The Charity Commission for England and Wales

The Regulator for Charities in England and Wales

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A Survey of Public Attitudes to the Charity Commission - (MORI Poll)

February 1999

The Charity Commission has, for several years, commissioned polls in which we seek public opinion both on aspects of our own work, and on the nature of charities.

Our aim is to give the public confidence in the integrity of charity. As we work directly with charity trustees we can seek feed back from them, for example, during our day-to-day work. However, we also seek the views of people who are not directly involved in running a charity, both in order to see how well we are meeting our aim and to highlight issues of importance to the giving public. We therefore commission a poll on public attitudes to charities and the Charity Commission every few years.

Charity law and practice remain the factors governing our decisions – we do not and cannot use public opinion to change the law.

For technical queries regarding the MORI poll, contact John Leaman at MORI on tel. 020 7928 5955 or e-mail at john.leaman@mori.com

Anyone wishing to reproduce the information contained in the poll and with non-technical queries regarding the findings should contact Sush Amar at the Charity Commission on tel. 020 7674 2462.

Public Attitudes and Knowledge Topline

Final findings based on interviews conducted face-to-face with 1,647 adults aged 15+ within 155 sampling points throughout England and Wales. Interviews conducted in-home between 19 – 22 February 1999
Data has been weighted by MORI to reflect the population profile.
Results after Question 1 are based on all respondents excluding those identified at Q1 as charity trustees, charity employees/advisors or MPs’. (Base 1,562), unless stated otherwise.
An asterisk “*” against a question represents a percentage above zero but less than half.

Q1 Do you personally fall into any of these categories of people?

Responsible for controlling the management and administration of a charitable trust, under the charity’s governing document	1%
Member of an executive or management committee of a charitable association	2%
Director of a charitable company	*
Have legal title over a charity’s property or investments	*
A paid charity employee	1%
A paid charity advisor	*
A Member of Parliament (MP)	0
A local councillor	*
None of these	94%
Don’t know	1%

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Receiving Help From Charities

Q2. In which of these ways, if any, have you, or any of your family and friends received help from a charity over the last 5 years?

Received advice from a charity after contacting them	4%
Received financial help from a charity	2%
Used the services of a charity	4%
Received personal care from charity workers	2%
Other	*
Don’t know	2%
None of these	89%

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Issues Of Concern

Q3.What issues relating to charities, if any, most concern you? What else?

People posing as fund-raisers/collectors who are not	8%
High administrative costs/ money spent on salaries etc.	26%
Charities paying their collectors	3%
Charities are too political/ being too political	1%
Lottery (non-specific)	3%
Charities losing money/income because of the lottery	4%
Some causes are allowed to be charities which should not be	3%
Some good causes are not allowed to be charities which should be	1%
Spend too much money on advertising	5%
Charities are too middle class/ only contain certain people	1%
Government should take more responsibility for the kind of work that charities do	3%
Other	23%
Don’t know	13%
Nothing	26%

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Support for Charity

Q.4 Which, if any, of the following things have you done for charity in the last year or two?Contents

Given money to an in-the street collection	66%
Given money to a door-to door collection	57%
Bought items from a charity catalogue (e.g gifts, Christmas cards)	44%
Sent money by post as a donation (not as payment for gifts etc.)	21%
Supported a TV telethon	10%
Sponsored somebody	51%
Pledged money in your will (even if you pledged it more than two years ago)	4%
Undertaken to give money on a regular basis (e.g set up a covenant, direct debit or standing order) even if you made the arrangement more than two years ago	11%
Taken part in a Give As You Earn scheme	3%
Made a credit card donation	10%
Been a paid-up member of a charity (even if you joined more than two years ago)	6%
Given up your time on a voluntary basis	24%
Been involved in setting up a charity	2%
Other	2%
Total those undertaking support for charity	92%

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Sources of Information

Q.5 From which, if any, of these sources do you personally receive information about charities?

Q.6 And which two or three of these, if any, would you have most confidence in to give you accurate and reliable information about charities?

	Q.5 Personally receive	Q.6 Most confidence in
Bodies which regulate and oversee the work of charities	5%	13%
Charities’ accounts and annual reports	6%	14%
Charity leaflets/envelopes pushed through the door	55%	11%
Friends/ relatives who have a connection with charities	22%	20%
Information you requested from a charity	7%	12%
Magazine articles	27%	6%
Newspaper adverts/appeals by charities	28%	5%
Articles in local newspapers	24%	9%
Articles in national newspapers	27%	13%
People collecting money for charity (in the street or door-to-door)	38%	4%
Radio adverts/ appeals by charities	18%	5%
Local radio news/ documentaries	14%	9%
National radio news/ documentaries	18%	3%
Television adverts/ appeals by charities	43%	17%
Television news/ documentaries	38%	30%
Other	2%	1%

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Bodies Responsible for Charity Regulation (Spontaneous recall)

Q.7 Which organisation or organisations, if any, do you think is or are responsible for regulating the work of charities and ensuring that they operate within charity law? Which other or others?

