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“Public trust is the currency of the nonprofit sector. Without the public’s trust, everything we do to advance our collective missions becomes harder, if not impossible.”
Independent Sector released Trust in Nonprofits and Philanthropy last month. This latest round of its annual research provides, for once, some good news in these times. “Nonprofit trust continues to outpace other major American institutions, particularly government, big business, and media, continuing a multi-year trend.” We are also seen as more ethical and competent than other organizations.
People do worry about nonprofits’ engagement with politicians and political leaders, fearing undue influence and our ability to remain neutral, especially if we receive a substantial portion of our funding from government.
I encourage you to take a look at the full report, which breaks down the level of trust for different nonprofit mission areas, and drills down into subsectors of philanthropy, including corporate, private foundations, and high net worth individuals (a group that scored much lower levels of trust).
What do you think? How does your organization think about trust? Is it built into your staff culture, your board practices, your donor strategies? How can our organizations continue to build and maintain the public’s trust? What factors do you think erode it? If you think we should talk more about this locally, drop me a line.
Trusting in our collective power,
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