Browse by category on GiveRadar
Every charity on GiveRadar belongs to one of 16 categories, derived from official registry classifications like the US NTEE system and mapped to one shared set across 100+ countries. Pick a category to browse its organizations, with live counts, integrity assessments, and country filters.
Categories assigned from official registry classifications · charities cannot choose or buy their category
The 16 categories
More ways to find charities
Formal and exclusive: one per charity, derived from registries. Best when you want the broad sector.
A charity can carry several (a clinic might be tagged Cancer, Children, and Health). Best when you care about a specific issue.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals, mapped by GiveRadar. Best for CSR and development framing.
What are the main types of charities?
The main types of charities are education, health, environment, human services, arts and culture, religion, international, animal welfare, community development, science and technology, social services, advocacy and civil rights, disaster relief, youth development, and sports and recreation, with a residual group for organizations that fit none of them.
There is no single official worldwide list: every country's register classifies differently, which is why GiveRadar maps them all to these 16 shared groups so charities from different countries can be browsed together.
How GiveRadar assigns categories
A charity's category comes from its official registry classification where one exists (the US NTEE code, and the equivalents other registers publish), mapped to the shared set. Where a register publishes no classification, GiveRadar's own classifier assigns one from the charity's name, stated mission, and cause tags, and corrections are welcome at info@giveradar.com. One charity has exactly one category: that is what makes categories useful for browsing and fair peer comparison.
Common questions
What are the main types of charities?
The main types are education, health, environment, human services, arts and culture, religion, international, animal welfare, community development, science and technology, social services, advocacy and civil rights, disaster relief, youth development, and sports and recreation, plus a residual group for everything else. GiveRadar groups every charity in 100+ countries into 16 shared categories so they can be browsed and compared across borders.
How many types of charities are there?
There is no official worldwide number: each country's register uses its own classification (the US NTEE system alone has hundreds of codes). GiveRadar maps them all to 16 shared categories, which is granular enough to browse and broad enough that every registered charity fits one.
What is the difference between a charity category and a cause?
A category is a charity's formal sector, one per organization, derived from its registry classification. A cause is a thematic issue label, and a charity can carry several: a children's cancer clinic is one category (health) but three causes (Cancer, Children, Health). Browse causes at the causes page.
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