UK Charities MCP Server

Query UK charity data via MCP.

Demo

Quick Start

Prerequisites: Free API key from api-portal.charitycommission.gov.uk

Works with any MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, VS Code, Cursor, etc.). Example for Claude Desktop:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Option 1: Via PyPI (recommended)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "uk-charities": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["uk-charities-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CCEW_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Option 2: From source

git clone https://github.com/w4sspr/uk-charities-mcp.git
cd uk-charities-mcp
uv sync

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "uk-charities": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/uk-charities-mcp", "uk-charities-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CCEW_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting: If you get spawn uvx ENOENT or spawn uv ENOENT, Claude Desktop can't find the executable. Use the full path instead (run which uvx or which uv to find it, e.g., /Users/you/.local/bin/uvx).

Restart Claude Desktop, then try:

"Get details for Oxfam (charity 202918)"

Example Prompts

• "Get details for charity 202918" (Oxfam)
• "Show me the financial history for the British Heart Foundation (225971)"
• "Who are the trustees of Cancer Research UK (1089464)?"
• "What are the charitable objects of the RSPCA (219099)?"

Note: This MCP requires charity registration numbers. Find them at register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk

Example Charities	Registration #
Oxfam	202918
British Heart Foundation	225971
Cancer Research UK	1089464
RSPCA	219099
Save the Children	213890

Tools

get_charity_details

Full charity info: name, status, contact, trustees, causes, beneficiaries, latest income/spending.

Parameter	Type	Description
registration_number	int	Charity registration number

get_charity_financials

Up to 5 years of detailed financial records.

Parameter	Type	Description
registration_number	int	Charity registration number

Returns breakdowns: donations & legacies, charitable activities, trading, investments, government grants, fundraising, governance.

get_charity_trustees

List of current trustees.

Parameter	Type	Description
registration_number	int	Charity registration number

get_governing_document

Charitable objects (mission), governing document description, area of benefit.

Parameter	Type	Description
registration_number	int	Charity registration number

Limitations

• No search by name — CCEW API has no search endpoint; you must provide the registration number
• England & Wales only — Scotland uses OSCR, Northern Ireland uses CCNI
• No aggregate statistics — can't query "largest charities" or sector-wide stats
• Current trustees only — API doesn't provide historical trustee records

Prompts that won't work:

• "Find mental health charities in London" (no search by cause/location)
• "List the largest charities by income" (no ranking)
• "How many charities are there in the UK?" (no aggregate stats)

Roadmap

• [ ] Scotland charities via OSCR API
• [ ] Northern Ireland charities via CCNI API
• [ ] Caching layer to reduce API calls
• [ ] Bulk lookup for comparing multiple charities

Development

# Run tests
export CCEW_API_KEY=your-api-key
uv run pytest tests/ -v

# Test with MCP Inspector
CCEW_API_KEY=your-api-key uv run mcp dev src/uk_charities_mcp/server.py

See Also

Why I built this: MCP integration with UK public sector data APIs. See also: food-hygiene-mcp for FSA food hygiene ratings.

Data Source

Charity Commission API — free, requires API key.

License

MIT