Fifty-nine percent of Americans say they have “high trust” in nonprofits, according to a new survey from Independent Sector, but that trust is lower among poorer Americans, those with less education, and those who live in rural areas.
In other words, the people who may need help from charities the most are more likely to distrust nonprofits, said Dan Cardinali, president and CEO of Independent Sector, which published the survey. Independent Sector advocates for policies that benefit charities and nonprofits.
“The trust that the broad society has in the sector isn’t shared by the folks that are, in a sense, supposedly being served by and with those organizations,” said Cardinali in an interview.
Only 52 percent of people from households with income of less than $35,000 annually have high trust in nonprofits, compared with 65 percent of people who make more than $200,000. The survey also found that 52 percent of rural respondents have high trust in nonprofits, compared with 61 percent of people in urban and suburban areas.
The survey also found a gap between trust in nonprofits and trust in philanthropy. Philanthropy was defined as corporate philanthropy, private foundations, or high-net-worth individuals engaged in philanthropic efforts. Only 36 percent of respondents said they have a high level of trust in philanthropy.
Twelve percent of Americans said they have low trust in nonprofits, and 21 percent said they have low trust in philanthropy. These “distrusters” were more likely to be less educated, to have annual household incomes less than $35,000, to live in rural communities, and to support the Republican Party, according to the report.
While 81 percent of all respondents said they believe nonprofits have the ability to strengthen American society, only 47 percent believe the nonprofit sector is “headed in the right direction” to do that. Meanwhile, 35 percent said they don’t know if nonprofits are on the right track, while 18 percent said the nonprofit sector is on the wrong track.
Only 12 percent of Americans believe nonprofits are best positioned to address the societal challenges facing the country in general. Likewise, only 12 percent said they believe private foundations and high-net-worth individual philanthropy is best positioned to address national challenges. Instead, the biggest share of respondents — 36 percent — said “everyday people” are the best positioned to address national challenges.
Those results suggest a broad distrust in institutions in American society, Cardinali said.
“There is a crisis in trust in the U.S. in institutions, and that is something we need to pay attention to,” said Cardinali.
A perceived lack of financial transparency, associations with scandals, and a belief that charitable money is being misused drive distrust in nonprofits, the survey found. For philanthropy, a lack of transparency and the idea that charitable giving is done for ulterior or nonaltruistic motives were commonly cited drivers of distrust in charitable giving.
This is a new survey series for Independent Sector, Cardinali said. The survey polled 3,000 Americans in December 2019 and March 2020. It has a margin of error of 1.8 percentage points. The group hopes to repeat the trust survey annually. The results will also form a portion of a forthcoming, broader report on the health of the nonprofit sector, to be released in September.
