Free Clarity Scores help UK donors compare charities

What is the background?

The United Kingdom has a large registered charity sector. Donors who want to give well still face a practical problem. Official filings are public, but they sit across different registers and formats. Reading one return takes time. Comparing several takes more time than most people have.

Brand recognition and marketing often fill that gap. Larger charities can afford more advertising. Smaller charities with careful books may stay invisible. A fairer starting point needs shared facts that anyone can check.

What happened?

CharityCompare’s free UK charity directory now lists 214,948 registered charity profiles across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Of those, 7,497 currently carry a full Clarity Score. Most profiles are listings without a rating yet. That gap is part of the picture, not a footnote.

The Clarity Score runs from 0 to 100. It is built from four beacons: financial transparency, cause spending, governance, and filing record. Scores come only from Charity Commission and other UK regulator annual returns. They do not use surveys, opinions or self-reported figures.

Every profile links back to its official register entry. A reader can open the source filing and check the numbers. The scoring methodology is published in full, so a disputed result can be traced step by step.

How did it happen?

CharityCompare rebuilds ratings from the latest regulator data releases. Each profile shows when its data was last refreshed. It also shows which accounts year the score is based on. That dating matters when filings lag or when a charity has just filed newer accounts.

The site is free for donors and takes no commission on donations. Scores cannot be bought. A charity can claim its profile to add a description and a verified badge. Claiming never changes the score. Funding comes from optional charity memberships, business services and reader donations.

Readers can compare up to four charities side by side. They can also browse by cause or by city. The site states plainly what the score does and does not do. It measures accountability on paper. It does not measure the real-world impact of a charity’s programmes.

Why does it matter?

With roughly 215,000 registered charities, no donor can assess the field unaided. Public filings already hold much of the information people need. When that information is scattered, it is hard to use. Hard comparison tilts giving toward familiar names and large marketing budgets. That structure favours scale over clarity.

A score that cannot be bought answers a common worry in ratings and awards: pay-for-placement. If money cannot raise a number, the number is easier to trust as a filing summary. Publishing the method adds another check. When a charity or donor disputes a score, they can read the rules instead of arguing in the dark.

The honesty limits matter as much as the score itself. Only 7,497 of 214,948 profiles have a full Clarity Score today. Absence of a score is not a failing grade. It usually means the rating has not been computed yet. Even a high score is not a verdict on impact. A well-run small charity and a poorly-run one can both file tidy accounts. Donors still need their own judgement about mission, evidence and need.

What were the key results?

• 214,948 registered charity profiles across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
• 7,497 charities currently carry a full Clarity Score
• Clarity Score scale runs from 0 to 100
• Four scoring beacons: financial transparency, cause spending, governance, and filing record
• Scores computed only from Charity Commission and other UK regulator annual returns
• Every profile links to its official register entry for verification
• Full scoring methodology published for public inspection
• Free for donors, with no commission taken on donations
• Scores cannot be bought; claiming a profile never changes the score
• Readers can compare up to four charities side by side, and browse by cause or city

What happens next?

Charity coverage will widen as more regulator releases feed the rebuild process. Profiles will keep showing their refresh date and accounts year so readers know how current a score is. Donors who want a practical next step can compare charities side by side on CharityCompare and then open the linked register entries before they give.

The useful habit is simple. Treat the Clarity Score as a filing checklist, not a recommendation. Use it to ask clearer questions. Then judge programmes, evidence and local need on their own terms.

Disclosure: CharityCompare is run by the same team as Small Good Things. As with every organisation we cover, inclusion here is editorial and unpaid.