Some 45 per cent of people said that their level of trust in charities has declined in the last year, according to a YouGov poll.
Just 4 per cent said their trust in charities had increased and 47 per cent said that their level of trust remained the same.
The poll was carried out by YouGov, but commissioned by fundraising charity communications agency Killer Creative, which has produced the Love Charity Report 2018. Research was conducted online nationwide and involved 2,120 adults. It aimed to investigate the “nature of our emotional ties to charity; uncovering just how loved charities in the UK are today, and how this love manifests itself”.
Of those who said their trust in charities had declined, 64 per cent said media stories had affected their level of trust and 71 per cent said concern about how donations are spent was a factor.
Around 77 per cent of respondents plan to donate the same or more money this year, while 13 per cent plan on giving less.
Individual charities
The survey also asked how much respondents love individual charities. For this it defined love as a “strong feeling of affection for/ a great interest and pleasure in something”.
It found that 58 per cent of people “overtly express ‘love’ for a charity”, with those aged 55 and over most likely to hold at least one cause close to their heart.
Looking at individual charities, the most loved top 30 charity, based on the Top 100 Charity Fundraising Spotlight was Macmillan, with 23 per cent of those surveyed saying they “love” it.
The other most loved charities, according to the survey, were Cancer Research UK, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Dogs Trust and RSPCA.
Gift Aid
The survey also found that only 48 per cent can correctly identify how Gift Aid works. Respondents were given as series of statements about the scheme and asked if they were true or false. It found that under 35s and over 55s were the age groups least likely to understand what gift aid does.
Fundraising
Of those taking part in the survey, 66 per cent said they didn’t care how charities raise their funds.
But when asked which methods of fundraising they felt negative about 70 per cent cited cash appeals by telephone and 65 per cent cited street sign-ups.
By contrast a very small percentage felt negatively about charity shops and 67 per cent felt positively about them. Around half the respondents felt positively about coffee-morning style events.
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