January 25, 2017
An issue of trust
For reasons best known to itself, the Scottish Daily Mail published stories last week with the clear intention of discrediting a number of Scottish charities, attacking both the organisations and individuals who work for them. Setting aside that this was the Daily Mail, and that the reporting was ill informed, it demonstrates nonetheless how poorly some sections of the media, and perhaps even the general public, actually understand our sector. Some recent research from the Open University seems to confirm that the public has a real problem with trusting the large national charities.
The public are more likely to trust local community organisations than national or international charities, according to new research.
An online survey of more than 2,000 adults found 56 per cent of respondents trusted local community charities. National charities were trusted by 29 per cent of respondents, and international charities were trusted by 17 per cent.
The Vitreous survey for the Open University Business School’s Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership (CVSL) found local community charities were second only to doctors in the list of organisations or professions respondents trusted.
Forty-two per cent of respondents said they were likely to volunteer for a small and local community charity, compared to 29 per cent who would volunteer for a national charity and 19 per cent who would give time to an international organisation.
Forty-three per cent would donate to small and local community charities, while 17 per cent would donate to national charities and 14 per cent would donate to international charities.