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Research

The Commission's Data and research strategy 2024-26 (linked at the side) is designed to gather information:

  • on whether charity trustees have noted a change in the Commission’s culture towards being more enabling.
  • that will inform the development of the Commission’s policies and processes.
  • that would be useful to the charity sector, other stakeholders and the public.

Our research reports - based on surveys, interviews, focus groups and other research - are available below. 

  • In October 2025 the Commission published Charity register 2025 a research report which analysed the profile of charities on the register from December 2013 until March 2025. This included an analysis of the income of registered charities from 01 April 2016 - 31March 2025. An error in the report suggested that there had been a significant fall in income among charities during the year 2024-25. The error arose because the sample of charities analysed did not include all those due to report that year. This has now been corrected. The Commission apologises for any confusion or any concern that arose from this error.

    During the same time the Commission carried out a survey around the experience of charities that had experienced a fall in income to explore the reasons for those falls. The results of that survey are available by clicking here. 

  • Over ten years on since charity registration commenced in December 2013, the Commission has completed its first research report into why some charities have closed: Why charities closed 

  • In September 2016, the Commission released new research on how much people in Northern Ireland trust charities.

    Ipsos MORI carried out the research independently. It looked at what affects public trust in charities and how much people understand about charity regulation.

    You can find the full report here:  Public trust and confidence in charities research report 2016

  • The register of charities in Northern Ireland has kept growing since compulsory registration began in December 2013.

    The growing Northern Ireland register of charities report looks at information from charities that were registered by October 2016.

    The findings are based on the first 5,211 charities added to the register. This represents the entire register as it stood on 28 October 2016, nearly three years after compulsory registration started.

  • The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland works with many different groups, including the public, charities, community and voluntary organisations, umbrella bodies, public organisations, and other regulators. Our goal is to provide a high‑quality service to all of them.

    We collect feedback in several ways: through our post‑registration survey, the website’s “contact us” form, event feedback forms, and our service complaints process. We also carry out internal checks to monitor our standards. As outlined in our Customer Charter, we run customer service surveys to give stakeholders a formal chance to share their views.

    These surveys let people give honest, confidential feedback. They help us understand stakeholder experiences - good and bad - and use this information to improve our services.

    Our first customer satisfaction survey ran from 10 October to 14 December 2016, and 41 stakeholders responded. A report summarising their feedback and explaining how we are addressing the issues raised is available here: Customer Satisfaction Survey 2016 

The following reports have been archived. If you would like to view a copy, please email admin@charitycommissionni.org.uk to request it.

  • Charity register at a year - March 2015
  • Snapshot of trustees on the Northern Ireland register of charities - November 2014 
  • Charity giving over Christmas survey 2013

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