Commission website passes half a million users
The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland’s website has gained half a million visitors since the Commission’s launch, underlining the “greater public engagement with charity regulation”.
The landmark figure, equivalent to a quarter of Northern Ireland’s population, is being marked as a significant step on the Commission’s regulation journey.
The average user views just over four pages per session, meaning that the pages on the website have been viewed 3.7 million times.
The most popular section of the website is the register of charities, where users can perform a search of the register to verify details about registered charities. Since its launch in December 2013, it has been accessed over 100,000 times.
Visitor numbers have risen rapidly since the Commission first launched a website in 2010. While only 215 sessions were recorded in October 2010, 23,287 took place in October 2016 with the best ever month for the website coming in January this year, when 32,084 visits were recorded.
The figures reveal that, as charity registration and reporting requirements have been rolled out, public awareness of the Commission has increased.
Chief Executive Frances McCandless said:
“The Commission’s ever-expanding online footprint is clear evidence of greater public engagement with charity regulation in Northern Ireland.
“The register of charities has been accessed over 100,000 times, demonstrating with raw numbers the value of charity registration and the increased public accountability it brings.
“Were it not for the existence of the register the information it contains would simply not be available to the public”
ENDS
For more information please contact Neil Wilson, Charity Commission Communications Officer, on telephone: 02838 320169 or email: neil.wilson@charitycommissionni.org.uk
Notes for editors
- The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland is the independent regulator of charities in Northern Ireland established under the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008.
- Follow us on Twitter: @CharityCommNI