Public trust in charities on the up, finds Commission

Charity Finance

May 2008

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Public trust and confidence in charities has increased over the last three years but two-thirds of people still think charities spend too much on administration, according to new research from the Charity Commission.

The survey also shows more people are giving time or goods to charity now than said they did in 2005.

However, 60 per cent of respondents still believed that charities are spending too much on salaries and administration, while not knowing how a charity spends its money is the top reason for why people trust some charities less.

Study into Public Trust and Confidence in Charities measures overall public trust and confidence in charities as a mean score out of ten, which has increased from 6.3 in 2005 to 6.6 in 2008. A third of the public gave a trust rating of eight out of ten or above.

The findings are in contrast to recent nfpSynergy research, which claimed that public trust in charities slumped 9 percentage points (from 51 to 42 per cent) between September 2006 and July 2007.

Ethnicity plays no part in levels of trust

To test the assertion that overall levels of trust and confidence in charities among black or minority ethnic (BME) people might be lower than white people, a booster sample of interviews with respondents from BME backgrounds was added.

This showed no statistical difference in the overall level of trust and confidence according to ethnicity. However, people of a BME background are less likely to have benefited from a charity – around a quarter compared to 40 per cent from a white background.

Oliver Reichardt, research manager at the NCVO, said the Commission’s methodology appeared very robust and that while the findings were not perfect, it showed charities were moving in the right direction.

“It gives charities the detail to improve in the future. Charities are often very good at making a positive difference but not so good at demonstrating this,” he said. Generosity increases

While the majority of people (85 per cent) said they had given money to charity within the last year, the report also revealed that 18 per cent of people said they had given more than £200 to charity in the last year.

Nearly half of the public said they had given goods, and over a third said they, or someone they know, were actively involved with charities, either as an employee, trustee or volunteer. All these findings are increases from 2005.

Support and generosity towards charities has increased even though one in ten cited fundraising techniques they didn’t like as the reason they trusted certain charities less than others, and half of respondents said they believed that charities were increasingly using more dubious fundraising techniques.

Nearly half of donors said they were donating via direct debits and standing orders, an increase from 29 per cent in 2005. More people are checking if charities are genuine before donating, but fewer people – down from 40 to 33 per cent in 2008 – said they asked charity collectors for identification.

Still work to be done

Responding to the report, the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB) welcomed the increase in overall public trust and confidence but sounded a warning bell over concern reported about the public’s views on fundraising.

“Charities should be aware that some fundraising techniques run the risk of damaging their relationship with their donors,” said its chief executive Jon Scourse, who used the findings to extol the benefits of joining the self-regulatory scheme.

Dame Suzi Leather, chair of the Charity Commission, said the findings spell out “very good news for charities” but added there was still work to be done to ensure people know how charities spend their money.

“We must listen to what the public tells us they think of charities, and most importantly what makes people more or less likely to trust charities,” she said.

“Many charities are thinking seriously about how they can improve the quality of their performance reporting, but this report should be a catalyst to those who are not.”

The Charity Commission intends to hold a seminar to discuss the findings in more detail later this year.

The survey of 1,008 adults in England was conducted by telephone by pollsters Ipsos MORI between 8 and 24 February 2008.

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