UK Charity Commission Search

Search the official Charity Commission register for England and Wales to retrieve structured data on 170,000+ registered charities. Look up charities by registration number or search by name to access activities, financials, trustees, contact details, area of operation, and registration status -- all via the official Charity Commission API.

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Why use this actor?

• No coding required -- skip building your own Charity Commission API integration. This actor handles authentication, rate limiting, retries, and data normalization out of the box.
• Two flexible search modes -- look up charities directly by registration number for precise results, or search by name when you do not know the number.
• Rich structured output -- get clean JSON with 22 fields per charity, ready for spreadsheets, databases, dashboards, or downstream automation.
• Free API access -- the Charity Commission API key costs nothing to obtain. Combined with Apify's free tier, you can run hundreds of lookups at zero cost.
• Schedule and automate -- set up recurring runs on Apify to monitor charity financials, trustee changes, or registration status over time.

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Key features

• Direct charity number lookup -- provide one or more registration numbers (e.g., 1089464, 202918) for instant, precise data retrieval.
• Name-based search -- search the public register by charity name when you do not know the registration number. The actor scrapes the register website to find matching charity numbers, then fetches full details via the API.
• Comprehensive charity profiles -- every result includes name, status, activities description, contact email, phone, website, postal address, registration dates, and company number.
• Financial data -- retrieve the latest income and expenditure figures. Enable "Include Financial History" for multi-year income and spending records.
• Trustee information -- optionally fetch trustee names, chair status, and appointment dates for governance research.
• Area of operation -- see the geographic regions where each charity operates, including parent area classifications.
• Status filtering -- filter results to show only registered charities, only removed charities, or both.
• Built-in rate limiting -- automatic 429 retry logic with 5-second backoff and 300ms delays between charities to respect API limits.
• Dry-run mode -- run without an API key to validate your input configuration before making live API calls.
• API key validation -- the actor verifies your API key on startup and fails fast with a clear error message if the key is invalid.

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How to use

Using the Apify Console

1. Go to the UK Charity Commission Search actor page on Apify.
2. Click Start to open the input form.
3. Enter your Charity Commission API Key (get a free one at the developer portal).
4. Provide your search criteria -- either enter charity registration numbers in the Charity Numbers field, or type a search term like cancer in the Search Query field.
5. Optionally toggle Include Trustees and/or Include Financial History.
6. Set the Status Filter and Max Results as needed.
7. Click Start and download results from the dataset when the run completes.

Using the Apify API (JavaScript)

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('ryanclinton/uk-charity-commission').call({
    apiKey: 'YOUR_CHARITY_COMMISSION_API_KEY',
    charityNumbers: ['1089464', '202918'],
    includeTrustees: true,
    includeFinancials: true,
    status: 'registered',
    maxResults: 25,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Using the Apify API (Python)

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN')

run = client.actor('ryanclinton/uk-charity-commission').call(run_input={
    'apiKey': 'YOUR_CHARITY_COMMISSION_API_KEY',
    'query': 'cancer research',
    'includeTrustees': True,
    'includeFinancials': False,
    'status': 'registered',
    'maxResults': 10,
})

items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
for item in items:
    print(f"{item['charityName']} -- Income: {item['income']}")

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Input parameters

*Without an API key, the actor runs in dry-run mode and outputs setup instructions instead of charity data.

Example input JSON:

{
    "apiKey": "your-subscription-key-here",
    "charityNumbers": ["1089464"],
    "query": "cancer",
    "includeTrustees": true,
    "includeFinancials": true,
    "status": "registered",
    "maxResults": 25
}

Tips:

• Provide either charityNumbers or query (or both). If both are given, the actor combines the results.
• If query is a number with 5+ digits, the actor treats it as a charity number and adds it to the lookup list.
• Setting maxResults lower speeds up runs, especially when includeTrustees or includeFinancials are enabled.

