27 Mar 2015

Early childhood company becomes charity

4:48 pm on 27 March 2015

A major early childhood education company, Kidicorp, has become a charity.

Co-owner Wayne Wright said the company had changed from a for-profit company owned by a family trust, to a not-for-profit owned by a charitable foundation set up by the Wrights.

He said the company had been operating as a non-profit organisation for several years and the change simply made that clear.

"I think it's a game changer in the sector, it's just unprecedented for an organisation this size to switch from a full profit to a charity overnight, you know the move's been in the pipeline in our thinking for many years, we've been operating in the spirit of a not-for-profit structure for years and this just makes it official."

Mr Wright said the switch would silence critics who said the Wrights were in the business for profit.

The organisation has 19,000 children in 256 centres under brands including Edukids, Top Kids and Early Years.

It became a charity at the end of January, but only announced the change this week.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs