Karori Sanctuary Trust — Education Charity in Wellington

Karori Sanctuary Trust is a Trust charity in the Education sector, based in Wellington, Wellington. CharityData rates this charity A (92.5/100). Annual revenue: $8.8M NZD. Financial data as at June 2025.

Mission: We operate as a not-for profit organisation, a social enterprise, seeking to do public good by operating in a way that follows sound commercial disciplines. As set out in our Trust Deed, the objects of the Trust are as follows: - To carry out education and research into all matters pertaining to the conservation and restoration of New Zealand’s natural heritage and in particular to restore representative examples of New Zealand’s natural heritage. - To establish and maintain a secure native wildlife sanctuary in the Karori Reservoir in the City of Wellington. - To restore the reservoir area ecosystem as closely as practicable to its presumed pre-human state but allowing for construction of specific habitats to enhance its diversity and conservation values. - To provide facilities for recreation and tourism activities. - To seek and foster community support and participation. - To manage and manipulate such ecosystems as may be necessary to maintain requisite populations.

Registration Number
CC21900
Charity Type
Trust
Registration Date
2008-03-17
Status
Active
CharityData Rating
A (92.5/100)
Sector
Education
Location
Wellington, Wellington
Email
info@visitzealandia.com
Data as at
June 2025

Beneficiaries: Animals, Children / young people, General public, Older people, People with disabilities, Voluntary bodies other than charities, Other - All

Financial Summary

Total Revenue
$8.8M NZD
Total Expenses
$8.6M NZD
Total Assets
$9.7M NZD
Net Assets
$6.9M NZD
Reserve Months
9.7 months of operating expenses
Financial Year End
2025-06-30

Financial History

YearRevenueExpensesNet Assets
2025$8.8M$8.6M$6.9M
2024$8.3M$7.3M$6.7M
2023$6.7M$6.7M$6.1M
2022$5.3M$5.6M$6.0M
2021$6.0M$5.7M$6.4M
2020$6.4M$5.5M$6.1M
2019$6.4M$5.3M$5.2M
2018$5.2M$5.0M$4.0M
2017$4.5M$4.7M$3.9M
2016$4.2M$4.1M$4.1M

CharityData Rating

Overall Grade
A
Overall Score
92.5/100
Financial Score
100
Governance Score
75
Transparency Score
85

Board Members and Officers

Current Officers (8)

NameRoleAppointed
Rebecca MatthewsTrustee2025-12-10
Martha JeffriesTrustee2025-11-01
Colin RowsellTrustee2025-11-01
Paul AtkinsTrustee2024-01-23
Professor Margaret HylandTrustee2022-04-01
Elizabeth HarrisonTrustee2019-01-01
Josephine (Jo) Elizabeth BreeseTrustee2018-07-01
Russell SprattBoard Chair2016-04-01

Former Officers (24)

  • Teri O'Neill — Trustee (departed 2025-10-11)
  • Peter Monk — Trustee (departed 2024-12-31)
  • David Bibbiy — Trustee (departed 2017-02-21)
  • David Bibby — Trustee (departed 2022-12-31)
  • Phillip Meyer — Board Chair (departed 2023-12-31)
  • Denise Church — Board Chair (departed 2018-12-31)
  • Steven Thompson — Trustee (departed 2018-06-30)
  • Pam Fuller — Trustee (departed 2018-06-30)
  • George Hickton — Trustee (departed 2014-11-21)
  • Catherine Isaac — Trustee (chair) (departed 2014-11-21)
  • Graeme Mitchell — Trustee (departed 2014-11-21)
  • Donald Huse — Trustee (departed 2014-11-21)
  • Paul Callaghan — Trustee (departed 2014-11-21)
  • Russell Ballard — Trustee (departed 2014-11-21)
  • Charles Daugherty — Trustee (departed 2015-12-31)
  • Catherine Judd — Trustee (departed 2010-06-15)
  • Andrew Foster — Trustee (departed 2009-06-29)
  • Peter Allport — Trustee (departed 2010-06-30)
  • Stephen Fuller — Trustee (departed 2009-06-24)
  • Kenneth Drayton — Board Secretary (departed 2010-05-10)

Executive Compensation

NameRoleCompensationYear
Key Management Personnel (aggregate)Chief Executive and Strategic Leadership Team$831,051-
Key Management Personnel (aggregate)Chief Executive and Strategic Leadership Team$831,0512025
Board/Trustees (aggregate)Trustee$120,500-
Board/Trustees (aggregate)Trustee$120,5002025
Sarah TurnerAuditor-2025

Major Funders and Contracts (FY2025)

As disclosed in Karori Sanctuary Trust's annual report.

