The 100 biggest charities in the UK
I recently got thinking about the big charities in the UK and got curious about which charities in the UK are the biggest. I could not find any good list on the Internet so I thought I’d make one!
I started by looking at the charity commision which has a brake down of each charity which includes the last few years income and expenditure. I then wrote a little (a rather bodgy) PHP script to take the money figures and create a MySQL table of figures. It frustrates me that with all the information being put in accessible feeds and APIs by the government, information on charities (as far as I can see) is not. In fact it’s in very badly written HTML (could this be a way of stopping people ripping the data?).
Anyway here are the top 100 charities in the UK based on income in the 2006-2007 period:
| Rank | Name | Charity Number | Income | |
| 1 | THE ARTS COUNCIL OF ENGLAND | 1036733 | £589,973,000 |
| 2 | THE BRITISH COUNCIL | 209131 | £551,065,195 |
| 3 | CANCER RESEARCH UK | 1089464 | £467,636,000 |
| 4 | NUFFIELD HOSPITALS | 205533 | £451,365,000 |
| 5 | THE CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION | 268369 | £441,640,000 |
| 6 | THE NATIONAL TRUST | 205846 | £325,654,000 |
| 7 | THE CHILDREN’S INVESTMENT FUND FOUNDATION (UK) | 1091043 | £324,493,066 |
| 8 | WELLCOME TRUST | 210183 | £293,744,823 |
| 9 | OXFAM GB | 202918 | £290,700,000 |
| 10 | THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS | 242451 | £263,381,000 |
| 11 | ANCHOR TRUST | 1052183 | £253,082,000 |
| 12 | CITB-CONSTRUCTIONSKILLS | 264289 | £252,411,000 |
| 13 | NCH | 1097940 | £217,711,000 |
| 14 | BRITISH RED CROSS | 220949 | £200,571,000 |
| 15 | BARNARDO’S | 216250 | £191,846,000 |
| 16 | UNITED CHURCH SCHOOLS FOUNDATION LTD | 313999 | £184,887,000 |
| 17 | MENCAP | 222377 | £177,840,000 |
| 18 | THE GIRLS’ DAY SCHOOL TRUST | 306983 | £177,275,000 |
| 19 | BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION | 225971 | £171,087,000 |
| 20 | NSPCC | 216401 | £148,834,229 |
| 21 | THE SAVE THE CHILDREN FUND | 213890 | £148,432,207 | |
| 22 | LEONARD CHESHIRE DISABILITY | 218186 | £145,930,000 | |
| 23 | ASSESSMENT AND QUALIFICATIONS ALLIANCE | 1073334 | £144,924,000 | |
| 24 | RNLI | 209603 | £137,100,000 | |
| 25 | PEABODY TRUST | 206061 | £132,709,000 | |
| 26 | THE SALVATION ARMY | 214779 | £131,180,000 | |
| 27 | UNITED LEARNING TRUST | 1093277 | £120,517,000 | |
| 28 | THE GATSBY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION | 251988 | £118,886,000 | |
| 29 | MARIE CURIE CANCER CARE | 207994 | £109,646,862 | |
| 30 | THE ROYAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BLIND PEOPLE | 226227 | £107,824,000 | |
| 31 | ACTIONAID | 274467 | £107,692,000 | |
| 32 | R S P C A | 219099 | £106,507,486 | |
| 33 | THE WOODARD CORPORATION | 1096270 | £105,734,132 | |
| 34 | MACMILLAN | 261017 | £102,075,000 | |
| 35 | ST ANDREW’S HEALTHCARE | 1104951 | £100,739,000 | |
| 36 | THE ROYAL SOCIETY | 207043 | £99,710,000 | |
| 37 | ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS | 207076 | £99,356,000 | |
| 38 | SCOPE | 208231 | £98,322,000 | |
| 39 | CHRISTIAN AID | 1105851 | £93,292,000 | |
| 40 | QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AGENCY | 1044145 | £93,210,000 | |
| 41 | THE GUINNESS TRUST | 208076 | £92,129,603 | |
| 42 | THE ROYAL OPERA | 211775 | £91,448,000 | |
| 43 | SPORT RELIEF | 326568 | £89,381,652 | |
| 44 | AGE CONCERN | 261794 | £86,488,000 | |
| 45 | WRVS | 1015988 | £84,086,390 | |
| 46 | WELLCOME TRUST SANGER INSTITUTE | 1021457 | £83,893,000 | |
| 47 | THE SUE RYDER FOUNDATION | 1052076 | £82,234,000 | |
| 48 | CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY | 1098136 | £81,074,000 | |
| 49 | PETAID | 208217 | £79,745,082 | |
| 50 | HELP THE AGED | 272786 | £79,588,000 | |
