Verifying the charities you want to support

Our standard charity verification process, which we use for UK registered organisations, is usually quick. We’ve already vetted thousands of UK charities, meaning we can pass on donations almost immediately. If an organisation is not on our vetting list but is registered as a UK charity, then we can usually vet them within a week and pass on donations very quickly after.

If an organisation is not registered in the UK, then verification takes longer. This is because we use our non-standard verification process, which involves more checks. We allow a maximum of three months for organisations to complete the GEA and send us the relevant documents. Once we receive the information, we can usually complete our checks within two days. We’ll then let the donor and organisation know whether we’ll be passing the money on.

If you’re a donor, you can help us by making sure your donation request includes: the full name and address of the organisation you’re donating to, their charitable registration number (if they have one) for non-UK registered organisations, the name and email address of a person at the charity. It also really helps if you let them know you’re intending to make a donation, and that we’ll be in touch with them.

If you’re a charity, you can help us by: sending us all the information we ask for quickly and only sending us information in English. As a UK-based charity, we won’t be able to translate any material which is not in English.

Yes. We carry out re-verification from time to time, to check the charity is still legitimate and that any donations will continue to be put to good use. For UK charities, we regularly monitor publicly available details, periodically consult the organisation’s regulator, and carry out further checks when we’re told about any changes at the charity. Normally re-verification is quick, and we can do it without having to get in touch with staff at the charity.

We also carry out periodic re-vetting of non-UK organisations. This involves repeating the initial non-standard charity vetting process, so we’ll ask for a full GEA as well as relevant documents.

Once an organisation has been verified through our nonstandard process, repeat donations can normally be made quickly. We’ll check the organisation is still legitimate and that the money will once again be put to good use. But, so long as a re-verification isn’t due, we can usually make these checks without getting back in touch with the charity. Just how quickly a repeat payment can be made will depend on the size of the donation, and on the current circumstances in the country the organisation is operating in. We do sometimes need to ask for more information on the donation, including details of how previous donations were spent.