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Output

Each charity in the output dataset contains the following structure:

{
    "charityNumber": 1089464,
    "charityName": "BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY",
    "registrationDate": "2001-07-20T00:00:00",
    "removalDate": null,
    "status": "Registered",
    "activities": "The British Red Cross helps people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are...",
    "contactEmail": "[email protected]",
    "contactPhone": "0344 871 1111",
    "websiteUrl": "http://www.redcross.org.uk",
    "address": "UK Office, 44 Moorfields, London, EC2Y 9AL",
    "income": 292400000,
    "spending": 274300000,
    "financialPeriodEnd": "2023-12-31T00:00:00",
    "companyNumber": "RC000459",
    "giftAid": "Yes",
    "hasLand": true,
    "isInsolvent": false,
    "inAdministration": false,
    "areaOfOperation": [
        {
            "geographic_area_type": "Country",
            "geographic_area_description": "Throughout England And Wales"
        }
    ],
    "trustees": [
        {
            "trustee_name": "Mr David Bernstein CBE",
            "trustee_is_chair": true,
            "trustee_date_of_appointment": "2019-10-01T00:00:00"
        }
    ],
    "financialHistory": [
        {
            "fin_period_end_date": "2023-12-31T00:00:00",
            "fin_period_start_date": "2023-01-01T00:00:00",
            "income": 292400000,
            "expenditure": 274300000
        }
    ],
    "charityCommissionUrl": "https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1089464&subId=0"
}

Output fields reference:

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Use cases

• Due diligence and grant making -- verify charity registration status, review financials, and check trustees before awarding grants or entering partnerships.
• Nonprofit sector research -- collect data on charities in a specific sector (health, education, environment) to analyze trends in income, spending, and activity.
• Compliance monitoring -- track insolvency status, administration flags, and registration changes for charities in your supply chain or investment portfolio.
• Journalism and investigations -- cross-reference trustee names across multiple charities, trace financial patterns, and identify connected organizations.
• Charity directory building -- extract contact details, websites, and activity descriptions to build curated directories for specific causes or regions.
• Fundraising intelligence -- analyze charity income trends and financial health to identify potential fundraising partners or competitors.
• Academic research -- gather structured datasets on the charity sector for studies on nonprofit governance, financial sustainability, or geographic distribution.
• Corporate social responsibility -- identify registered charities operating in specific geographic areas to support local community engagement programmes.
• Regulatory analysis -- track charity removals and status changes to understand regulatory enforcement patterns.
• Cross-border nonprofit mapping -- combine with US nonprofit data from ProPublica to compare charity sectors across the UK and US.

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API & integration

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN')
run = client.actor('ryanclinton/uk-charity-commission').call(run_input={
    'apiKey': 'YOUR_CC_API_KEY',
    'charityNumbers': ['1089464'],
    'includeTrustees': True,
})
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('ryanclinton/uk-charity-commission').call({
    apiKey: 'YOUR_CC_API_KEY',
    charityNumbers: ['1089464'],
    includeTrustees: true,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

cURL

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ryanclinton~uk-charity-commission/runs" \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -d '{
    "apiKey": "YOUR_CC_API_KEY",
    "charityNumbers": ["1089464"],
    "includeTrustees": true
  }'

Integrations: Connect this actor to Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make (Integromat), GitHub, or any webhook-compatible service using Apify's built-in integrations. Schedule runs for automated monitoring.

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How it works

1. Input validation -- the actor reads your input and checks for an API key. Without a key, it outputs a dry-run message with setup instructions.
2. API key verification -- the actor makes a test call to the Charity Commission API to confirm the key is valid before proceeding.
3. Charity number collection -- if charityNumbers are provided, they are parsed and added to the lookup list. If a query is provided, the actor searches the register website HTML to extract matching charity numbers.
4. Data retrieval -- for each charity number, the actor calls the allcharitydetails API endpoint. If that returns no data, it falls back to the charityoverview endpoint. It also fetches charityareaofoperation for every charity.
5. Optional enrichment -- if includeTrustees is enabled, the charitytrustees endpoint is called. If includeFinancials is enabled, the charityfinancialhistory endpoint is called.
6. Status filtering -- results are filtered by the status parameter (registered, removed, or all).
7. Output -- all charity records are pushed to the Apify dataset as structured JSON.

