---
title: "Can a charity pay to improve its score or ranking?"
description: "No. Scores are computed only from official regulator filings, so they cannot be bought, edited or influenced by payment."
source: https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/answers/can-a-charity-pay-to-change-its-score
retrieved: 2026-08-18T01:28:31.565Z
license: "Charity data © Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0"
---

Trust & independence

# Can a charity pay to improve its score or ranking?

**In short:** 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.

Data from [CharityCompare editorial](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/), last updated 12 August 2026.

No payment affects a score, a star rating or a ranking position. Scores are computed at build time from regulator filings only, so there is no mechanism by which money could change one.

What a charity **can** do:

- **Claim its profile — free.** Add its own description and a verified badge.

- **Paid tiers** add presentation and insight: logo and photos, impact links, and a dashboard showing how many donors viewed and compared the charity.

Featured placements exist on some cause and city pages, and they are **always labelled as such**. They never reorder a ranked list. This boundary is the point of the site — see [how we’re funded](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/how-were-funded).

## Related questions

- [→ Are you affiliated with any charities?](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/answers/affiliation)
- [→ Is CharityCompare free to use?](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/answers/is-charitycompare-free)
- [→ What if a charity disagrees with its score?](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/answers/what-if-a-charity-disagrees-with-its-score)
- [→ Can I trust a 5-star charity completely?](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/answers/trust-five-stars)

Look up any UK charity's free Clarity Score from regulator filings.

[Search charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity-directory) [Read the guides](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/guides)

**Information only** — see [guides](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/guides) for more detail.