Talking About Charities 2006:
Tracking Canadian's Opinions About Charities and The Issues Affecting Them

OVERVIEW

Overall, most Canadians feel they are at least somewhat familiar with the work carried out by charities and the role they play. As in 2000 and 2004, a high proportion of Canadians believe that charities are important, play a key role in meeting the needs of Canadians, and improve their quality of life.

Similarly, the level of trust that Canadians have in charities overall has held constant over the past several years, with a strong majority of Canadians trusting charities at least somewhat. However, at the provincial level, some provinces, most notably Newfoundland and Alberta, have shown a marked decrease in the proportion of residents who trust charities.

Not only do Canadians trust charities, but they also trust leaders of charities. In fact, of all professions asked about in the study, only nurses and medical doctors are trusted by more Canadians than are leaders of charities. Although the overall level of trust in leaders of charities has remained unchanged since 2000, the proportion of Canadians who trust leaders of charities "a lot" has decreased slightly.

One of the key areas impacted by trust is fundraising, an activity on which charities generally invest a great deal of time and effort. Although the proportion of Canadians who feel that charities do not have sufficient funds to meet their objectives has declined slightly since 2004, a majority of Canadians still hold this view. And while virtually all Canadians agree that it takes significant effort for charities to raise the money they need to support their cause, Canadians do have concerns when it comes to certain methods of fundraising.

Most Canadians agree that there is a need for greater transparency regarding charities' spending practices. As in past years, virtually all Canadians agree that charities should be obligated to disclose how donors' contributions are spent.

In addition to greater transparency in charities' spending practices, most Canadians also feel that more attention should be paid to how charities fundraise. One of the more controversial fundraising methods used by some charities is the hiring of commission-based professionals who fundraise on behalf of the charity. A strong majority of Canadians find it unacceptable for charities to use this fundraising method. Underscoring these concerns, most Canadians feel that more attention should be paid to the amount of money charities spend on hiring professionals to do their fundraising, as they did in 2004. But Canadians are divided over whether or not legal limits should be set on how much money charities can spend on fundraising.

Some charities raise money through running a business. Most Canadians support charities earning money through business activities, as long as the money goes to the charity's cause, but fewer today than in 2000 strongly agree that running a business is a good way to raise money that charities are not able to get through donations and grants. And concerns over charities running business continue to be that when charities run business ventures, there is the possibility that money could get lost on the business instead of being used to help Canadians, or business ventures may take too much time away from the charity's core cause.

Canadians continue to feel it is important for charities to provide them with information about their activities. Almost all Canadians think it is important for charities to provide information on how they use donations, their fundraising costs, the programs and services they offer and the impact of their work on Canadians; however, no more than half of Canadians feel that charities actually do a good job in providing these kinds of information.

There is an ongoing lack of knowledge among most Canadians about organizations that are responsible for monitoring the activities of charities. The majority of Canadians incorrectly think that there is no organization or agency responsible for keeping watch over charities' activities. Furthermore, the proportion of Canadians who believe there is no organization or agency responsible for watching over the activities of charities is higher than in 2000. Even among those Canadians who correctly believe that there is an organization charged with monitoring charities' activities, few are able to name any organization that actually has this responsibility.

Canadians?opinions have changed regarding who they feel should be responsible for watching over the activities of charities. More Canadians now than in 2000 think a government agency should be responsible for monitoring charities' activities. The proportion of Canadians who think an independent organization that is not part of either the government or the charity should be responsible for monitoring activities of charities is lower than in 2000, as is the proportion of Canadians who believe the charity's board of directors should have this responsibility.

Advocacy is another area of activity that many charities engage in. A majority of Canadians feel that the opinions expressed by charities on issues of public concern have value because they represent a public interest perspective. Although the majority of Canadians agree that laws should be changed to permit charities to advocate more freely for the causes their organization supports, the proportion who strongly agree with this view has declined from 2004.

Canadians hold differing views on various methods employed by charities to speak out about a cause, with some methods viewed as being more acceptable than others in the eyes of Canadians. Virtually all Canadians find it acceptable for charities to advocate for their cause using softer tactics such as meeting with government officials, and speaking out on issues such as poverty and the environment, while substantially fewer Canadians view more assertive means, such as holding legal protests/ demonstrations and blocking roadways as acceptable. There has been a substantial increase from 2000 in the proportion of Canadians who feel it is acceptable for charities to hold legal street protests/ demonstrations, while the acceptability of organized letter writing campaigns has decreased since 2000. There has also been a decrease from 2004 in the proportion of Canadians who feel it is acceptable for charities to block roadways and other non-violent acts.

Ipsos Reid was commissioned by the Muttart Foundation to conduct the third wave of a survey on public opinion about charities and issues relating to charities. This follows previous research studies on Canadians' opinion toward charities, which the Muttart Foundation undertook in 2000 and 2004. As in previous studies, a total of 3,864 telephone interviews were conducted with Canadians over the age of 18 across Canada between May and July 2006. Potential survey respondents were screened out if they or someone in their household worked for a charity. Quotas were imposed to ensure that there was an adequate representation in each province to conduct a provincial analysis. The results were then weighted according to household size and provincial distribution. With this sample structure, the overall national results are considered statistically accurate within +/- 2.2%, nineteen times out of twenty. The margin of error is larger for provincial results and other sub-groups of the data. Full details on the sampling method, including the provincial samples and margins of error have been provided in Table 1 of Appendix C - Survey Method.

The Muttart Foundation was founded in 1953 by Gladys and Merrill Muttart. It provides grants to canadians charities and carries out research activities about, and of interest to, the charitable sector.

For a copy of the full report and accompanying tabular presentation of findings please visit: http://www.muttart.org/news.htm

For more information or to schedule a media interview, please contact:

Glenys Babcock
Vice President, Trends Division
Ipsos Reid Publc Affairs
(416) 324-2900
[email protected]

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