Macmillan tops list of most popular charities for seventh year

Macmillan has topped the list of most popular charities in the UK for the seventh year running, according to a YouGov poll.

The YouGov CharityIndex Buzz Rankings show Macmillan has retained its top spot with a comfortable lead of +3.2 points, with an overall score of 14.

Cancer Research UK landed in at second place (10.8), followed by the British Heart Foundation (7.7).

Buzz scores are calculated by asking members of the public if they’ve heard anything good or bad about a brand in the past fortnight. YouGov’s Buzz Rankings are the average of these scores between January 1st, 2019 and December 31st, 2019.

Macmillan saw a point increase of +0.9 points from 2018 following a year in which the charity re-branded.

Meanwhile, Cancer Research UK saw an increase of +0.5 and the British Heart Foundation regained third place with an increase of +0.9 points.

Guide Dogs, meanwhile, saw a decrease of 0.2 points. Other pet-centric charities in the top ten include Dogs Trust (6.5), which climbed to fifth place and Battersea Dogs & Cats Home which fell to ninth (5.6).

The same rankings also revealed the 10 most improved charities, with Oxfam stealing the top spot after recovering from its high-profile scandal in 2018.

The scandal led to reputational damage and a loss of donors in 2018/19, but the charity's score rose by 10.7 points by the end of last year, from -13.7 in 2018 to -3.0 last year.

Second-placed Save the Children, which saw historic allegations against senior executives in 2018, saw a small increase of +2.1 points by having a relatively quiet 2019. Other charities in the top ten improvers all saw incremental score increases of 1.5 points or fewer.

Commenting on the research, head of UK data products, Amelia Brophy said: “Macmillan has remained the most positively talked about charity for the best part of the last decade, demonstrating they are clearly doing something right in the eyes of the public.

"In a time where there is heightened scrutiny of charities and how they are run, maintaining a positive perception is crucial in order for a charity to function effectively and achieve the charitable goals which are vital to so many causes.”

To see the full rankings click here.