Camelot	*
Charities themselves (unspecified)	1%
Charities Aid Foundation	*
Charity advisors/ legal advisors	1%
Charity Commission	15%
Charity trustees	1%
The church/ Church Commissioners	1%
Companies House	*
The Consumers’ Association	*
The courts (unspecified)	*
Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)	*
Department for International Development (DFID)	*
Dept. of Social Security/ DSS/ DHSS	1%
DTI/ Dept. of Trade and Industry	*
Friendly Societies	*
Government (unspecified)	7%
Health Education Authority (HEA)	*
Home Office	1%
Housing Corporations	*
The law (unspecified)	1%
The Law Society	*
Local government/ council	2%
Lottery/ National Lottery	*
The National Audit Office	*
National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)	*
National Lottery Charities Board	*
Office of Fair Trading	*
OFLOT	*
Police	*
Trading standards officers	1%
Other (supply details)	2%
None of these	6%
Don’t know	64%

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Recall of Organisations (Prompted)

Q.8 Now looking at these organisations, which, if any have you heard of?

Charities Aid Foundation	32%
Charity Commission	42%
The Consumers’ Association	60%
Department for International Development (DFID)	11%
Health Education Authority (HEA)	63%
The Law Society	68%
The National Audit Office	38%
National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)	30%
None of these	8%
Don’t know	1%

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Contact with the Charity Commission

Q.9 You mentioned the Charity Commission earlier. Have you, or any of your family or friends had any contact with the Charity Commission, or not?

Yes	13%
No	86%
Don’t know	1%

Base: All recalling Charity Commission (647)

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Q.10 Using this card, could you tell me how well you feel you know the Charity Commission?

Know very well	*
Know a fair amount about	6%
Know just a little bit about	34%
Heard of, but know nothing about	55%
Not sure/ no opinion	5%

Base: All recalling Charity Commission (647)

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Favourability Towards the Charity Commission

Q.11 And how favourable or unfavourable are your opinions and impressions of the Charity Commission, taking into account anything you may have heard about it?

Very favourable	3%
Mainly favourable	25%
Neither favourable nor unfavourable	49%
Mainly unfavourable	2%
Very favourable	*
No opinion	20%

Base: All recalling Charity Commission (647)

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Why do you say you are …favourable towards the Charity Commission? Why else?

Responsible for what charities do/ regulatory body	27%
Does a good job	29%
Very helpful/ give good advice/ information	7%
Charities need to be regulated/ it’s a necessity	20%

Base: All favourable to Charity Commission (179)

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Q.13 Why do you say you are …unfavourable towards the Charity Commission? Why else?

Ineffective/ doesn’t exercise enough control	32%
Allow bogus charities to operate	10%
Too bureaucratic	28%
High administration costs	22%

Base: All unfavourable to Charity Commission (15)

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Perceptions of the Charity Commission’s Roles

Q.14 On this card are a number of sets of statements that could be applied to the Charity Commission. Please look through them carefully and tell me which one statement from each set you think applies to the Commission.

Base: All recalling Charity Commission (647)

(“Correct” answers are emboldened below)

Funded solely by the government	26%
Partly funded by charities, partly by government	28%
Totally funded by charities	13%
Don’t know	33%

Has legal powers to control charities	58%
Has no legal powers to control charities	16%
Don’t know	27%
Holds information on charities, all of which is available to the general public	43%

Holds information on charities, some of which is available to the public	26%
Holds information on charities, none of which is available to the public	6%
Don’t know	26%

Investigates problems in charities	71%
Does not investigate problems in charities	6%
Don’t know	23%

Helps protect the money I give to charity	62%
Does not help protect the money I give to charity	13%
Don’t know	26%

Decides which organisations and groups are allowed to be charities	66%
Does not decide which organisations and groups are allowed to be charities	11%
Don’t know	23%

Helps charities operate efficiently	58%
Does not help charities operate efficiently	15%
Don’t know	27%

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Attitudes Towards Charity Regulation

Q.15 – 18 I am going to read out some statements about charities and would like you to say to what extent you agree or disagree with each

	Strongly agree	Tend to agree	Neither/ nor	Tend to disagree	Strongly disagree	Don’t know
There are too many regulations governing charities’ financial affairs	5%	16%	24%	25%	14%	16%

There needs to be tighter control over the laws governing charities’ financial affairs	36%	38%	12%	6%	1%	8%

When I give money to charity, I feel confident that most of it will go directly to the cause	10%	37%	11%	27%	12%	3%

Charity trustees should be accountable by law for the framework within which their charity operates	47%	38%	7%	2%	1%	5%

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Q. 21 – 22 How strongly do you agree or disagree with these two statements?

	Strongly agree	Tend to agree	Neither/ nor	Tend to disagree	Strongly disagree	Don’t know
There are too many charities	22%	36%	15%	19%	5%	4%

It should be easier to be a charity	3%	11%	17%	42%	21%	6%

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)

Attitudes to Payment of Charity Trustees

Q. 23 As well as unpaid volunteers and – sometimes – paid staff, all charities have trustees who decide the charity’s overall policy.

Traditionally, trustees have only been paid expenses. Which one of these statements do you most agree with? Just read out the letter which applies.

Charity trustees should …..

Be paid a salary	14%
Be paid all expenses that they incur	29%
Be paid only those expenses that they claim for	37%
Be paid nothing at all	12%

Don’t know	5%
Depends	3%

(Source MORI/ Charity Commission)