Americans Rank St. Jude’s as Top Charity Brand; 43% Also Say At Least One Charity Has Lost Their Trust

Forty-three percent of Americans say they have lost trust in a nonprofit at some point in time, and 83 percent of those people say that made them unwilling to consider appeals to support that group, according to a new survey.

Another 18 percent said they might consider resuming their giving to the nonprofit that lost their trust. Eight percent said they continued giving to the nonprofit.

The survey by Morning Consult for its annual Most Trusted Brands report was conducted April 20 to 23, with a representative sample of 4,410 U.S. adults. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point.

Respondents said putting donations to good use is a top reason to trust nonprofits, while misuse of funds was the most-cited reason for not trusting nonprofits

Respondents were also asked to choose their most trusted charity based on a list of 50 well-known nonprofits. The most trusted charity selected was St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, followed by the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross.

Other Poll Findings

The study comes just a few weeks after another poll was released that found Americans’ confidence in nonprofits and foundations over all had dipped.

Since 2020, trust in nonprofits has declined from 59 percent to 56 percent, according to a February online survey of 3,015 people conducted by Independent Sector and Edelman Data & Intelligence. Trust in philanthropy, including private and corporate foundations and wealthy donors, dropped 2 percentage points — a decline deemed statistically insignificant — during the same period.