Public confidence returning to charity sector

It has taken over a year, but public trust is beginning to return to Ireland’s charity sector after it was badly hit by the top-ups and pay-offs scandal at the Central Remedial Clinic.

One in three adults — 1.1m people — say they made a donation in response to a 2014 Christmas charity appeal, according to research on donor behaviour , up slightly from 2013.

Two out of three donors — or 690,000 people — say they gave more this year than in 2013. The average donation over Christmas was €12.50, up from €10 in 2013.

The CEO of Fundraising Ireland, Anne Hanniffy, said the researchindicated some green shoots of returning public confidence in the charity sector.

The study, carried out by Amárach Research for Fundraising Ireland, in collaboration with An Post, shows that traditional methods of giving are still top choices for donors.

Just over one in five people made a donation to a church or street collection or by buying an item from a charity shop in the past three months. The volume of donations through charity shops saw a huge rise, with over 27% saying that their last donation was made this way.

“This year’s findings show that trust is slowly growing and that news stories which were making front pages last year are perhaps becoming less of a concern for people,” Ms Hanniffy said.

“There is no room for complacency however... We have to continue to build trust and confidence by constantly demonstrating transparency with quality, trusted services.”

Only 41% of those surveyed say that charity workers should be paid competitive wages.