A charitable organization (also known as a charity) is an organization with charitable purposes only. Trusts, foundations, unincorporated associations and in some jurisdictions specific types of companies, may be established for a charitable purpose or may acquire such purpose after establishment. Charities are all non-profit organizations, however, not all non-profit organizations are charities. Organizations that are only partly dedicated to charitable purposes are sometimes considered as, or treated as, charities, depending on specific regulations at a given jurisdiction. Some charitable organizations may be established by companies as part of tax planning and strategies.

Most charities rely on third party funds (Donations, Grants, Government funding etc.) for their operations, though on some occasions second parties (service users for example) may make a financial contribution, however this is generally aimed to cover expenses that have not been funded by a third party, and thus remain not for profit and charitable in their nature. Like any business, modern charities have overheads such as salaries, insurances, rent and program expenses which require significant income. Consequently many charities (such as philanthropic Trusts and Foundations)exist purely to raise and distribute funds to other program-based charities. This allows both charities to focus on what they are good at, be that raising and managing money or delivering much needed programs of support. Such charitable Foundations generally disperse funds through Grants in one form or another. According to the (US) Foundation Center, there are over 88,000 different trusts and foundations in the US alone.

Given the complexity of researching potential charitable grants, many smaller organizations turn to professional Grant writing services for assistance. Whilst these services operate on a fee for service basis, they allow smaller organizations to compete with larger organizations (who often have their own permanent grant search and writing program) by spreading the overheads associated with running a grant research and writing program across numerous smaller charities.