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Advancing education is a charitable purpose in both NZ and Australia
The new legislation for the Australian Not-for-profits Commission is likely to contain a concession for private (non-government) schools that are registered charities. Instead of reporting financial information to the charity regulator, the regulator must accept the financial information they report to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). Some of that financial information is already publicly available for 10,000 schools on the Australian MySchool site.
In NZ, state and integrated schools provide the Ministry of Education with annual audited accounts and the results are published on an education counts website. Private schools are listed on this site but they do not provide financial accounts to the Ministry of Education. However, a number of private schools are also registered charities, so their financial information is available on the NZ charities register. What insight into private schools does that information provide?
Analysis
11,773 registered charities record children as one of their beneficiaries. 1,079 of these registered charities have “school” or “college” in their name. This includes a range of organisations including 100 Parent Teachers Associations, private schools as well as state and integrated schools, pre-school and after school programmes, schools of dance, music and other activities.
According to the education counts website there are 88 private schools in NZ. 63 (72%) of these private schools are either registered charities (41) or have related entities that are registered charities (22). The balance of 25 schools do not appear to be registered charities or have related parties that are registered charities.
The 63 private schools that were registered charities or had associated registered charities recorded total gross income of $362m. This is made up of $272m income from providing services / trading, $32m government grant income and $9m donation income. ‘Other income’ was $43m however this includes $21m investment income for the Dilworth Trust Board, one of NZ’s largest charities. Dilworth Trust Board provides funding to Dilworth School
Total expenditure was primarily made up of salaries ($200m) and the cost of trading and providing services ($108m).
The top three schools ranked by gross income are St. Kentigern Trust ($40m), The King's College Trustees ($28m) and Kristin School Charitable Trust ($26m). The top three schools ranked by total assets are Dilworth Trust Board ($393m), Christ's College Canterbury ($105m), and St. Kentigern Trust ($86m).
Total assets for the 63 private schools amount to $1.3b. This includes $157m land, $467m buildings and $447m investments. Land and buildings are generally valued at cost in the special purpose financial accounts filed with the charities regulator, far less than their current realisable value.
Total assets for the 63 private schools amount to $1.3b. This includes $157m land, $467m buildings and $447m investments. Land and buildings are generally valued at cost in the special purpose financial accounts filed with the charities regulator, far less than their current realisable value.
It is possible to calculate a number of ratios by comparing income or expenditure to the decile or the total school role. For example, to get an (approximate) insight into the investment made in staff, divide the total salary cost by the total school role. This shows that the highest salary ratio per pupil was Ambury Park Centre for Riding Therapy ($645,083 / 37 = $17,435) followed by Dilworth School Selwyn House School Wanganui Collegiate School Destiny School Tyndale Park Christian School Pukekohe Christian School
A number of schools have charitable foundations which are separate funding entities. The largest are Wanganui Collegiate School Foundation ($4.5m assets), St Peter's School Foundation ($4.4m), The St Andrew's College Foundation ($5.9m), King's School Foundation ($5.5m), King's College Foundation ($15.1m), and the Diocesan School Heritage Foundation ($5.9m).
Donations to private schools that are registered charities total $9.4m. The top 3 were Kings College Trustees ($1.5m), Kings School Auckland ($1m) and St Kentigern Trust ($809k).
Conclusion
Schools are highly regulated and subject to much public scrutiny, so the risk that they are failing to conduct charitable activities or that they have poor governance is very low compared to most other entities on the register.
It would be interesting to find out the extent to which the school fees can be substituted as ‘donations’ in order to qualify for donation tax credits. However this issue is not just limited to private schools.
It was surprising to find that over one quarter of private schools had not registered as charities and had no associated entities that were registered charities, so presumably some may be for-profit and do not qualify as charities. Alternatively, the tax benefits of charitable status simply may not be considered enough to warrant registration and public disclosure of information.
Finally, it would be possible to cross-match financial information with other data (such as pupil numbers and deciles) to create league tables which could be used to compare and assess the schools. However the reasons for the outlier results – such as Destiny School
Disclaimer:
Because the charities register does not require information to be provided about related parties, it is possible that some school foundations or schools themselves have registered as charities under different names which have not been identified in this analysis.
Appendix 1
Here is the list of 25 private schools which I could not identify as being registered charities or being associated with registered charities:
1.
