Play It Strange Trust — Arts & Culture Charity in Auckland
Play It Strange Trust is a Charitable Trust charity in the Arts & Culture sector, based in Auckland, Auckland. Annual revenue: $0.7M NZD. Financial data as at December 2025.
Mission: The Play It Strange Trust was founded in 2003 and has been running programmes to encourage and develop interest, activity and skills in songwriting, recording and musical performance by creating an experiential environment for every New Zealand secondary school-aged student.
- Registration Number
- CC11342
- Charity Type
- Charitable Trust
- Registration Date
- 2007-10-11
- Status
- Active
- Sector
- Arts & Culture
- Location
- Auckland, Auckland
- stephanie@playitstrange.org.nz
- Data as at
- December 2025
Beneficiaries: Children / young people, Family / whanau, General public
Financial Summary
- Total Revenue
- $0.7M NZD
- Total Expenses
- $0.6M NZD
- Total Assets
- $0.5M NZD
- Net Assets
- $0.3M NZD
- Reserve Months
- 0.0 months of operating expenses
- Staff Count
- 4
- Financial Year End
- 2025-12-31
Financial History
| Year | Revenue | Expenses | Net Assets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $0.7M | $0.6M | $0.3M |
| 2024 | $0.7M | $0.7M | $0.2M |
| 2023 | $0.6M | $0.6M | $0.2M |
| 2022 | $0.6M | $0.6M | $0.2M |
| 2021 | $0.6M | $0.5M | $0.2M |
| 2020 | $0.4M | $0.4M | $0.2M |
| 2019 | $0.6M | $0.5M | $0.2M |
| 2018 | $0.4M | $0.5M | $0.1M |
| 2017 | $0.5M | $0.5M | $0.1M |
| 2016 | $0.5M | $0.5M | $0.2M |
Board Members and Officers
Current Officers (8)
| Name | Role | Appointed |
|---|---|---|
| Vanessa Black | Trustee | 2026-10-19 |
| Penelope Blair | Trustee | 2026-10-19 |
| Michael Hall | Trustee | 2026-05-01 |
| Lindsay Cowley | Trustee | 2026-01-01 |
| Nicholas Roberts | Trustee | 2023-11-14 |
| Abul Bashir | Treasurer | 2022-12-14 |
| Sarah Caughey | Trustee | 2019-10-10 |
| Hilary Poole | Trustee | 2019-06-05 |
Former Officers (18)
- Fred Soar — Chair (departed 2026-04-30)
- Claire O'Connell — Trustee (departed 2023-09-25)
- Sonja Hawkins — Trustee (departed 2025-12-09)
- David Boyle — Trustee (departed 2025-02-11)
- Justine Ross — Trustee (departed 2019-10-31)
- David Mclaughlin — Trustee (departed 2011-07-31)
- Murray Thom — Trustee (departed 2016-10-19)
- Andrew Ferrier — Trustee (departed 2026-06-30)
- Neil Hopkins — Treasurer (departed 2022-12-14)
- Michael Glading — Trustee (departed 2016-06-09)
- Sam Neill — Trustee (departed 2016-10-19)
- William Caughey — Chair (departed 2019-06-05)
- Simon Aimer — Trustee (departed 2007-06-11)
- Stephen Pearson — Trustee (departed 2007-06-11)
- Sean Fitzpatrick — Trustee (departed 2016-10-19)
- Brendan Smyth — Trustee (departed 2016-03-01)
- Christopher Hocquard — Trustee (departed 2008-07-07)
- David Dobbyn — Trustee (departed 2008-12-03)
Funding Sources
- Lion Foundation — $225,000
- Lion Foundation — $200,000
- Lion Foundation — $200,000
- Foundation North — $75,000
- Foundation North — $60,000
- Trillian Trust — $59,850
- Foundation North — $50,000
- Foundation North — $50,000
- Foundation North — $40,000
- Trillian Trust — $37,500
- Four Winds Foundation Limited — $27,000
- Four Winds Foundation Limited — $7,500
Similar Charities in Arts & Culture
- Atiawa Ki Whakarongotai Charitable Trust Board — Arts & Culture
- Marlborough Civic Theatre Trust — Arts & Culture
- Kati Huirapa Runaka Ki Puketeraki Incorporated — Arts & Culture
- Maoriland Charitable Trust — Arts & Culture
- The Tauranga Art Gallery Trust — Arts & Culture
Play It Strange Trust
Financial data as at December 2025. Sourced from Charities Services register.
XRB Tier 3 lets smaller charities (total expenses of $5M or less; $2M for periods ending before 28 March 2024) file a simple-format performance report instead of full PBE standards. The return reports totals but not the program/administration split or the line-item detail our template needs. No red flags were detected in what was filed, and revenue is below our $2M rating threshold. (Whether the accounts must be audited is a separate Charities Act test: audit from $1.1M of operating expenditure, review from $550K.) A letter grade is withheld rather than assigning one that would be driven by the template-fit, not the charity's operations. The charity's filed figures are shown above, and any structural concerns a donor would want to look at are surfaced separately. (v3.3 — set at the pre-2024 Tier 3 ceiling; matches Charity Navigator and CharityWatch US practice.)
How ratings work →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.
- No chair recorded on the registerNo chair or presiding role is recorded in the register for this board of 6. The Charities Register does not require one to be identified, so this is a gap in the public record rather than a finding about the board.
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.
$656.3K
$624.0K
$518.9K
4
Financial data from Charities Services annual return (FY2025). Ratings calculated using CharityData v3.1.1 methodology.
Funded By
Registered charities that have funded this organisation.
About
The Play It Strange Trust was founded in 2003 and has been running programmes to encourage and develop interest, activity and skills in songwriting, recording and musical performance by creating an experiential environment for every New Zealand secondary school-aged student.
Who We Serve
Key Statistics
Financial Trends
Financial Trends (18 Years)
Revenue Breakdown
Expense Breakdown
API DataBased on annual return data. Detailed program/admin breakdown not available.
Financial Health Dashboard
Based on latest annual return data. Metrics are calculated from reported financial data and may not reflect the full picture. View methodology
Revenue Diversification
HHI (Herfindahl–Hirschman Index) measures concentration across 6 income categories. Lower HHI = more diversified. Score above 60 indicates healthy diversification.
Peer Comparison
Ranked against 109 peers · Arts & Culture · $100K – $1M
Top Peers in Group
Peers are charities in the same sector and revenue size band. Rankings are based on the latest available data.
Rating History
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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.
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