Introducing the Charizone framework

- Sarah Gammoh, Charizone Founder

The Charizone Framework is a tool designed to give philanthropists a comprehensive and consistent set of data to easily compare a broad universe of charities - aimed at informing charitable donations, while promoting long-term engagement with charities. By aligning existing sector codes and best practices with publicly available information, the Charizone Framework offers a holistic, objective and standardised narrative of a charity's performance, by considering the impact, governance and finances of a charity. The Framework consists of 27 key performance indicators (KPIs). Each indicator is then scored: positive, moderate or low.

With guidance from experts in the charity sector, the Charizone Framework defines what a "good" charity looks like. The panel of experts will continue to guide future iterations and the ongoing evolution of our work.

Our aim is to bring into focus the effectiveness, the outcome and the inspiration every charity delivers regardless of their size. By informing charitable giving, we assist donors to build long-term engagement with charities improving publicly available information and promoting impact and learning.

Impact

Impact is the positive change that is created by a charity.

Charizone expects all charities, regardless of their size, to regularly assess their effectiveness in achieving their long-term charitable mission.

Governance

Good governance is reflected in a charity's compliance with the law and relevant regulations along with adherence to best practice guidance.

An effective board of trustees is fundamental for the success of a charity and for promoting a safe, open and transparent environment.

Finance

The financial health of a charity is necessary for delivering its charitable objectives.

Charizone considers key issues common across all charities to assess the financial management, sustainability of their operations and efficiency of their use of resources.

Key features of the Charizone Framework:

Objective & Aligned with Best Practice in the Sector

• Our Framework is consistent with the sector's statutory requirements along with best practices that we derive from SORP, Charity Governance Code, NCVO, ACEVO, NPC and Social Value UK.

• Our analysts take the perspective of a potential new donor and therefore only uses publicly available data.

• We have an "apply or explain" approach to our analysis. Our assessment is transparent by using simple flagged metrics (positive, moderate, low) in our scores.

Standard and transparent

• Our assessment is based on information available in the public domain. Our analysts collect updated data from the Charity Commission, Charities' websites, annual reports and accounts along with other publications available on the charity's website.

• Our rating is not ranking; we define qualitative metrics and ranges that indicate that a charity sustainable and impactful.

• The data we use is standard across all charities with annual income of over £500k over the last 3 years.

Detailed methodology

• The data is collected and analysed by our trained research team using a robust data-driven and quality-controlled process.

• Precise rules and clear working instructions are in place to minimise error and subjectivity when assessing charities disclosures.

• We provide the evidence that we have collected from the charity source to justify the score.

The Charizone Framework:

For a full breakdown of the Charizone framework, please contact us.