Charity Commission API Documentation

 

Overview

The Charity Commission API lets you search for and retrieve the latest information on charities in England and Wales. The API contains operations for retrieving data that is currently displayed on the Register of Charities.

The API is currently in beta and we are keen to receive feedback from users on all aspects of it. If you would like to supply feedback you can do so through this feedback form.

 

Getting Started

To use our API you will first need to register for an account in our developer hub. Once registered you will be able to access the developer hub and view the available APIs.

Within the developer hub the APIs are grouped into products. We currently only offer one product – the Register of Charities – and you can subscribe to a product to receive an API key. This key will allow you to use the APIs associated with that product.

Once you have an API key you can use it to test each of the operations within the developer hub or use it in your own application.

 

Access the API

 

Authentication

The Charity Commission API requires authentication. This is achieved by sending you API key with each request. Without a valid API key an error response will be received..

 

Rate limiting

Rate limiting is applied to the Charity Commission API to ensure a stable and reliable service for all users.

 

Operations

An example of an available operation is below. Please refer to the documentation for a full list of operations.

 

Operation Path Description

GetSearchCharityByRegNumber

charityRegNumber/{RegisteredNumber}/{suffix}

Search for charities by their registered number

Schema:


{
    "type":"array",
    "items":{
        "type":"object",
        "properties":{
            "organisation_number":{
                "type":"integer"
            },
            "reg_charity_number":{
                "type":"integer"
            },
            "group_subsid_suffix":{
                "type":"integer"
            },
            "charity_name":{
                "type":"string"
            },
            "reg_status":{
                "type":"string"
            },
            "date_of_registration":{
                "type":"string"
            },
            "date_of_removal":{
                "type":"string"
            }
        },
        "required":[
            "organisation_number",
            "reg_charity_number",
            "group_subsid_suffix",
            "charity_name",
            "reg_status",
            "date_of_registration",
            "date_of_removal"
        ]
    }
}

 

Response:


[
    {
        "organisation_number":0,
        "reg_charity_number":0,
        "group_subsid_suffix":0,
        "charity_name":"string",
        "reg_status":"string",
        "date_of_registration":"string",
        "date_of_removal":"string"
    }
]

 

Documentation

Documentation on the available operations in the API and the data that you can expect to be returned is available and can be accessed on the api portal.

 

Privacy Information

The Charity Commission will collect certain personal data about you and your usage of the developer hub and API. This will include:

  • Your name and email address collected at account creation
  • Usage statistics on how you use the developer hub
  • The number / frequency of requests you make via the API

We collect your personal data for the following purposes:

  • Administering your account in the developer hub such as sending service updates to notify you of system maintenance or updates to the APIs.
  • We collect usage statistics for analytics and to monitor the performance of the developer hub and API to ensure a reliable and stable service for all users

For these purposes your personal data is processed under Article 6(1)(b) of the UK GDPR and as per the Terms & Conditions agreed to:

“processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract”

Your data will be stored securely within Azures’ UK South Datacentre. Your personal data will not be shared with any other third parties.

All personal data collected for the purposes outlined will be deleted when your user account is deleted. We will keep anonymous usage data for analytical purposes for 2 years after this date.

The Charity Commission uses cookies to collect information on how you are using our services. To find out more about how we use cookies and to manage your settings please see our Cookies Policy here.

Further information on how the Charity Commission processes personal data is available in our Personal Information Charter.

To close your account, sign into the developer hub and select Profile. Within this section you close your account.