Is there already a charity doing this?

England and Wales: This page sets out the position in full. Scotland: the same check, on the Scottish Charity Register, which OSCR expanded in 2026 to publish more information about each charity — see below. Northern Ireland: the same check, but the NI register is still incomplete, because registration there is being rolled out in stages. An absence from the register is therefore weaker evidence than it is in England and Wales.

How do I search for similar charities?

If you have not yet decided whether to start a charity at all, do that first. Search by purpose and by area — what the organisation does, and roughly where — not by the name you have in mind. Founders search the register of charities for each nation they will work in:

• the Charity Commission’s register in England and Wales
• the Scottish Charity Register kept by OSCR
• the register of the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland

Record the nearest similar charities you find, whatever they happen to be called.

The obvious search is by name, and it is also the least useful one. An organisation doing identical work under a name that has nothing to do with yours will not surface in a name search. The duplication question then goes unanswered until a regulator or a funder asks it later, at a less convenient moment.

Will the Commission refuse us because a similar charity exists?

Duplication is not among the reasons the Charity Commission publishes for querying or returning an application. Its own list cites things like:

• not writing the charity’s purposes clearly
• not fully explaining how the purposes are for the public benefit and how they will be carried out
• using generic or AI-generated text that is not specific to the charity

It does not cite “another charity already does this,” and this guide does not claim otherwise. A page that told you the regulator will refuse you for duplication would be scaremongering.

What the search does for your application

The search is cheap and it improves the application you go on to write. It is free, and it usually takes a few days, not weeks. Seeing how comparable organisations describe their own purposes and activities helps you write your purposes clearly. That is one of the things the Commission does check.

What if a similar charity already does the work?

Then partnering with it, or volunteering for it, may serve the same beneficiaries better than competing with it for the same funders. A partnership can be set out in a partnership or collaboration agreement.

Finding that out sometimes ends the project early. That is a good outcome, not a failure. Knowing before you commit months to an application is better than finding out after.

You now have a note of the nearest similar charities and what they do. If none already does the work, the next step is to write your purposes.

Common mistake: searching only by name rather than by purpose and area

Name search is the obvious search, and the one the registers make quickest. An organisation doing identical work under an unrelated name will not surface. The duplication question goes unanswered until a regulator or funder asks it.

Worked example

A founder is planning a befriending service for older people in one town. They search by purpose and postcode, not by the intended name, and record the nearest comparable organisations they find.

The record’s own scenario is kept as written rather than forced onto Wrenfield, Tollgate or Saltmarsh. This step, like deciding whether to start a charity, is decided before any of the site’s three named organisations would exist. The outcome is a note that answers the duplication question before anyone else asks it.