Trust and confidence in charities on the up, says Commission
Howard Lake | 21 May 2008 | News
Public trust in charities has increased significantly since 2005 according to the Charity Commission’s new research.
The key mean score in 2005 was 6.3 and has gone up to 6.6 – a slight but significant increase, said the Commission. Trust in charities is higher than for central or local government, private companies, banks or social services. Only trust and confidence in doctors and the police achieved better results.
Three quarters of people agreed that most charities are trustworthy and act in the public interest, but 16 per cent don’t trust them. The most common reason cited for trusting a specific charity is having experience in what that charity does.
Around 85 per cent of people say they have donated money to charity within the last year and a fifth of those now give more than £200. However, people believe that charities should ensure fundraisers are ethical and honest but half of those surveyed agreed with the statement that charities are using more dubious fundraising techniques.
The vast majority of those interviewed (96 per cent) said that charities should be transparent and 90 per cent said it was important for them to produce annual reports.
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.