It is said that trust takes years to build, seconds to break and forever to repair. This is particularly the case for the charity sector, which depends on public and corporate donations in order to do its work. A whiff of scandal at one charity can impact attitudes to the sector as a whole.
The Charities Regulator carries out an annual survey, and the results from its 2024 survey of charities were published earlier this year. About a third of those charities surveyed said they felt public trust and confidence in charities had decreased to some degree in the previous 12 months, often due to negative publicity; the regulator noted that this proportion has been increasing year on year.
“Public dialogue about serious issues in some charities is seen as the main reason behind the decrease amongst those who feel trust and confidence in charities has decreased while greater public awareness that charities are regulated is seen as the main reason amongst those who feel that trust and confidence in charities is increasing,”the report stated.
Gaby Murphy, Concern’s director of development and fundraising, believes the Charities Regulator has a key role to play when it comes to helping build public trust and confidence in registered charities.
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“Concern ensures that its details on the Charities Register are kept up to date and it complies with the highest governance standards.”
There are a number of best-practice codes that charities can sign up to, including the Charities Governance Code, the Statement of Recommended Practice, and the Charities Institute of Ireland’s Triple Lock standard.
Compliance notwithstanding, Murphy says Concern places a high value on trust. “We recognise that donors and supporters provide us with donations based on trust,” she says. “We never take this trust for granted and we work hard to ensure that this trust is justified.”
The charity invests “a lot of effort” in communicating with its donors and supporters, highlighting the challenges and the issues it faces, and showing the impact of its work. “This is done in a variety of ways, from printed newsletters to videos and case studies shared on social media channels, to media interviews.”
Kate Conroy is head of partnerships with Barnardos Ireland, which works directly with more than 35,000 children and their families in 56 services nationwide. Trust is “everything” to a charity, she says: “We rely on the public’s support to help us to create change, and we can only do that if people believe in the work we do and trust us to invest their donations wisely.”
Pamela Keenan, director of finance, IT and administration with Focus Ireland, says trust remains one of the “most critical issues” facing the sector. “People are more informed and more selective, and they expect clarity on how organisations operate, how funds are managed, and the impact delivered,” she says. “The sector as a whole continues to evolve, driven by increased regulatory expectations and higher public demand for transparency.”
The public are right to ask questions about how their donations are managed and spent, says Conroy.
“The public have become more aware of the need to understand how funding works and ask things like ‘Where will my donation be spent?’, ‘Who will it impact?’ and ‘What are your core programmes and their impact?’ Barnardos are happy to hear from donors and prospective donors. We want them to ask questions. It’s important to us that everyone who wants to give to Barnardos knows we will invest their funds carefully to make the most impact in local communities across Ireland.”
For most charities, trust is synonymous with transparency. “High standards of governance provide donors with confidence that their support is being used responsibly and effectively, and transparency is central to this,” says Keenan. “Donors increasingly expect clear reporting, accessible financial information and tangible evidence of impact.”
Focus Ireland publishes its full annual report and audited financial statements each year. Keenan points out that they are deliberately easy to read and accessible to all – providing detailed breakdowns of income, expenditure, programme delivery and outcomes.
“For Focus Ireland, trust levels remain consistently high. We continue to see strong confidence in our work, and we attribute that to our long-standing commitment to transparency, robust reporting and the quality of services we provide. However, we do not take that trust for granted. It must be reinforced continually across every part of the organisation.”
Barnardos is also regularly cited as being among the top trusted charities in Ireland. “This is something we are so proud of and continue to work to be deserving of year on year,” says Conroy. “We operate strictly within the scope of the Charities Act 2009, ensuring transparency and accountability in all of our work, and we follow the Charities (Amendment) Act and Strategy to ensure we follow all recommendations in governance, reporting and stakeholder engagement.”
“It’s great to see standards being set and met,” she adds. “Barnardos will continue to strive to stay front of mind for people by sharing the work we do and how we achieve it using public and corporate funds.”
For Keenan and Focus Ireland, “trust is earned through sustained accountability, not one-off statements”.
“Everything, from our financial reporting to the way we share impact stories, is designed to maintain confidence in our work.”