  • Wellington City Council — $1,570,246 — Operating and capital grants

Service Providers

  • PwC
  • GHD

Similar Charities in Education

EducationTrust

Karori Sanctuary Trust

CC21900Wellington, WellingtonRegistered 17 Mar 2008
Data updated: 2 days ago
Financials30 Jun 2025Ratingyesterday

Financial data as at June 2025. Sourced from Charities Services register.

A
93/100
Financial
100
Governance
75
Transparency
85

Reasons to look carefully (1)

These structural observations are drawn from public data and are worth considering before a donation. They are not allegations of wrongdoing, and they don’t affect the charity’s letter grade.

  • Same audit firm for many years
    Same audit firm (PricewaterhouseCoopers) for 10 consecutive years — best practice rotates audit firms periodically to refresh independent oversight

Each signal is a data-driven observation, not a judgement. They fire automatically from the figures filed with Charities Services. A charity can address any of these by filing fuller disclosure or updating its officer register. Methodology: /about/methodology/concern-signals.

Revenue

$8.8M

Expenses

$8.6M

Assets

$9.7M

Financial data from Charities Services annual return (FY2025). Ratings calculated using CharityData v3.1.1 methodology.

About

Mission

We operate as a not-for profit organisation, a social enterprise, seeking to do public good by operating in a way that follows sound commercial disciplines. As set out in our Trust Deed, the objects of the Trust are as follows: - To carry out education and research into all matters pertaining to the conservation and restoration of New Zealand’s natural heritage and in particular to restore representative examples of New Zealand’s natural heritage. - To establish and maintain a secure native wildlife sanctuary in the Karori Reservoir in the City of Wellington. - To restore the reservoir area ecosystem as closely as practicable to its presumed pre-human state but allowing for construction of specific habitats to enhance its diversity and conservation values. - To provide facilities for recreation and tourism activities. - To seek and foster community support and participation. - To manage and manipulate such ecosystems as may be necessary to maintain requisite populations.

Who We Serve

Beneficiaries
AnimalsChildren / young peopleGeneral publicOlder peoplePeople with disabilitiesVoluntary bodies other than charitiesOther - All

Key Statistics

Annual Revenue
$8.8M
Total Expenses
$8.6M
Net Assets
$6.9M

Financial Trends

Financial Trends (17 Years)

Revenue Breakdown

Expense Breakdown

API Data

Based on annual return data. Detailed program/admin breakdown not available.

Financial Health Dashboard

Cents to the Cause
100c
For every $1 spent, 100c reaches programs
Strong
Sustainability
0mo
Could operate 0 months with zero revenue
Critical
Fundraising Cost
-
No fundraising data
No data

Based on latest annual return data. Metrics are calculated from reported financial data and may not reflect the full picture. View methodology

Revenue Diversification

30
Score /100
Highly Concentrated
HHI: 7,048
High Concentration: 82% of revenue from Other
Other82.0%
Government Grants18.0%

HHI (Herfindahl–Hirschman Index) measures concentration across 6 income categories. Lower HHI = more diversified. Score above 60 indicates healthy diversification.

Peer Comparison

Ranked against 37 peers · Education · $1M – $10M

Rating Score
93
#1/38
Revenue
$8.8M
#3/38
Reserve Months
9.7
#1/38
Surplus
$200K
#14/38
Staff Cost %
1%
#38/38

Peers are charities in the same sector and revenue size band. Rankings are based on the latest available data.

Rating

A
Score: 92.5/100
Financial
100
Governance
75
Transparency
85
Why this grade: Financial 100 × 40% + Governance 75 × 60% = 85 → A.
View Full Score Breakdown

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Contact Details

Address
Wellington, Wellington

Registration

Registration NumberCC21900
Entity TypeTrust
Registered17 Mar 2008
StatusRegistered

Companies Office

StatusRegistered
Entity TypeCharitable Trust
Incorporated3 May 1995

Sector & Activities

Primary Sector
Education
Activities
Provides buildings / facilities / open spaceProvides human resources (e.g. staff / volunteers)Sponsors / undertakes researchOther - Acts an Umbrella body

Data sourced from Charities Services register and publicly available annual returns. Our datasets may not be complete. Automated analysis can produce errors. Scores are calculated using disclosed methodology and are analytical tools, not investment ratings or recommendations. If you believe any data on this page is incorrect, please contact us at hello@charitydata.co.nz. For informational purposes only. Not investment advice. Last updated: 27 September 2026.