The Charities Regulator’s Annual Report 2025: A Philanthropy Lens

by: Sinead Dalton

The Charities Regulator’s Annual Report 2025 highlights the scale, diversity and importance of Ireland’s charity sector. At the end of 2025, 11,466 charities were registered, including 212 new registrations, while charity records received more than 363,000 public views.

Viewed through a philanthropy lens, the report highlights the links between good governance, public trust and informed funding. It also builds on recent Philanthropy Ireland member engagement: a February discussion with Charities Regulator Chief Executive Madeleine Delaney on the evolving regulatory environment, followed by a March webinar with governance and compliance specialist Catriona Hogan on trustee responsibilities, governance and effective oversight.

These discussions provide useful context for considering the report’s implications for philanthropy.

The Register as a ‘shop window’

The Annual Report and the Regulator’s 2025–2027 strategy give the Register of Charities a central role. Described as the sector’s “shop window”, it brings together information on each charity’s purpose, activities, finances and governance.

The aim is to make the Register the authoritative source of information on Irish charities, supporting informed giving and funding. In 2025, the Regulator reviewed more than 4,000 records and corrected over 5,000 errors. Trustees are legally responsible for keeping their charity’s details accurate and up to date.

For philanthropic organisations, the Register can make initial due diligence more efficient by providing core information about prospective grantees. Funders can then separately assess impact, organisational capacity and strategic fit.

Greater visibility of compliance

In April 2025, the Regulator introduced a traffic-light system showing whether annual reports are on time, late or outstanding. During the year, 20 charities were removed from the Register and two were prosecuted for failing to report. With this information now clearly visible, timely reporting matters for both compliance and public and funder confidence.

Building better digital infrastructure

Plans for a new digital platform are underway and form one of the Regulator’s” most significant projects” under its 2025–2027 strategy. It aims to improve communications, document management and reporting, while making the system easier for charities to use.

It should make information about the sector more accessible and useful. Better data can help funders understand the scale, location and activities of charities, identify patterns and gaps, and make more informed decisions.

Used well, it could also reduce a persistent burden on charities: being asked to provide the same core information in different formats to different funders.

What the surveys tell us

The report draws on surveys of public attitudes, charities and, for the first time, charity trustees. Public support remains strong: eight in ten people consider charities and their work important. Trust remains central to giving, although the proportion who view trust and confidence as very important fell from 80% in 2022 to 71%.

Concerns centred on transparency, the use of donations and administration costs. This underlines the need to explain how staffing, governance and administration support effective delivery.

The charity survey points to a stronger sector with more diverse funding, but continued recruitment and financial pressures. Between 2019 and 2023, income among the charities examined rose by 37%, while non-salary expenditure increased by almost 43%.

For philanthropy, the findings reinforce the importance of supporting the organisational capacity charities need to deliver effectively.

The experience of charity trustees

The Regulator’s first national survey of charity trustees, completed by more than 1,000 trustees, provides insight into the people carrying legal responsibility for Ireland’s charities.

Eight in ten respondents said they would recommend becoming a charity trustee, with making a positive difference identified as the most significant benefit.

Some 54% of those surveyed were in full-time work, part-time work or self-employment, compared with 41% who were retired. With more trustees now in employment than retired, charities may need to consider how trustee roles are structured and supported, including expectations around time, induction and ongoing development.

The continuing role of bequests

Bequests remain an important source of funding. In 2023, they made up 5.4% of donation income across the sector and almost 10% among charities that received them.

The average bequest was €177,549, compared with a median of €22,616, showing how a small number of substantial legacies sit alongside many more modest gifts.

For philanthropy, the gap between the average and median is significant. It shows the transformative potential of major legacies, but also how unevenly bequest income is distributed. This points to an opportunity to build greater awareness and capacity around legacy giving, including among professional advisers.

Continuing the conversation

The report identifies three practical opportunities for philanthropy: use regulatory data to streamline due diligence, invest in governance and organisational capacity, and communicate that these foundations enable impact rather than distract from it.

The aim is not to add another layer of compliance, but to align regulation and philanthropic practice around a shared goal: a trusted, well-governed sector capable of lasting impact. Transparency requires capacity, and strong governance, reliable information and effective reporting need investment as well as regulation.

By supporting that capacity, philanthropy can strengthen charities, build public confidence and contribute to lasting public benefit.