# search_charities

Search the charity registry by free-text name. Returns up to limit matches, each with slug, name, country, city/state, foundation_type, integrity_score, and the canonical page URL. Use this BEFORE resources/read when the user names a charity but you don't know its slug. The match is case-insensitive substring on the charity's name.

Agent View of the PolicyLayer registry record for `search_charities`. HTML page: https://policylayer.com/tools/com-giveradar-charity-registry/search-charities

## Facts

- Tool: `search_charities`
- Server: Charity Registry (`https://giveradar.com/mcp/`) — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-giveradar-charity-registry.md
- Homepage: https://github.com/matt-timmermans/giveradar-mcp
- Risk category: Read (Low risk)
- Registry record: grade C, identity unverified
- Server auth posture: open
- Server rate-limited: no
- Parameters: 3 (1 required)
- Recommended policy verdict: Allowed

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `limit` | integer | no |  |
| `query` | string | yes | Name search query, 2+ chars. |
| `country` | string | no | Optional ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country filter (e.g. 'ID', 'NL'). |

Parameters from the server's own tool schema.

## Example call (MCP tools/call, JSON-RPC 2.0)

```json
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "search_charities",
    "arguments": {
      "query": "<query>"
    }
  }
}
```

## Why search_charities is rated Low

This tool retrieves and queries charity data without side effects. It is a search operation that returns matching records from a read-only registry. There is no capability to modify, delete, or execute external operations. The blast radius of misuse is minimal—an agent could only retrieve information about charities that is already publicly available in the registry.

From the tool's own definition: "Tool performs 'Search the charity registry by free-text name' and 'Returns up to `limit` matches' with read-only data fields (slug, name, country, city/state, foundation_type, integrity_score, URL). No modification, deletion, or execution of operations."

## Use case

AI agents call search_charities to retrieve information from Charity Registry without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.

## Recommended policy (PolicyLayer)

Verdict: **Allowed**. Enforced by the PolicyLayer MCP gateway (https://policylayer.com/mcp-gateway) before a call reaches Charity Registry:

```json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "search_charities": {}
  }
}
```

## Other tools on Charity Registry (3)

- `compare_charities` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-giveradar-charity-registry/compare-charities.md
- `find_similar` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-giveradar-charity-registry/find-similar.md
- `verify_charity` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-giveradar-charity-registry/verify-charity.md

## For agents

This record is a snapshot. Live verdicts and the full registry:

- Check every server in your MCP config at once: `npx -y policylayer stack`
- Vet a server before you add it: install the mcp-precheck skill — `npx skills add https://policylayer.com` (skill text: https://policylayer.com/skill.md)
- Query the registry over MCP: endpoint `https://api.policylayer.com/mcp` — tools `check_mcp_server`, `check_mcp_stack`, `check_tool`, `search_registry`, `get_change_events`

---

Source: the PolicyLayer MCP registry — one continuously verified record per MCP server. Full record: https://policylayer.com/registry?q=com-giveradar-charity-registry · API: https://policylayer.com/registry/api · Policy library: https://policylayer.com/policies/com-giveradar-charity-registry