In 2026, every donation of more than $20,000 a political party receives must be declared within 20 days. So who’s getting – and who’s giving – the biggest sums?

It’s election year and the political parties don’t just want your vote, they want your money. Labour is ramping up the politely pleading emails (“Can you dig deep at this important time?”), Act is selling wine, and NZ First is encouraging people to “join the surge”.

So how are they doing? It’s not the five bucks here, the cheeky 20 there that really makes a difference, of course, but the hefty contributions from wealthy supporters – and in election year, registered political parties must declare to the Electoral Commission all donations above $20,000 within 20 days of receiving them, after which they’re published here.

Four-and-a-half months into 2026, and just over seven months out from the election, seven different parties have received 25 donations of $20k-plus, totalling just over $1.5 million. Here’s how it breaks down.

The biggest donee

Thanks to five “donations protected from disclosure” made in March, National’s war chest is the fullest, with the party receiving more than half a million dollars in $20,000-plus donations in 2026 so far.

The four donations whose provenance has been made public include two donations of $100,000, one from Van Den Brink Karaka Limited (the Van Den Brink family are poultry-and-polo Rich Listers who have previously donated to New Zealand First), and another from GMP Environmental Ltd, a subsidiary of Greymouth Petroleum (which has been described as “the country’s most cashed-up and enthusiastic gas explorer”, and which has also given $100k to Act and New Zealand First this year). 

The other two identified National donors are real estate guy and impressively old marathon runner Garth Barfoot, who donated $50,000, and a trust owned by former national MP Jim Gerard, which gave $30,000.

Where it gets mysterious are those donations protected from disclosure: a total of $242,237, comprising one donation of $24,400, one of $42,750, one of $55,000, one of $60,000 and one curiously specific contribution of $60,087, all made in March. These sums are paid to the Electoral Commission, which groups them together and sends the secretive stash to the party at regular intervals, without identifying the donor or any details of the donation. It’s illegal to even suggest to anyone that you’re so much as thinking about making a donation protected from disclosure.

As of this year, the total any one party can receive in donations protected from disclosure is $409,500 in the period between two elections. National received a $45,000 protected donation just after the 2023 election, so they’re allowed only another $122,263 before November 7. There have been no donations protected from disclosure made to any other parties this year, though Act has received a couple of $8,000 ones since the last election, and New Zealand First got a single $5,000 contribution.

The biggest donors

First prize goes to the aforementioned GMP Environmental, which has donated a total of $300,000 in $20k-plus sums this year – all three coalition parties got $100,000. The second-most-generous donor so far is Michael Sullivan, who interest.co.nz describes as an Auckland building and civil engineer businessman. He also donated to all three coalition parties, but while Act and National got a cool $100k, NZ First had to make do with $50,000. 

Coming in third is Phillip Mills of the Les Mills gym empire, a rare high-net-worth regular donor to parties leaning to the centre-left. This year he has given $100,000 to Labour and $50,000 to the Greens, as well as kicking off the year by making a first-time donation of $50,000 to The Opportunity Party.

How’s everyone else doing?

Act has accumulated the second-biggest pile of $20k-plus donations so far, coming in at just under $400,000 – well below where the party stood at a similar point last election year. Most of this year’s dosh came from three donors who each gave a cool $100,000: in addition to the aforementioned Van Den Brink and GMP contributions, there was $100k from toy titan and regular Act donor Nick Mowbray. Xero founder Hamish Edwards, meanwhile, gave $25,000, and Morris Hey, a regular Act donor who once clashed with John Key in a mall, as you do, was 20 bucks shy of that, donating $24,980. At just under $400,000, Act’s $20k-plus donations are 

New Zealand First comes in next on the money ladder at $175,000, with $25,000 from controversial businessman Troy Bowker – who has previously donated to NZ First as well as Act and Labour’s Stuart Nash – adding to the GMP and Van den Brink sums.

Leapfrogging the opposition parties in parliament on the big donations front this year is The Opportunity Party. In addition to the Mills contribution, Opportunity received $100,000 from a Queenstown-based tech entrepreneur called Brian Cartwell. Interestingly, while the 2025 donations have yet to be released, RNZ has reported that Cartwell also gave $200,000 to the Act Party last year.  

Labour isn’t too far behind thanks to the aforementioned $100k from Phillip Mills, plus $22,333 from an Auckland donor named Mary Theresa O’Brien. The Greens, meanwhile, are on $93,014.56, with the Mills donation topped up by $43,014.56 from the party’s own Francisco Hernandez – it’s not clear if this is part of the 10% salary tithe that all Green MPs agree to or an extra contribution. Te Pāti Māori has had one declarable donation: $40,000 from its own president, John Tamihere. 

Wait, what are the rules for donations?

In a non-election year, registered political parties must include in their annual returns to the Electoral Commission the details of all donations over $6,000, any anonymous donations over $1,500 (other than those protected from disclosure – see above), any overseas donations over $50, and the number and total donations between $6,000 and $1,500 that were not made anonymously. For donations under those amounts, parties must also report the total number and amount of them. Individual candidates must report the identity of donors who donate more than $1,500.

In an election year, parties must also report any individual donation over $20,000 within 20 days (this timeframe has been increased from 10 days in 2023).