Insights

Charity insights

Bite-sized facts and figures about UK charities, drawn from the Charity Commission register — one new insight featured daily.

The earliest registered charity in England & Wales

Every single charity currently registered in England and Wales was registered after 1 January 1961 — every one but one. Trinity College Carmarthen is listed as registered on 9 September 1960, making it the earliest registered charity in England and Wales. A glitch in the matrix, or just a very old college?

Does London's generosity hold up per person?

With over £40 billion collected annually, London is by far the biggest source of charitable income in the UK. But does that generosity still hold once you account for population?

The UK's biggest charity dedicated to animals

The biggest UK non-profit organisation dedicated to animals is the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds — proof that the British really do care about their local birds.

Cardiff out-gives Liverpool, pound for pound

Cardiff's non-profit organisations collect roughly twice as much money per person as Liverpool's — a real difference in generosity, or just a difference in charity size?

Epsom: home to the UK's biggest charity

Ever heard of Epsom? This Surrey town harbours the headquarters of the UK's biggest charitable organisation, which collects £1.4 billion annually.

"Cat" beats "Dog" in UK charity names

"Cat" appears in the name of 266 charities in the UK. "Dog" only appears in 208. Who knew Britain was a nation of cat-lovers?

Sheffield's charitable income lags its peers

Sheffield's charitable income is the lowest of the UK's 10 biggest cities — a surprising gap for a city its size.

Bee charities outnumber bird charities

There are almost twice as many charities dedicated to bees (58) as to birds (31) — the UK's pollinators have quite the fan club.

London has more registered charities than anywhere else

London boasts the highest number of registered charities of any UK city, with roughly 25,000 located there alone.

Birmingham vs. all of Wales, charity for charity

Birmingham has more non-profit organisations than all seven of Wales's cities combined. In terms of money collected, though, the Welsh cities together were 60% stronger.

25,000 charities back amateur sport

Over 25,000 non-profits are dedicated to supporting amateur sport — universities such as the University of Chester and Cardiff Metropolitan University are especially active.

Manchester's charities collect more than any UK city bar London

With almost £2.5 billion collected, Manchester's charities raise more money than in any other UK city — apart from London, of course.

Only 4 of the UK's 10 biggest charities are in London

Despite London's outsized charitable income, only 4 of the UK's 10 biggest non-profit organisations are actually registered there.

Nearly 100 charities are dedicated to horses and donkeys

Horses and donkeys are the key focus of almost 100 non-profits across the UK.

Bristol out-registers Birmingham, despite half the population

Despite having roughly half the population of Birmingham, Bristol has 150 more registered charities — over 2,700 in total.

West Malling: home to the UK's second-biggest charity

The UK's second-biggest non-profit organisation, with over £1.3 billion collected, is registered in West Malling — a village of fewer than 3,000 people.

9 charities support sharks, whales and dolphins

Sharks, whales and dolphins are supported by 9 different non-profits across the UK.

Manchester leads on charity income per person

Manchester's non-profit income per capita is more than double that of Liverpool, Leeds and Leicester — over £5,000 per person, the highest of any major English city.

One university drives most of Bangor's charity income

Almost £200 million is collected by non-profits every year in the small Welsh city of Bangor — but over 80% of it comes from a single source: Bangor University.

Cardiff out-gives Liverpool and Sheffield combined

Despite being significantly smaller, Cardiff's charities collect more money than Liverpool's and Sheffield's combined — £1.6 billion in non-profit income makes the Welsh capital one of the UK's biggest charitable hotspots.