Public Confidence in Charities Rebounds Slightly

Public confidence in U.S. charities has risen slightly since Sept. 11, 2001, but still has not returned to the level of trust experienced before that day, according to a new survey.
Confidence in Charitable Organizations, 2006, conducted by the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University. 69 percent of Americans expressed a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in charities. While the responses suggest that public confidence is beginning to rebound, the current level of trust is still dwarfed by the 90 percent of respondents who expressed a great deal of trust in charities pre-Sept. 11. Whether the current numbers reflect a solid, long-term increase in public confidence is unclear. The survey suggests that the 2006 figures may indicate “a significant turning point” as the nation neared the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.