸ The UK overall has seen fewer people donating, low community sector confidence, and some funders say applications for grants have quadrupled.⁹ Research shows the UK has lost 4 million donors since 2019.⁹
Australia is bucking the trends — they've seen strong financial growth overall, with the charity sector reaching record revenue levels. But demand is still climbing rapidly, and many organisations remain uncertain about the future.¹⁰
A few things really stand out for me:
The corporate-funding retreat looks distinctly Kiwi. Catalytic's 40% reduction in corporate sponsorship figure is… a lot. In the UK, Australia, Scotland and Ireland, the dominant story is government retreat. NZ has both government pullback and a corporate funding squeeze.
The recovery curves are getting longer. UK Charity Excellence's longitudinal data found the community sector has weathered three fundraising-resilience crises since 2020, and that each one takes longer to recover from.¹¹ We don't have that sort of data in Aotearoa, so we can only assume a similar pattern. Which brings me to the next point…
We have a data-infrastructure gap. Australia has the ACNC's annual Australian Charities Report, Scotland has SCVO's Third Sector Tracker running quarterly waves, and the UK has NCVO's Road Ahead and CAF's giving reports. Aotearoa has some great survey data, but no regular, reliable, data-driven system-of-record.
That's some of the work we want to do at Fundsorter — support community organisations to access funding faster and easier AND provide data-driven insights for better advocacy and decision making. Our next report should be out in a few months. In the meantime, let's continue to support each other.
Want to read more? Here are the sources :)
Catalytic Foundation (April 2026). How Prepared Are Charities To Deal With A Surge In Need...
Fundsorter analysis of Aotearoa NZ Charities Register dataset
NZ Herald / Northern Advocate (April 2026). Northland charities warn child poverty crisis worsening with cost of living.
Newsroom / RNZ The Detail (October 2025). Cost-of-living pressures tip charities into crisis.
NZ Herald (March 2026). NZ charity waitlists grow and donations cut up to 50% amid cost-of-living crisis.
SCVO / Third Force News (June 2025). Essential services at risk as vast majority of Scottish charities face financial insecurity.
The Wheel (June 2025). Budget 2026: The Wheel Calls for Sustainable Funding and Reform.
Leading4Impact (July 2025). Rising Demand is the New Normal.
Charities Aid Foundation, UK Giving Report 2025 and Charity Insights (May–June 2025), summarised in House of Commons Library briefing CDP-2026-0041 (February 2026).
ACNC, Australian Charities Report 11th Edition (June 2025).
Charity Excellence (March 2026). UK Charity Fundraising Trends 2026.