RSPCA leads YouGov’s 2026 Charity Rankings in Australia

For the third year in a row, RSPCA tops YouGov’s 2026 Charity Rankings in Australia, with a donor Consideration score of 30.7. The rankings reveal the charity brands that Australians say they would be likely to donate to tomorrow, based on a full calendar year of responses (January – December 2025). RSPCA’s Million Paws Walk, a national fundraising event held for over 30 years, was held for the final time in May 2025, having raised $17 million over three decades. 

With a donor Consideration score of 28.9, Cancer Council Australia retains second place this year, holding steady as one of the leading brands in the rankings. 2025 saw the charity launch the National Cancer Data Framework which “sets the direction for collecting, managing and using cancer data across Australia.”

Australian Red Cross (28.5) follows in third place among the list of charities Australians are most likely to consider donating to.

In fourth place is The Salvation Army (27.9), while Guide Dogs (27.8) ranks fifth. The Salvation Army’s outback outreach service, The Flying Padre, celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2025. 

Further down the list, crisis hotline Lifeline Australia (25.2) places sixth. The hotline experienced its busiest day of the year with over 4,300 calls for support in the wake of the Bondi shooting. 

Beyond Blue (24.4) follows in the seventh spot. Ronald McDonald House Charities (22.1) ranks eighth, ahead of Make-A-Wish Australia (21.9) in ninth. Completing the top ten is Starlight Children’s Foundation (21.7), rounding out the charities most considered for donations in 2026.

Australia’s most improved charities in 2026: UNICEF Australia leads 

We also charted the brands with the largest improvement in their score compared to the year before.

UNICEF Australia saw the greatest increase in donor consideration, improving its score by +2.1 points from 16.6 in 2025 to 18.7 in 2026.

Save the Children, Greening Australia, and Australian Conservation Foundation each recorded gains of +1.5 points year-on-year and rank second to fourth in the order listed.

Australian Wildlife Conservancy improved by +1.3 points, while The Benevolent Society increased by +1.2 points.

Further down the list, Australian Red Cross and YMCA Australia both saw their donor consideration scores rise by +0.9 points. Bush Heritage Australia gained +0.8 points, and Greenpeace Australia Pacific completes the top ten improvers with a +0.7 point increase compared to the previous year.

Methodology: 

YouGov’s Australia Charity Rankings are based on CharityIndex donor Consideration scores, which measure the likelihood of a respondent donating to a charity tomorrow. Scores are reported as net consideration scores among nationally representative samples. To qualify for inclusion in the top-ranked charities list, brands must meet a minimum base size of 300 respondents and have at least six months (183 days) of tracking data available. For the most-improved rankings, charities must have been tracked for a minimum of 18 months (548 days). All scores are rounded to one decimal place, and where charities share the same year-on-year change, ranking is determined by the higher 2025 consideration score. Results reflect performance over the period 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, compared with the previous year.

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