Does the public trust charities?

Does the public at large trust charities? And how does their level of trust in charities compare with their trust in other national groups and institutions?

Enthuse Intelligence’s annual Donor Pulse report was published in May. Its research indicates that 42% of the public have a high trust in charities as compared with faith groups and religious organisations (21%); the UK Government (15%); corporations (11%); and political parties (7%).

Whilst this is both reassuring and encouraging, we also need to be aware that 59% of the public have only a low or a moderate trust in charities; and we should be asking ourselves why we are not reaching out to them as successfully as we are to the 42%.

It is easy to blame the media for creating an unfavourable view of charities and claim that they over-emphasise the incidents where charities fall short of the behaviour the public expects. However, such a view does not stand up to close scrutiny: Donor Pulse’s research indicates that 48% of the public trust news about charities when the news is put out by the charities themselves. By contrast, only 25% believe reports about charities from mainstream media; 20% from celebrities; and 15% from social media.

Furthermore, there have been disturbing reports from the Charity Commission in regard to – largely small – charities where poor governance, failure on the part of Trustees to ensure charitable funds were used for their designated purposes and – in some cases – downright dishonesty have led to sanctions being imposed by the Commission on the charities and/or their Trustees.

The message for all of us who work or volunteer with small charities is surely this: we need to build on the trust that the public holds towards us. Furthermore, we should be holding a mirror to our charity so that the reflection we have of ourselves matches the perceptions that public have of us.