# Public trust falls in overseas aid & development charities, nfpSynergy figures show

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/03/22/public-trust-falls-overseas-aid-development-charities-nfpsynergy-figures-show/
- Published: 2018-03-22T08:21:14+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Figures from nfpSynergy show public trust in overseas aid and development charities
declined between Autumn 2017 and February this year.**

In [nfpSynergy](https://nfpsynergy.net/)‘s report,  overseas aid and development
is the sector with the second lowest level of respondents who said they trust the
sector ‘a great deal’ at 10%, just behind religious charities, trusted ‘a great 
deal’ by 8%. Charities scoring the high levels of trust were hospices, cancer, and
rescue services, trusted a great deal by 40%, 39% and 37% respectively.

Overall trust in charities has fallen 6%, from 60% last Autumn to 54% in February
this year, close to August 2017’s levels. Overseas aid and development charities
saw a drop in trust from 40% to 36%. Most sectors have remained steady however with
only three others: children and young people, sensory impairment, and religious,
also seeing slight decreases in trust levels.

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 [](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2018/03/sector_trust_levels.png)

 

However, the report concludes the trust in overseas development and aid charities
has not fallen as much as might have been expected following the Oxfam and other
charities’ sexual misconduct cases. It suggests that this could be because overseas
charities are already seen differently by the public with lower trust levels than
many other sectors.

nfpSynergy also asked the public how much of each charity sectors’ income should
come from government as well as how much does come from government. For almost all
sectors the public thinks that what should come from government exceeds what they
do get by 15-25 percentage points. The only exception to this is the overseas aid
and development sector, which people think receives much more of its income from
the government than it does (42% compared to 29%).

 [](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2018/03/charity_income.png)

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