Mind vs Rethink Mental Illness
In short: Mind provides mental-health information and helplines nationally and works with independent local Minds. Rethink Mental Illness runs its own services and peer groups in England for people affected by severe mental illness.
Last reviewed by CharityCompare editorial.
Both report on the year to 31 March 2025, but they deliver help differently. National Mind responded to 116,000 helpline queries, while local services come from independent local Minds with their own accounts. Rethink Mental Illness supported 24,569 people through 143 services it runs, and its 126 peer support groups operate under its own charity number. These are outputs, not measured recovery.
Mind vs Rethink Mental Illness: key differences
| What to compare | MIND (THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH) | Rethink Mental Illness |
|---|---|---|
| Registered work and operating model | Mental-health information, helplines and campaigning, with local services from independent local Minds. | Services, advice and peer support for people affected by severe mental illness, plus campaigning. |
| What to consider | The national charity’s accounts exclude local Minds, which are independent charities: 83 in England and 16 in Wales in 2024/25. Local Minds reported supporting 664,346 people, a network figure that should not be credited to the national charity alone. | Its services and 126 peer support groups sit inside one charity’s accounts, so its totals are its own. The same report also mentions approximately 80 groups and over 200 groups and services, so check which definition a figure uses. |
| Access and practical checks | Use Mind’s Infoline, legal line or welfare benefits line for information, or find the independent local Mind for your area and check its services and referral route. | Contact the Rethink Advice and Information Service, or check which of its services, such as advocacy, housing or crisis support, operate near you and how referrals work. |
| Sourced result or evidence gap | 116,000: Queries responded to across its support and information helplines. Year to 31 March 2025, combining the Infoline, welfare benefits line, legal line and support line. Contacts, not unique people or measured improvements in wellbeing. | 24,569: People supported directly through 143 services. Year to 31 March 2025. A charity-reported output. In its own survey of over 1,200 service users, 84% said its services improved their quality of life; that is self-reported, not an independent evaluation. |
What the latest filings show
Figures from the accounts held in our dated dataset; the live register may contain newer filings. Ratios can span multiple years, as labelled. Clarity scores use our methodology. Cost to raise £1 of donations is not part of the score; legacies make it lumpy, and it is withheld where trading costs would distort it (how it works).
| Metric | MIND (THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH) | Rethink Mental Illness |
|---|---|---|
| Latest accounts year in our snapshot | 2025 | 2025 |
| Financial snapshot refreshed | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-06 |
| Ratio reporting window | 3-yr avg | 3-yr avg |
| Overall score | 77/100 (4★) | 69/100 (3★) |
| Accountability & Finance | 100/100 | 100/100 |
| Spend on charitable activities | 60% of expenditure | 95% of expenditure |
| Fundraising efficiency | £2.1 total income per £1 fundraising (2023–2025, disclosed years) | £20.6 total income per £1 fundraising (2023–2025, disclosed years) |
| Cost to raise £1 of donations | Not shown for 2025: trading income was 81% of donations | 78p per £1 (2025) |
| Latest income | £64m | £44m |
| Fundraising spend | 40% of expenditure | 5% of expenditure |
| Reserves | 3 months | 0 months |
| Accounts filing | On time | On time |
| Data confidence | high | high |
| Charity number | 219830 | 271028 |
MIND (THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH) on the register · Rethink Mental Illness on the register
Considering Mind
- You want to fund national mental-health information, helplines and campaigning.
- You want local services: the independent local Mind for your area has its own charity number and accounts.
Considering Rethink Mental Illness
- You want to support services and peer groups for people living with severe mental illness, and their families and carers.
- You want one charity accountable for both its services and its local groups.
Mind vs Rethink Mental Illness: questions answered
Mind or Rethink Mental Illness: which should I support?
There is no universal winner. Mind runs national information and helplines while independent local Minds deliver local services; Rethink Mental Illness runs its own services and peer groups for people affected by severe mental illness. Choose the kind of help you want to fund and check the accounts period. A financial rating is not an impact assessment.
Is my local Mind part of Mind?
Local Minds are affiliated to Mind and must meet the Mind Quality Mark, but each is an independent charity responsible for its own funding and services, and Mind’s accounts do not include them. Check the local Mind’s own charity number and accounts.
Who does Rethink Mental Illness help?
Its registered purposes cover people experiencing severe mental illness and their families and carers, in areas such as housing, employment and rehabilitation. In 2024/25 it reported supporting 8,702 people through criminal justice services and 6,950 through advocacy, among other services. It is also a member of Mental Health UK.
How we score charities +
The Clarity Score is a 100-point rating from UK regulator filings (Charity Commission for England and Wales, OSCR and CCNI). Four pillars — Accountability & Transparency (40), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10) — each scored on a continuous scale, not pass/fail cutoffs. A statutory inquiry sets the score to 0 automatically.
Accountability & Transparency
Scored from filings
40 points — filing history (15), trustee oversight (15, scaling up to a board of three or more), declared policies (10).
Financial Health
Scored from filings
30 points — reserves (15, full marks 3–24 months, tapering on both sides), income stability (10), liabilities to assets (5, scaling down as debt rises).
Financial Efficiency
Scored from filings
20 points — program expense ratio and fundraising cost, each on a graduated scale (not a single cutoff). Kept at 20% of the total: financial-ratio scoring alone is not a reliable effectiveness signal (see "why not just an overhead ratio?" below).
Community Support
Scored from filings
10 points — volunteer-to-staff ratio from Charity Commission workforce data, scaling continuously up to a 2:1 ratio.
Overall score
Sum of all pillar points. Display stars use the same bands as the labels: 90–100 → 5★ Exceptional; 75–89 → 4★ Good; 60–74 → 3★ Needs improvement; 1–59 → 2★ Poor; 0 → not rated.