Donor answers
Questions donors actually ask
37 short answers on checking a charity, reading its accounts, what our score does and does not measure, and giving tax-efficiently. Each one is a straight answer first, detail after.
Quick answer
Checking a charity
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Are charity collection bags through my door genuine?
Some are legitimate charity collections; others are commercial operators who may pay a charity only a small fee per tonne. A genuine bag should state the charity’s name and registration number and explain who is collecting. If no registered charity is named, treat it as non-charitable.
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Are doorstep charity collectors legit?
Only if they can give a full registered charity name and number you can verify on the spot, carry ID, and never pressure you to pay immediately. Check the number on CharityCompare or the official register before giving cash or card details.
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How do I check a CCNI Northern Ireland charity number?
Search the name or CCNI number on CharityCompare or the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register. Match the registered name to the appeal before giving. Start at the Northern Ireland hub.
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How do I check a charity is registered?
Search the charity's name or number on the official register for its nation — the Charity Commission for England and Wales, OSCR for Scotland, or the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Every CharityCompare profile links directly to the register entry. Charities under £5,000 income in England and Wales, and some excepted bodies such as many churches, can operate legitimately without a number.
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How do I check an OSCR Scottish charity number?
Search the name or Scottish charity number on CharityCompare or the OSCR register. Confirm the registered name matches the appeal, then donate only via official channels. Start at the Scotland hub.
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How do I know if a charity appeal is a scam?
Check the charity number yourself on the Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI register — not via the appeal’s link. Refuse urgency, never pay to a personal account or with gift cards, and donate only through the charity’s official website.
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How do I know if a UK charity is financially transparent?
Check that it files accounts on time, publishes a clear trustees’ annual report, and shows cause spend, fundraising costs and reserves. On CharityCompare, Clarity Score — especially Accountability & Transparency — is a filing-based transparency rating. Registration shows the charity exists; open filings show it accounts for money clearly.
Scoring
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How does CharityCompare score charities?
The Clarity Score V1 awards up to 100 points — Accountability & Transparency (40), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10). An open statutory inquiry by the relevant UK regulator scores 0. Stars use the same bands as the labels (90+ = 5★ Exceptional). See the methodology page for the full scale.
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How often is data updated?
We refresh from the Charity Commission register on a regular cadence — each profile shows a last updated date and link to the official register entry.
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What is a good Clarity Score?
90–100 is exceptional (5★), 75–89 is good (4★) and the Give with Confidence threshold, 60–74 needs improvement (3★), and 1–59 is poor (2★). Zero means not rated — including an open statutory inquiry. The score measures accountability, not impact.
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Why does a well-known charity have a lower score than a small one?
The Clarity Score rewards clear, timely, complete reporting — not size or fame. Large charities often score in the 70s because they run shops, fundraise heavily from the public and carry complex accounts, while a small charity with simple finances and punctual filings can score higher. A lower score is not an accusation; it reflects what the filings show.
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Why only charities over £100k income?
A full Clarity Score needs detailed annual-return fields, which UK regulators typically publish for larger charities. Smaller organisations, and some OSCR/CCNI records, still have a free basic register profile — we do not invent a score from thin data.
Charity finances
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Are charity CEO salaries too high?
There is no single fair figure. A charity running £200m of services and employing thousands competes for senior finance and operational skills, and underpaying can cost more than it saves. Charities must disclose the number of staff paid over £60,000 in their accounts, so you can check the bands yourself and judge whether pay looks proportionate to scale and complexity.
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How much should I donate to charity?
There is no correct amount — what matters more is that the giving is sustainable and regular. Regular monthly gifts are worth more to a charity than the same total given sporadically, because they cost less to administer and make planning possible. Adding Gift Aid increases the value by 25% at no cost to you.
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What are charity reserves?
Reserves are the free funds a charity could spend if income stopped. CharityCompare shows them as months of operating costs — very low can mean fragility; very high may mean donations are accumulating unless the trustees explain why.
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What does it mean if a charity files its accounts late?
In England and Wales charities must file annual accounts within ten months of their financial year end. Filing after that is recorded as late on the public register. One late year can be innocent, particularly for small charities, but a repeated pattern signals weak administration and costs points in the Accountability and Transparency beacon.
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What is a Charity Commission statutory inquiry?
A statutory inquiry is the Charity Commission's most serious formal investigation, opened where there are concerns about misconduct, mismanagement or risk to charitable funds. It is public information. On CharityCompare an open inquiry sets the charity's Clarity Score to 0 automatically and displays a regulatory warning, because strong financial reporting cannot offset an active investigation.
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What is a charity trustee, and why does it matter?
Trustees are the people legally responsible for governing a charity and acting in its beneficiaries' interests. They are usually unpaid volunteers and are named on the public register. Board size and turnover are useful signals: a charity with only one or two trustees has little internal challenge.
