Research

The Commission's policy and research team have responsibility for a wide range of activities, including guidance, consultation and research activities aimed at supporting charities and promoting a better understanding of the charitable sector in Northern Ireland.

This includes developing and overseeing public consultations on core areas of the Commission's work, benchmarking with other organisations, researching good practice, key trends and changes, and carrying out impact assessments and other evaluations.

Research at the Commission will focus on issues affecting charities in Northern Ireland, which includes charities, their staff, volunteers and beneficiaries as well as support organisations and networks, funders, umbrella and advisory bodies, the public and private sectors, and members of the public.

The Commission has identified research as a priority, and we are committed to embedding research into all areas of our work.  This will allow our findings to be used to promote transparency and good practice, identify forthcoming changes, develop evidence-based policy and produce guidance for charities.

Our research reports include findings from our public consultations, surveys, interviews and focus groups.

For further information on research at the Commission, you may be interested in our research strategy, which details our proposed activities and plans over coming years. You can also find out about current and forthcoming research activities,  or view archived research reports using the links on the left hand side of this page.

The Commission is committed to openness and transparency. Where possible, we publish data sets that relate to research we have published. This information, and other data sets available from our website including the download of the register of charities, are licensed under the open government license for public sector information. This allows you to use and re-use the information that is available under this licence freely and flexibly, with only a few conditions.

The Commission is always keen to discuss research opportunities with stakeholders including from the charity sector, policy makers and academic researchers. Please contact us if you would like to discuss a research opportunity.