Non-Profit Organisation

The NZSCNPO groups together NPIs involved in similar economic activities or serving similar purposes according to their predominant activity. Being mainly ‘activity based’, there are no specific categories for NPIs serving population groups such as women or people with disabilities. Organisations targeting these populations will be categorised according to predominant activity.

Three principal adaptations of the international classification have been made for New Zealand purposes as follows:

• The first makes provision for early childhood education in the larger education group. While the international classification combines non–profits active in early childhood education with school education, data on these two groups can be easily presented independently in New Zealand.
• The second adaptation acknowledges the role that Māori play in governing tangata whenua outside of central and local government. A new category recognises tangata whenua governance organisations that manage the affairs of iwi, hapū and marae.
• Thirdly, where appropriate, organisations have been classified as support and ancillary services within each major group, rather than to the residual group 'not elsewhere classified'. This covers NPIs not adequately covered in the activity descriptors of the main groups but related in purpose. Examples are school hostels and parent teacher associations that are classified to support and ancillary services to education, and Christian bookshops which are classified to support and ancillary services to religion.