Manchester welfare organisation The Fed has been ranked among the UK’s most transparent charities by independent watchdog Intelligent Giving.

The Fed’s latest rating of 80 per cent places it 15th in the national list, alongside charities such as Children in Need and the Samaritans. It is a huge advance on the 29 per cent assessment of the Fed for 2004/05.

“It’s by far and away the biggest improvement by any charity we’ve seen,” said Intelligent Giving director Adam Rothwell. The 2004/05 figure reflected an annual report which “barely described what the charity did. It really was a shocker. This year’s report allows its readers to judge the success of The Fed’s operations within the context of how valuable the charity’s services are to the Jewish community in Manchester.”

Mr Rothwell added that “Jewish charities tend to change their rankings the most. A lot of them got in touch with us after a Jewish Chronicle story in 2007 to ask how they could improve.”

Fed chief executive Karen Phillips said: “Accountability is one of our chief priorities and we’ve worked very hard with our auditors and treasurer to get to this point.”

Other high ranking Jewish charities in the rolling Intelligent Giving survey include south London care home Nightingale (75 per cent), Norwood (68 per cent) and Chai Cancer Care (66 per cent). UJIA’s most recent assessment of 59 per cent also represents a dramatic improvement.

Oxfam and the National Trust head the list.