| 51 | THE SALVATION ARMY SOCIAL SERVICES | 215174 | £78,049,000 | |
| 52 | MHA CARE GROUP | 1083994 | £77,531,000 | |
| 53 | CFBT EDUCATION TRUST | 270901 | £75,909,000 | |
| 54 | THE LONDON CLINIC | 211136 | £75,462,000 | |
| 55 | INDEPENDENT LIVING (EXTENSION) FUND | 1019080 | £74,961,313 | |
| 56 | COMMUNITY INTEGRATED CARE | 519996 | £74,455,039 | |
| 57 | AUTISM UK | 269425 | £74,372,000 | |
| 58 | THE ORDERS OF ST JOHN CARE TRUST | 1048355 | £73,895,000 | |
| 59 | METHODIST HOMES FOR THE AGED | 1083995 | £73,885,000 | |
| 60 | THE PRIORY OF ENGLAND AND THE ISLANDS | 1077265 | £73,456,000 | |
| 61 | THE SHAW TRUST LIMITED | 287785 | £70,302,000 | |
| 62 | SENSE | 289868 | £69,395,439 | |
| 63 | GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL | 1089278 | £67,649,000 | |
| 64 | THE GUIDE DOGS FOR THE BLIND ASSOCIATION | 209617 | £63,821,000 | |
| 65 | THE UNITED CHURCH SCHOOLS TRUST | 1016538 | £63,543,000 | |
| 66 | SIGHTSAVERS INTERNATIONAL | 207544 | £61,838,000 | |
| 67 | THE ARCHBISHOPS’ COUNCIL | 1074857 | £60,962,000 | |
| 68 | ROYAL COLLEGE OF NURSING | 276435 | £60,074,000 | |
| 69 | NACRO | 226171 | £59,756,000 | |
| 70 | YHA (ENGLAND AND WALES) LIMITED | 306122 | £59,341,000 | |
| 71 | THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY | 222879 | £57,115,000 | |
| 72 | THE DAUGHTERS OF THE CROSS OF LIEGE | 1068661 | £56,197,000 | |
| 73 | WALSALL HOUSING TRUST LIMITED | 1108779 | £55,004,000 | |
| 74 | THE MICHAEL UREN FOUNDATION | 1094102 | £54,584,016 | |
| 75 | INTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION | 229476 | £54,464,021 | |
| 76 | LEVERHULME TRUST | 288371 | £54,012,000 | |
| 77 | THE FOOTBALL FOUNDATION | 1079309 | £53,914,938 | |
| 78 | THE MUSEUMS, LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES COUNCIL | 1079666 | £52,674,000 | |
| 79 | CATHOLIC AGENCY FOR OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT | 285776 | £52,075,000 | |
| 80 | SHEFFIELD CITY TRUST | 700520 | £50,963,000 | |
| 81 | TEARFUND | 265464 | £50,580,000 | |
| 82 | SPECIALIST SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES TRUST | 296729 | £50,209,000 | |
| 83 | THE COLLEGE OF LAW | 271297 | £49,591,000 | |
| 84 | THE HARPUR TRUST | 204817 | £49,348,000 | |
| 85 | THE ROYAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR DEAF PEOPLE | 207720 | £49,213,000 | |
| 86 | SHELTER, NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE LIM | 263710 | £49,115,000 | |
| 87 | THE NATIONAL THEATRE | 224223 | £48,435,000 | |
| 88 | UNITED RESPONSE | 265249 | £48,337,000 | |
| 89 | HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES | 1068852 | £48,318,016 | |
| 90 | LIVERPOOL HOPE UNIVERSITY | 1060579 | £46,334,075 | |
| 91 | MARIE STOPES INTERNATIONAL | 265543 | £46,322,983 | |
| 92 | THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS (WELFARE) | 274605 | £45,849,000 | |
| 93 | WORLD WIDE FUND FOR NATURE | 1081247 | £45,404,000 | |
| 94 | JEWISH CARE | 802559 | £45,215,000 | |
| 95 | LEARNING AND SKILLS NETWORK | 1113456 | £45,171,000 | |
| 96 | THE PRINCE’S TRUST | 1079675 | £45,008,000 | |
| 97 | CARE INTERNATIONAL UK | 292506 | £44,950,000 | |
| 98 | THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY | 211014 | £44,044,000 | |
| 99 | KNOWSLEY HOUSING TRUST | 1103644 | £43,909,000 | |
| 100 | THE INSTITUTE FOR ANIMAL HEALTH | 228824 | £43,627,000 |
Obviously there are a couple of flaws which could have effected this list, namely:
- Many charities are slit into several different charity numbers (for example by region or cause), which would give them a distinct disadvantage.
- Some charities give money to other charities, so we’re counting the same money twice!
- Some charities accounts aren’t up to date on the site.
- The script is very bodgey, so some data might simply be missed.