Charities have successfully turned around a drop in public confidence, amid a series of fundraising and safeguarding scandals more than six years ago, to become one of the UK’s most trusted institutions, analysis has found.

But more work is needed to tackle an emerging trust gap and win the confidence of working-class people in rural areas and small towns, says the Charity Commission research.

Its analysis of public trust in charities over the last decade says confidence in the sector hit a low between 2016 and 2018, when at one point “they were less well trusted by the general public than an ‘ordinary person in the street’”.

Since then, much of this confidence in charities has been recovered “while many other institutions have seen falls in trust in the last couple of years”.

Negative headlines about the sector had included the sexual exploitation scandal around Oxfam workers in Haiti and Chad, and fundraisers targeting of vulnerable people for donations.

Now charities are more trusted than the police, banks, private companies, MPs and newspapers, the regulator has found. Doctors are the only profession more trusted than charities.

Emerging ‘trust gap’

However, the regulator warns that a “trust gap” is emerging where the most well-off have the highest trust in charities and less affluent communities have the lowest trust.

This ‘trust gap’ highlights that charities might have a harder task in engaging certain communities over others.

The analysis found that university educated professionals have the highest level of trust in charities, including that they will use donations well. They also have the highest support for charities campaigning to influence change.

Meanwhile, blue collar workers in rural areas and small, traditional market towns have the lowest level of trust in charities. However, the regulator points out that they have more confidence in the work of small, community charities than they do in the work of large organisations.

These rural and working class communities are more likely to be sceptical that donations will be well used, and be least supportive of the effectiveness of charity campaigning.

In addition the analysis found that people from diverse communities “tend to have support for the idea of charities campaigning on issues affecting them”.

Overall, two in five people are more likely to trust a charity that is focused on improving lives and communities locally, compared to one in five who trust charities that work nationally.

“Local charities champion familiar causes to those in the communities they serve and deliver visible local impact,” found the regulator.

“This can generate resilience to wider reputational scandals or shocks that can – fairly or unfairly - alter perceptions of the bigger charities.”

Factors influencing trust

The regulator’s analysis is the first time it has brought together a decade’s worth of its research into public trust.

The most important factors in trust for charities are using funds responsibly, making a difference to people’s lives and being consistent in applying their ethical values across their organisation.

The regulator says that “the actions of one charity can have a negative influence on their perception of other charities”, particularly if funds and people’s safety are at risk.

Speaking at this year’s ICAEW charity conference, Charity Commission chief executive
Helen Stephenson said that the trust gap among different communities “is a cause for concern” adding “we need all parts of society to value, trust and support charities”.

“An important way of addressing those differences is by paying heed to the factors that influence and drive trust, because these are consistent across the population. Charities and the Commission as regulator, can and must be respectful and mindful of what matters to people.”

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