What the public thinks of charities

The public are likely to perceive charities as large, national bodies, not involved in political issues and mainly funded by donations, according to a report published by think tank NPC.

The report, entitled Matter of Trust: What the public thinks of charities and how it affects trust, is based on a survey of 1,009 adults conducted in early October.

It states that 35 percent of people have low trust in charity, and that people are less likely to trust charities if they are large, government-funded, involved in political issues, run by professional staff or involved in awareness raising rather than service delivery.

The report states that 77 percent of people see charities as either national or international organisations when asked what words came to mind when they think about the sector. This compared to 15 percent who mostly associate charities with local bodies, and eight percent who said they did not know.

The report found that 67 percent of the public perceive charities mostly as large organisations, 67 percent perceive them as not involved in political issues, and only 12 percent think of charities as relying on funding from government and business.

41 percent of respondents associate charities with being run by professionals, as opposed to 51 percent who saw charities as being volunteer-run.

In particular, the survey shows that the public has a greater distrust of charities that receive funding from the government and businesses, those with a political agenda, those run by professionals, international charities and those whose focus was on raising awareness of issues.

Members of the public are more likely to trust charities if they have a greater knowledge of the sector, the report states with 31 percent of people who feel they have a greater knowledge about charities reported a high level of trust, compared to just 17 percent of those who know not very much or less.

To download the full report visit www.thinknpc.org/publications/matter-of-trust.