Why do people trust charities (and why do some not)?

The Charity Commission has recently published a report on public trust in charities and the role and experience of trustees. It makes for an interesting (and mercifully short) read. The headline message is that public trust and confidence in charities is recovering following the sharp downturn following the high profile fundraising and safeguarding scandals of a decade ago.

Charities now rank second highest for public trust (behind doctors), with the pandemic appearing to have had a strong positive influence, presumably because of all the help people got from charities and mutual aid groups in lockdowns. Back in 2016, charities ranked fourth behind doctors, police and an “ordinary person on the street”. These changes are in part due to increasing trust and confidence in charities but also because of plummeting trust and confidence in the police.

The report shows that people in more well off communities are more likely to trust charities, and people from diverse communities tend to have higher support for the idea of charities are campaigning on issues that affect them. There remains a trust gap in that the least well off communities and diverse communities have much lower overall levels of trust than well off communities. Much more needs to be done to engage with these sections of society, including a step change in the diversity of trustee boards so that they truly reflect the voice of beneficiaries and minoritised communities.

The key factors affecting trust and confidence in charities have not changed since the last report in 2018. People show higher levels of trust in charities when they believe the following are true (in order of priority):

• Charities use funds responsibly and effectively, prioritising services, activities and people that advance their charitable cause.

• Charities make a positive difference through their work, i.e. they can show impact.

• Charities consistently follow and apply ethical values in everything they do.

Therefore, it’s rather worrying that the area in which charity trustees feel least confident is financial oversight of their charity and only 75% of trustees can correctly identify what is, and is not, a conflict of interest.

All this suggests that charities need to invest in trustee development to ensure high standards of governance (particularly financial and ethical/behavioural governance) and that time spent collecting, analysing and reporting on the impact (not just outputs) of a charity’s activities, is well spent.

To find out more about how we can help your charity improve its governance and how we and our associates can help you demonstrate impact more effectively, please contact us at julian@almondtreeconsulting.co.uk to arrange free initial telephone discussion.