Charities Help

The Charities Directory is a comprehensive essential reference source of Charities throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland.  This directory is derived from Waterlow's Charity Choice, which allows users to access over 10,000 charities and non-profit organisations.  The entries are updated daily and constantly increasing.

Search features

The search page brings up a number of features for you to choose from.  Don't forget that if you narrow down your search too much and make selections in every field, you will have a very small number of results to view, possibly none at all. You should also check the spelling of any items that are free text fields (particularly Charity Name and Town) as misspellings are common causes of 0 results being returned. Once you have made your selections, click 'Search' or use the Return key on your keyboard.  If you want to clear your search and start again for any reason, click on the 'Clear' button.  .

• Charity Name.  You can enter the name of the charity you are looking for or even a part name so that your results return all the organisations with that name or with the part name you have selected.  For example, entering 'Save' will return over 20 results all with the word Save in their Charity Name.
• Town.  This is another free text search field and you can enter a full town name or a part town name.  For example, 'Horn*' will return not only Hornchurch but all other town which include 'horn' as four consecutive letters, such as Horncastle.  Unlike the other directories within Waterlow Legal, you will need to use the * as a wild card to return all the permutations of 'Horn'.
• Country.  Use the drop down menu to select either England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or the Channel Islands.  Select 'Any' if you want to search on all of these.
• Charity Category .  This drop-down menu enables you to select from over 34 different categories of harity ranging from aged and animals to voluntary services.
• Charity Registration number.  If you know the Charities Commission registration number of the charity you are looking for, enter it here.  All Charities registered with Waterlow's have this number to verify they are genuine charities. For more on the regulatory powers of the Charities Commission, click here.
• Keyword Search.  You can use the keyword search as an alternative way to find a UK charity.  For example, 'Donkey' brings up all the charities involved with donkeys.

Understanding Your Search Results

Once you have made your selections and either pressed Return or clicked on 'Search' your results will be returned to you on new screen. Don't forget that if you want to conduct a new search at this point you have to select 'new search'.  Your results comprise a number of features to enable you to get the most from your research:

• Number of results displayed.  Ecah search will tell you how many results you have obtained from your search.
• Number of results displayed.  Each screen can accommodate 50 results and to view the whole of your search you need to click on the 'Next' link at the foot of your search page
• Order of results.  These default to A-Z of Charity Name, listing all the Charities who have opted for click-through entries in the first A-Z listing.  The other charities who have the free entry providing basic contact details and on online donation facility are listed after that. You can switch the order to those with online donation facilities first by clicking on the 'Switch to Online Donations Ordering' button..
• Online donations  A growing number of Waterlow charities are opting for this free service where they can receive donations online.  To donate safely and securely online using any Gift Aid tax concessions if eligible, simply click on this button
• Printing your results.  Each screen of results can be printed by clicking on the Print button or using CtrlP on your keyboard.  You should not be compiling databases from these results (see our Terms & Conditions).However it is possible to purchase charity data from our list rental subsidiary, Waterlow Direct Marketing. Click here for details of WDM.

Contact Us

For further help with your search or search results, please contact us