The cancer support charity led for the eighth consecutive year.
Macmillan Cancer Support has topped YouGov’s CharityIndex Buzz Rankings for the seventh consecutive year.
The rankings, published annually by the polling company, are calculated by asking members of the public if they’ve heard anything good or bad about a brand in the past fortnight.
Macmillan saw an increase of +0.9 points from 2018 following a year where the charity rebranded to attract more diverse volunteers, lobbied parliamentary candidates to introduce cancer-focused health and social care reforms, and saw record numbers of people phoning its helpline for advice.
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, Dogs Trust, the RNLI, the Royal British Legion, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and Mind rounded out the top ten.
Lynda Thomas, Macmillan’s chief executive, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have been recognised by the public for the support we provide to people living with cancer.
“With nearly 250,000 people now living with cancer in Scotland, and that number set to grow, the need for our services has never been greater. Our work is only possible thanks to the generous donations of our supporters and we will continue to work hard to be there for everyone with a diagnosis and support them to live as fully as they can.”
The rankings also reveal the charities judged to be “most-improved” by the UK public. In first place, despite having a negative public perception overall, is Oxfam. Following the previous year where a high-profile scandal led to reputational damage and lost donors, Oxfam’s score rose +10.7 points from -13.7 in 2018 to -3.0 in 2019.
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.
Amelia Brophy, YouGov’s head of UK data products 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.”
