Americans’ trust in nonprofits is the highest it’s been since the tumultuous year of 2020, according to a new survey released Monday. However, many people don’t believe nonprofits can be unbiased advocates for policy changes or voter engagement.
Trust in nonprofits rose 5 percentage points over last year, with 57 percent of participants reporting positive views of the sector, according to a survey conducted by the Data & Intelligence division of PR firm Edelman and Independent Sector, a membership organization of nonprofits and grant makers. That is a significant shift from last year when the two groups saw the steepest decline in public trust of nonprofits since 2020, the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and the year of a global racial reckoning. The nonprofit sector is now the most trusted among government, business, and media, according to the survey, which polled 3,000 people. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent.
Trust in philanthropy has remained around 33 percent. Private foundations saw a bump from 31 percent last year to 37 percent, though that is still much lower than in 2020, when it was at 54 percent. The outlook was slightly bleaker for corporate philanthropy and high-net-worth individuals, categories which both saw a decline in trust. Just 31 percent of people said they had “high trust” in the ultra wealthy compared to 46 percent four years ago, for example. That’s concerning given that donors directly support nonprofits and community work, Akilah Watkins, president of Independent Sector, said.
“While American believe nonprofits can positively impact social divisions and pressing issues, they are unsure whether they trust nonprofits to engage in nonpartisan advocacy and civic engagement,” Watkins said.
Survey participants said, overall, that they trusted nonprofits more than corporations, government, or media to reduce national divisions, but they were less inclined to believe that nonprofits could be nonpartisan when it came to activities such as voter registration drives or providing factual information about political candidates or policy changes. Black respondents were found to be “significantly” more likely than whites to trust nonprofits to help revise laws and regulations, the study said.
Skepticism about whether nonprofits can be unbiased participants in political activities is meaningful, Watkins said, because nonprofits have historically been “one of the strongest vehicles to getting Americans to the polls” and driving civic engagement. Doubts about nonprofits’ work highlight the need to educate Americans about the sector’s role in civil society, she added.
“We all know that advocacy and public policy is how we’re going to systemically change the conditions in which many nonprofits are functioning,” Watkins said. “We think it’s very important for us to continue to do general education with the American public about how change actually happens.”
The survey also found:
- Three-quarters of Americans are worried about the direction of the country, and 94 percent are concerned about growing division and a lack of national unity.
- Americans who volunteered were more likely to view nonprofits favorably. About 70 percent of respondents said their previous volunteering experience helped shape their positive views of nonprofits. However, research has shown that American volunteerism is on the decline.
- Americans want to see nonprofits commit to adopting standards for ethical operations and good governance practices. Sixty-two percent of participants said they would trust an organization that passed a course or had certification for ethics in its operations, and 61 percent said they were more likely to trust an organization that adopted guidelines and ethical principles for its operation.
There are pathways for nonprofits to leverage public trust, the study suggests, such as addressing polarization and pursuing advocacy work that aligns with their missions.