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2.
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3.
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4. ACG Strathallan
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5. ACG
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6.
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7.
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8.
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9.
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10.
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11.
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12.
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13.
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14.
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15. MindAlive
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16.
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17.
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18. Seven
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19. St Anthony's School (Wanganui)
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20. St Dominic's College
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21.
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22. St Mark's
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23. The
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24.
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25.
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Appendix 2
Here are the schools and registered charities identified for this analysis.
1
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2
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3
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Carncot Private School Trust
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Friends Of Carncot Incorporated
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4
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Chilton
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5
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Christ's College
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Christ's College
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Youth Education Trust
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6
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7
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City Impact Church Education Limited
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City Impact Church Queenstown Education Limited
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City Impact Church School Limited
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8
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9
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Dilworth Trust Board
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School Aid: Global Partnerships through Schools
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10
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The Diocesan Sailing Club Incorporated
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11
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12
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Ficino Educational Trust
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Ficino Educational Foundation
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13
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Golden Grove School Trust (no returns filed)
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14
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15
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Hebrons Mission Centre Charitable Trust
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16
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The
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Hereworth Foundation
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17
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18
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The Huntley School Board Of Trustees
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The
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Parents and Friends of
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19
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20
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The King's College Trustees
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King's College Foundation
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King's College Old Collegians Association Incorporated
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King's College Rowing Club Incorporated
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King's College Sports And Culture Association
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King's College Trust
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Association of the Friends of King's College Incorporated
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21
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King's School,
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King's School Foundation
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King's School Old Boys' Association Incorporated
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Eric and Winsome Calder Trust
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J.R. Morris Trust Fund
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Larner Scholarship Trust
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The King's School Endowment Trust
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The Friends of King's School Incorporated
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22
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The Kristin Foundation
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23
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Living Way Learning Centre
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Living Way Learning Centre Trust
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24
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25
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26
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The
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27
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Mt Hobson Middle School
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Villa Education Trust
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28
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29
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30
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Nga Kakano Christian Reo Rua
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Nga Kakano O Te Kaihanga Trust
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31
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Nova Montessori Centre Charitable Trust
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32
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Otamatea Education Trust Board
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33
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34
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35
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ASBA (NZ) Limited
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36
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Rangi Ruru Girls' School
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Rangi Ruru Girls' School Board of Governors Incorporated
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Rangi Ruru Old Girls' Association Incorporated
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Rangi Ruru
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Rangi Ruru Trust
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37
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38
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Samuel Marsden Collegiate School
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Samuel Marsden Collegiate School Trust Board
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39
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Samuel Marsden Collegiate School -
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40
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41
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Selwyn House Old Girls Association Incorporated
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42
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Reformed
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43
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Southwell School Board
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The Hedon Loop Trust
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44
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45
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St Andrew's College (
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St Andrew's
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St Andrew's College Old Collegians (Incorporated)
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The St Andrew's College Foundation
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46
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St Cuthbert's College (Epsom)
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St Cuthbert's College Educational Trust Board
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A.U. Wells St. Cuthbert's College Trust Fund
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47
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St Kentigern College (Pakuranga)
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48
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St Kentigern Primary School (Remuera)
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49
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St
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St Kentigern College Rowing Club Incorporated
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50
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St Margaret's College
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The St Margarets College Trust Board
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Saint Margaret's College Endowment Fund
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St Margaret's College Foundation
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St
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51
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St Michael's
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St Michael's Church School Board
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52
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53
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St Peter's School (
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St Peter's School Trust Board
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St Peter's School Alumni Incorporated
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St Peter's School Foundation
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54
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The
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The Cathedral Grammar Foundation
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The
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55
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The
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The Corelli Foundation (no returns filed)
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56
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57
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Rudolf Steiner Schools (Titirangi) Trust Board
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58
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59
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Waihi School Association Inc
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60
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Wanganui Collegiate School
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The Whanganui College Board of Trustees
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The Wanganui Collegiate School Old Boy's Life Members Trust Fund
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Wanganui Collegiate School Foundation
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Wanganui Collegiate School Memorial Fund
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Wanganui Collegiate
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Wanganui Collegiate School Old Boys And Girls Association Incorporated
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61
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The
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62
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The Wentworth Sailing and Outdoor Pursuits Club Incorporated
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63
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Wentworth Primary
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