How UK charities show up in AI search
Howard Lake | 24 July 2026 | News
Generative AI tools such as Google’s AI Overviews and ChatGPT are changing how people find information online, and a new report from charity digital agency Platypus Digital examines how well the UK’s biggest charities have adapted.
“The Invisible Charity” looks at the 15 most prominent UK charities, selected using the Third Sector Charity Brand Index 2024 and YouGov data. Drawing on visibility data from Ahrefs and SEMrush, it scores each organisation out of ten and sets out where they are being cited by AI, and where they are missing out.
Brand size is no guarantee
The report’s central message is that scale and a large keyword footprint do not automatically translate into AI search visibility. Some of the sector’s biggest names score highly, but others with strong brand recognition perform modestly.
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Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation, RSPCA and Mind all scored 9 out of 10. Macmillan Cancer Support, British Red Cross and Marie Curie followed on 8. At the other end, The Salvation Army scored 3 and BBC Children in Need 4, despite both being household names.
One useful measure is the “AI Overview inclusion rate”, the share of a charity’s ranking keywords that trigger an AI Overview where the charity is actually cited. British Red Cross topped this at 26.69%, ahead of NSPCC on 26.2% and RSPCA on 25.83%.
Four findings for the sector
Platypus draws out four themes.
- There is room for charities of any size to be cited, because AI systems pull from many sources rather than one, so smaller organisations can still feature by offering a distinctive angle such as lived experience or expert analysis.
- Gaps exist everywhere. Even the top 15 miss out on relevant queries, and as traditional organic traffic erodes, new opportunities keep appearing for those willing to anticipate how people search.
- Breadth can be a weakness. Charities with very broad remits risk what the report calls “generalist dilution”, where AI struggles to associate them with clear authority. Focused organisations tend to win the more specific queries.
- Technical foundations still matter. Burying research and impact reports in PDFs, or relying on JavaScript to load content, makes it harder for AI crawlers to read a site. Clean, structured HTML should be the priority.
Why fundraisers should take note
The report is broader than fundraising, framing AI visibility as part of digital service delivery rather than marketing alone. But the fundraising relevance is clear. Being cited by AI shapes how supporters and potential supporters first encounter a cause, and it feeds the trust and awareness that fundraising depends on.
There is a direct example too. BBC Children in Need’s identified content gaps included “school fundraising ideas” and “fundraising ideas for nurseries”, high volume and highly relevant terms it is not being cited for. For any charity, content of this kind is both a service to supporters and a route to visibility.
The individual write-ups carry practical prompts that fundraising and digital teams can act on, from adding author bylines and review dates to building dedicated information hubs and answering the specific, long tail questions supporters actually ask.
The report is produced by Platypus Digital, which offers SEO and generative engine optimisation (GEO) services and invites charities to get in touch.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.