GuideStar UK was set up in 2003 to provide, for the first time, a single, easily accessible source of detailed information about every charity and voluntary organisation in England and Wales.
Our ambition is for www.guidestar.org.uk
to become the first place that anyone wanting information on a charity will
look. The site provides a high profile free web presence, not just for
established charities, but also for the many smaller specialist and local
organisations that currently do not have websites. It will promote greater
public understanding of the work of charities and how they are managed. And it
will become an invaluable source of statistical and financial information for
grant makers, researchers and public policy makers.
No one pays to be included in our database and use of the website will also
remain absolutely free of charge.
Currently, our site contains details of the 168,000 registered main
charities in England and Wales. In the future we will include charities in
Scotland and Northern Ireland and social enterprises and informal voluntary
groups. The base information about each charity is provided from the records of
the Charity Commission - and subsequently maintained and updated by the
charities themselves using online editing tools that we provide.
We have been supported by HM Treasury, the Home Office, the Charity Commission and
grant making trusts in the UK and US and by private donations.