Photo by Alexander Sinn on Unsplash
Introduction
We’ve been talking about charity data for a few years, working to increase data literacy and data sharing in and around our sector. We were one of the nine partners in the first Data for Good conference in Birmingham in 2018.
The conversation around data and it’s use by charities is developing so we decided to collate some of the resources we have come across and/or used. We’d be pleased to hear about others.
Sources and links to information on data about and for charities
Blogposts
The best data resources for UK charities by Chloe Green, 5th April 2019, Charity Digital
Charities in the UK – Statistics & Facts by Daniel Clark, 17th Jan 2020, Statista
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) FAQs for charities, Information Commissioners Office
Databases/Directories
Charitybase – free, open source database, API and web app which provides public information on the activities, locations and finances of the 168,000 charities registered in England and Wales.
CharityChoice – charity directory, providing detailed information on over 160,000 registered UK charities
Grantnav, 360 Giving – supports organisations to publish their grants data in an open, standardised way and helps people to understand and use the data to support decision-making and learning across the charitable giving sector.
Housing Databank June 2019, Shelter – brings together government data on housing need, supply, affordability and other issues at a local, regional and national level.
UK Civil Society Almanac 2019, NCVO , 2019 – definitive resource on the state of the voluntary sector. The Almanac produces insights on what voluntary organisations do, their income and spending, workforce, volunteers and the sector’s impact
Organisations
360 Giving – charity which helps UK funders publish open, standardised grants data, and empowers people to use it to improve charitable giving.
Charity Digital – charity which helps other charities accelerate their missions using digital technology
Datakind UK – charity which supports charities and social enterprises large and small to work on and with their data using data science
NCVO – infrastructure organisation which champions the voluntary sector and volunteering
NPC – charity which supports charities, philanthropists, funders and social enterprises to maximise their social impact.
Operational Research Society – charity which helps inform strategic, tactical and operational decisions as well as assisting in the design of public policy.
Pro Bono Economics – charity helping charities and social enterprises improve their impact and value
Royal Statistical Society – charity which advocates the key role of statistics and data in society, working to ensure that policy formulation and decision making are informed by evidence for the public good.
Papers/Reports
Charities and the voluntary sector: statistics By Richard Keen & Lukas Audickas, 16th Aug 2017, House of Commons Library
Investment Spotlight report 2019 – examines the investment performance of the UK’s top 5,000 charities in terms of income and assesses the size of the charity investment market over the past 10 years.
Open data and charities: a state of the art review written for Nominet Trust by Wendy Hall, Nigel Shadbolt, Thanassis Tiropanis, Kieron O’Hara and Tim Davies, July 2012
Where are England’s charities? by Dan Corry, 16th Jan 2020, npc – author uses data to ask if the current distribution of charities around the country is what we would want in an ideal world and explores what government, funders and charities could do about it.