  Input (numbers / query)
          |
          v
  +------------------+
  | Validate API key |
  +------------------+
          |
          v
  +------------------+     +---------------------+
  | Direct numbers   |---->| Collect charity IDs |
  | Name search      |---->|                     |
  +------------------+     +---------------------+
                                    |
                                    v
                           +------------------+
                           | For each charity |
                           +------------------+
                             |     |       |
                             v     v       v
                          Details Trustees Financials
                             |     |       |
                             v     v       v
                           +------------------+
                           | Filter by status |
                           +------------------+
                                    |
                                    v
                           +------------------+
                           | Push to dataset  |
                           +------------------+

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Performance & cost

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Limitations

• England and Wales only -- the Charity Commission register covers charities in England and Wales. Scottish charities (OSCR) and Northern Irish charities are not included.
• API key required -- a free Charity Commission API key is required for live data. Without it, the actor runs in dry-run mode only.
• Maximum 100 results per run -- the actor caps results at 100 charities per execution. For larger datasets, run the actor multiple times with different charity number batches.
• Name search reliability -- name-based search scrapes the register website HTML, which may change without notice. Direct charity number lookup is always more reliable.
• Rate limiting -- the Charity Commission API enforces rate limits. The actor handles 429 responses with automatic retries, but very large batches may take longer due to backoff delays.
• No full-text activity search -- the name search matches charity names only, not activity descriptions or other fields.
• Data freshness -- data reflects what is currently published on the Charity Commission register. There may be a lag between a charity filing and the register updating.

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Responsible use

• Respect the Charity Commission API terms of service -- use your API key responsibly and avoid excessive request volumes that could degrade service for other users.
• Handle personal data appropriately -- trustee names are personal data. Ensure your use of this information complies with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
• Attribute the data source -- when publishing or sharing data obtained through this actor, credit the Charity Commission for England and Wales as the data source.
• Use reasonable request volumes -- the actor includes built-in delays (300ms between charities, 5-second backoff on rate limits) to be respectful to the API. Do not modify or bypass these limits.
• Do not use for harassment -- contact information (email, phone, address) is provided for legitimate research and communication purposes. Do not use it for spam or unsolicited marketing.

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FAQ

Do I need an API key to use this actor? Yes, a Charity Commission API key is required for live data retrieval. The key is free -- sign up at https://api-portal.charitycommission.gov.uk/signup. Without a key, the actor runs in dry-run mode and shows instructions for obtaining one.

How do I get a free Charity Commission API key? Visit the Charity Commission developer portal, create an account, and subscribe to the register API. Your subscription key will be available in your portal profile immediately.

Does this cover charities in Scotland or Northern Ireland? No. The Charity Commission for England and Wales only covers charities registered in England and Wales. Scottish charities are regulated by OSCR (Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator), and Northern Irish charities by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland.

How current is the data? The data comes directly from the live Charity Commission register API, so it reflects the most recently published information. There may be a short lag between a charity filing and the register updating.

Can I search by charity name if I do not know the registration number? Yes. Enter your search term in the query field. The actor searches the public register website, extracts matching charity numbers, and then fetches full details for each via the API.

What does the Gift Aid field mean? The Gift Aid field indicates whether the charity is registered with HMRC to claim Gift Aid on eligible donations from UK taxpayers. Values are typically Yes or No.

What is the maximum number of charities I can look up per run? The actor supports up to 100 charities per run via the maxResults parameter. For larger datasets, run the actor multiple times with different batches of charity numbers.

Why do some fields return null? Null values mean the data is not available for that charity on the register. Removed charities may have fewer fields populated. Additionally, trustees and financialHistory return null unless you enable includeTrustees and includeFinancials respectively.

Can I combine charity number lookup with a name search? Yes. If you provide both charityNumbers and a query, the actor combines the results. Duplicate charity numbers are automatically de-duplicated.

How does the status filter work? Set status to registered to get only active charities, removed to get only charities that have been removed from the register, or all (default) to get both. The filter is applied after data retrieval.

What happens if the API rate limits my requests? The actor automatically detects 429 (rate limited) responses from the Charity Commission API, waits 5 seconds, and retries the request. This is handled transparently -- you do not need to take any action.

Can I use this actor with Zapier, Make, or Google Sheets? Yes. Apify offers built-in integrations with Zapier, Make (Integromat), Google Sheets, Slack, GitHub, and more. You can trigger the actor and pipe results into any of these platforms automatically.

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