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What is a good admin cost ratio for a charity?
There is no single perfect number — context matters. Many well-run medium and large charities spend 70–90% on charitable activities (cause spend). Compare peers of similar size in the same cause rather than chasing zero admin. Related: what is a good spending ratio for a charity?
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What is a good spending ratio for a charity?
A good spending ratio is proportionate for the charity’s size and model — not the lowest overhead available. Many well-run UK charities spend roughly 70–90% of expenditure on charitable activities (cause spend). Compare peers in the same cause, and read fundraising costs and reserves alongside the ratio.
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What is the difference between restricted and unrestricted funds?
Restricted funds are donations given for a specific purpose and cannot lawfully be spent on anything else. Unrestricted funds can be used for any of the charity's purposes, including core costs and salaries. Reserves figures normally refer to free reserves — unrestricted money not already tied up in buildings or equipment.
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Why do charity CEOs get paid so much?
Large charities pay CEOs to run complex organisations — staff, safeguarding, regulated services and multi-million fundraising — in a competitive labour market. Pay should still look proportionate to scale and be explained by trustees. Check £60,000+ pay bands in the accounts; high CEO pay alone does not mean little reaches the cause.
Choosing a charity
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Should I donate to a small or a large charity?
Both can be well run; scale changes the cost structure rather than the integrity. A modest gift is a meaningful share of a small charity's income and often funds direct services cheaply, while a large charity can fund long-term research, campaign for policy change and absorb emergencies. Choose based on what you want your money to do.
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What does UK-wide vs local mean?
UK-wide charities operate nationally or internationally; local charities focus on a city or region. Both can score well — choose based on where you want impact.
Giving & tax
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Are charity donations tax deductible in the UK?
Not in the way they are in the United States. UK donations work through Gift Aid: the charity reclaims basic-rate tax on your gift, and if you pay a higher rate you reclaim the difference yourself through Self Assessment. There is no simple deduction from taxable income for cash gifts.
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Can I get a refund on a charity donation?
Donations are gifts, so there is no automatic right to a refund. In practice most UK charities will refund a genuine mistake — a duplicate payment, a wrong amount, or an unauthorised transaction — if you contact them promptly. Cancel a recurring donation with the charity or through your bank.
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How do I donate goods or clothes to a charity?
Take items directly to a charity shop where you can see the charity's name and registration number, or book a collection through the charity itself. Under retail Gift Aid, signing up lets the charity claim an extra 25% on what your donated items sell for, at no cost to you.
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What is Gift Aid and should I use it?
Gift Aid adds 25p per £1 from HMRC if you are a UK taxpayer who has paid enough Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax. Tick the box on donations to eligible charities — it costs you nothing extra, but you must stay eligible.
Trust & independence
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Are you affiliated with any charities?
No. CharityCompare is independent. We do not accept payment for scores. Enhanced listings may exist in future but will never change independent ratings.
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Can a charity pay to improve its score or ranking?
No. Scores are computed only from official regulator filings, so they cannot be bought, edited or influenced by payment. Charities can claim a profile for free to add a description and verified badge, and paid tiers add presentation features and a stats dashboard — none of which touch the score or ranking position.
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Can I trust a 5-star charity completely?
Five stars mean the filings look exceptionally clear on our published bands (90–100). They are not a guarantee of impact, values alignment, or that every future year will look the same. Read the profile, red flags, and the charity’s own report before you give.
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Is CharityCompare free to use?
Yes — every rating, comparison, profile and search on CharityCompare is free for donors, with no account required. We take no commission on donations and no payment can change a score. The site is funded by optional charity memberships, business services and reader donations.
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What if a charity disagrees with its score?
Any charity can request a correction with evidence, and we re-check the underlying filings. If the data we used was wrong we fix it and the score changes. If the data was right, the score stands — but the charity can publish a dated right of reply on its own profile for donors to read.
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Why do charities send me so much post and email?
Because contacting existing supporters is far cheaper than finding new ones, so charities keep asking. You can stop it: tell the charity directly, use the Fundraising Preference Service to stop contact from a named charity, or register with the Mailing Preference Service for unaddressed mail.
Coverage
More answers
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How do I find charities near me in the UK?
Use CharityCompare city pages and cause×city hubs — for example animal charities in Bristol — which list local organisations plus UK-wide charities serving the area. Verify each charity number before donating.
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How do I donate to charity instead of flowers?
Name a registered UK charity with its charity number on the order of service, verify the number, and share the official donate link or funeral-director collection details. Add Gift Aid if donors pay UK tax. Guide: /guides/funeral-and-in-memory-donations.
Still not sure about a specific charity?
Look it up and see the score, the beacon breakdown, five years of finances and a link to its official register entry — free, for every UK registered charity.