Searching for charities
Searching for information on GuideStar UK is as easy as one, two, three.
Step 1
Think of a keyword or phrase that best sums up what you are interested in finding out. The keyword might be a cause such as "overseas aid", a medical problem such as "autism", a beneficiary group such as "elderly" or a location such as "Coventry". Simply type this keyword or phrase into the search box.
Keep it simple - we use a very powerful search engine to help you find what you are looking for - so just enter the simplest keyword that describes your interest.
Step 2
You should then see a page displaying a list of all the charities that relate to your interest. The number of charities found is displayed at the start of the list. If you do not see a list of charities then it may be that GuideStar UK does not hold information on your specific interest. However, do check that you have spelt the keyword correctly and perhaps try again with an alternative word.
You will notice a list of icons is displayed for each charity in the list. These tell you what information we hold on a charity. This will vary from charity to charity. For example, small charities are not required by law to produce an annual report and accounts.
- A copy of the charity's annual report and accounts is available.
- Financial information about the charity is available.
- The charity has updated its entry on-line.
- The charity has its own website - a link is available on the charity's summary page.
- The charity is a grantmaker.
- The charity has uploaded additional documents to its entry on-line.
- The charity has specified that they are a national headquarters.
We try to display the charity most relevant to your interests at the top of the list. If this is the case then you can move to Step 3. If not, don't worry - we have developed something to help you quickly find the information you are looking for. Its called search clustering.
Clustering looks at the information we hold for all the charities related to your interest and identifies the things that they have in common. If a cluster relates to the information that you are looking for you can simply click on it. This will open a new list of charities. If you see a charity you are interested in, then you can move to Step 3.
If you don't find what you are looking for then you can either choose other clusters or explore further within the cluster you have chosen. Do this by clicking on the arrow next to the cluster. This will display a further set of clusters. If you find one that is relevant then click on it and a new list of charities will be displayed. If one of these charities satisfies your interest, then move to Step 3.
Step 3
Click on the name of a charity to view their summary page. You can then explore all the information we hold on that charity. If you want to return to the list of charities then select the back button.
If you want to try another keyword then either use the search box that appears on each page or return to the home page.
If you have not found exactly what you are looking for then please try the GuideStar UK "Advanced search".
Example
A user is interested in finding out more about "autism" and types this keyword into the search box. GuideStar UK identifies over 200 charities that hold information on "autism" and presents the first 20 charities on the search results page. GuideStar UK identifies a range of things that many of these charities have in common. Over 20 charities hold information on "support groups" and 10 hold information on "research". The user is particularly interested in finding out more about research on autism and selects this cluster. The user then reviews the list of charities that appear in this cluster and selects one of the charities to find out what research activities they are undertaking relating to autism.
Advanced search
We have also developed an advanced search facility to help you find charities according to a specific criterion or combinations of criteria including our powerful keyword search. On the advanced search page you will find a series of search boxes for:
- The charity registration number
- The charity's name including acronyms, and former or alternative names
- The location of the charity's office(s)
- The area where the charity is working
- The size of the charity (based on income)
This means that if you know the name or a registration number of a charity then you can enter this information directly into these boxes and click on the search button at the bottom of the page.
If you are interested in searching by location then it is important to note that we hold two types of location information for charities.
- If you are looking for charities based in a particular location then please type the name of the location in the Address search box e.g. Coventry. Please note that you can also search by postcode or partial postcode, e.g. CV5.
- If you are looking for charities that operate in a particular location then please enter the name of the location into the Area of benefit search box e.g. Africa.
If you are interested in selecting charities of a certain size - large or small - then please use the Total income search box and select one of the income ranges from the pull down menu.
You can combine any of these advanced search criteria to narrow down your selection of charities.
Example
A user is interested to know if there are any charities based in Coventry that are working to benefit people living in Africa. The user therefore types in Coventry into the Address search box and Africa into the Area of benefit search box. The user then clicks search and the results page shows all the charities based in Coventry that operate in Africa.
Please be careful when selecting multiple search criteria, if you are too precise then you will find that there are no charities that satisfy your search. However, please do feel free to experiment, our search engine is very quick so just try again with simpler or fewer terms.
Search tips for the power user
GuideStar UK supports "logical operators" in both the keyword and advanced search options. This means that multiple search criteria can be used within a search box and that keywords and phrases can also be excluded from a search. The logical operators you can use are:
- AND can be used to connect two search terms, only charities satisfying both search terms will appear on the search results page (this is the default for multiple search criteria on the Advanced search page).
- OR can also be used to connect two search terms, all charities satisfying either term will appear on the search results page.
- + you can put a plus sign in front of a search term to ensure it is found (this is the default for all search terms you use).
- - if you want to exclude charities which satisfy a particular search term then put a minus sign in front of the search term.
- " " if you enclose a search term in double quotes then that exact phrase will be searched for.
Please remember you have to type AND and OR in capital letters for them to work as logical operators.
Example
The user is interested in only charities that work in both Africa and Asia. The user therefore types Africa AND Asia into the Area of benefit search box.
Finding your way around a charity entry
Each charity entry comprises four pages:
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Summary
- contact details for the charity plus an overview of its work and finances.
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Activities
- what the charity is doing and how, where it works and who it helps.
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Organisation
- legal and administrative information about the charity.
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Finances - the charity's finances including historical financial information.
A number of common features can be found on each of these pages to help you navigate around the entry and the site as a whole.
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Breadcrumbs
- use the breadcrumbs to navigate to any page in the trail you followed to arrive at that part of the site.
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Search box
- this provides a quick and easy way to search the entire GuideStar UK database.
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Tabs
- use the tabs to move between sections.
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Links
- The various links will usually take you instantly to the relevant piece of information in the charity entry. Some will prompt you to open a new browser window or to download a file. The "Back" and "Back to top" links will take you one step back or to the top of the page.
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Main menu - the main menu allows you to navigate around the entire site.
The diagram below shows key features of the charity entries.
Understanding the terms used
We have included a glossary - a dictionary or list of the terms used throughout the GuideStar UK website. A short explanation of certain headings or links is provided in a "hover over" that appears as you place your mouse cursor on them.
Updating a charity entry (charities only)
Clicking the Update my charity link at the top right of the page will allow the approved charity editor to edit or add to the information that GuideStar UK holds about their charity's work, organisation and finances. GuideStar UK has provided each charity with its own unique password to access this area of the website.