How to Check a Charity Before You Donate: A Step-by-Step Guide

Why bother checking?

Most UK charities are genuine, well-run organisations doing valuable work. But "most" isn't all. The Charity Commission registers over 170,000 charities — and the sector spans everything from large, professionally staffed national organisations to tiny local groups run by a handful of volunteers.

The risks range from straightforward fraud (rare, but it happens) to more common issues: poor governance that lets problems fester, inefficient spending that means little of your donation reaches its intended purpose, or simply charities that have fallen dormant without formally deregistering.

A few minutes of checking before you donate can answer the questions that matter most.

Step 1: Confirm the charity is registered

In England and Wales, any charitable organisation with an annual income over £5,000 must register with the Charity Commission. The first thing to verify is that the charity you're considering is actually on the register.

You can do this using CharityScore UK's search — every charity in the database is a registered entity. Look for the registration number on the charity's own website or fundraising materials. If a charity is asking for donations but won't give you a registration number, that's a warning sign.

Also check the status: is the charity currently registered and active? Some organisations continue fundraising after their registration has lapsed or been removed.

Step 2: Look at the trustees

Trustees are the people legally responsible for a charity. They're the board — the governance layer that's supposed to hold management to account and ensure the organisation operates legally and in line with its stated purposes.

A well-governed charity typically has at least three or more trustees, ideally a mix of skills and backgrounds, and trustees who are genuinely independent of the charity's paid staff. Red flags include:

• Only one or two trustees (inadequate oversight)
• Trustees who appear to be family members of the founder (conflict of interest risk)
• No trustees listed at all
• Very high trustee turnover (suggests internal problems)

Step 3: Check the filing history

Every registered charity must file an annual return with the Charity Commission, typically within ten months of its financial year end. This is a legal requirement, not optional.

Consistently late filing is one of the most reliable early warning signs of organisational problems. It often indicates poor administration, internal disputes, or financial difficulties that management is trying to avoid disclosing.

CharityScore UK's scoring gives significant weight to filing history — charities that have always filed on time score considerably higher in this category than those with repeated late submissions. If a charity has been late in more than half of its recent years, treat that as a serious concern.

Step 4: Understand the finances

Financial data is where many donors' eyes glaze over — but the key questions are simpler than they look.

What's the spending ratio? This is the percentage of total income that's actually spent on charitable activities (as opposed to administration, fundraising costs, or simply being retained as reserves). There's no single "right" number — a charity with high fundraising costs might still deliver excellent impact — but as a rough guide, charities spending 70–95% of income on their charitable purpose are generally considered well-managed.

Very low spending ratios (below 50%) may indicate that the charity is accumulating excessive reserves or spending too much on internal overheads. Very high ratios (above 110–120%) mean the charity is spending more than it earns, which is sustainable only for a limited period.

Is income stable? A charity whose income has declined sharply, or that fluctuates wildly from year to year, may be facing sustainability problems. Stable or gradually growing income over multiple years is generally a positive sign.

Are the accounts qualified? When a charity's auditors flag concerns about its financial statements, those accounts are described as "qualified." Qualified accounts are a serious red flag — they mean the auditors couldn't confirm that the accounts fairly represent the charity's finances.

Step 5: Check the regulatory record

The Charity Commission records formal regulatory actions it takes against charities: inquiries, warnings, trustee removals, interim manager appointments. These are serious events, and a charity with a regulatory action on its record warrants significant caution.

This doesn't necessarily mean the charity is untrustworthy today — many organisations have faced historical issues that have since been resolved. But you should at least understand what happened, when, and how it was addressed, before donating.

CharityScore UK flags all regulatory actions in the Red Flags section of each charity's profile, with severity ratings from Low to Critical.

Step 6: Look at what the charity actually does

This sounds obvious, but it's worth taking a moment to read the charity's stated activities — the description it provides to the Charity Commission of what it actually does.

Does it match what you were told when you were approached for a donation? Does it match the charity's own marketing materials? A vague or very general activities description can sometimes indicate a charity whose work is less well-defined than its fundraising suggests.

A note on small charities

Many excellent charities are small, local organisations that may score lower on some transparency metrics simply because they're new, or because their income sits below the threshold that triggers full annual account filing requirements. Small doesn't mean suspicious.

Context matters. A five-year-old community group with two trustees and modest finances may be doing invaluable work in your local area. The questions above are checkpoints, not disqualifiers. Use them to inform your judgment, not replace it.

The quick version

If you only have two minutes, check these three things:

1. Is the charity currently registered and active with the Charity Commission?
2. Has it been filing its annual returns on time?
3. Does the Charity Commission show any regulatory actions against it?

These three questions, taken together, will catch the majority of genuinely concerning situations. CharityScore UK's ratings address all three — and more — for every registered charity in England and Wales.