Strong levels of support reported for N Ireland charities
Howard Lake | 9 September 2016 | News
90% of people in Northern Ireland supported a charity in the last six months and trust levels of charities, at 79%, are high, according to new research by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI).
The most important factors in public trust of charities were identified as how funds are raised and funds being used properly. 92% of respondents in the research said transparency was important in relation to fundraising.
Over the last two years trust in charities has decreased by 26% of the respondents, while 6% reported an increase in trust. Media coverage about how charities spend the donations they receive was the major factor in shaping peoples’ views of charities.
The research, which was based on four focus groups and a MORI poll of over 1,000 people in February this year, found there was concern about ‘aggressive’ fundraising tactics and face-to-face fundraising. 66% said some of the fundraising methods used by charities make them uncomfortable.
‘My mother is in her 80s and she is tortured by charities,’ one focus group member said.
When people were asked what influenced them to support a charity they listed four factors:
- ‘localness’
- their own potential to use the charity’s services
- personal experiences of the charity, and
- the feel-good factor in giving.
The main way respondents said they supported charities was through donations, either by giving to a street collector, donating goods to a charity shop or in response to an appeal.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.