Confidence in Nonprofits Remains Low

A new survey from the Brookings Institution finds that public confidence in charities remains low because of questions surrounding disbursement of September 11 relief funds and conflict-of-interest and compensation controversies involving the Nature Conservancy and several private foundations, the New York Times reported Sept. 13.

Telephone interviews of 1,417 Americans found that the number of those who expressed little or no confidence in charitable organizations increased significantly between July 2001 and May 2002, and remains virtually unchanged today.

In addition, the recent survey revealed that Americans continue to have serious concerns about the performance of nonprofits in exercising their fiduciary responsibilities. According to the survey, only 11 percent said that charitable organizations do a very good job spending money, down from 14 percent last October and nearly two-thirds lower than the 31 percent of those who believe charities do a good job helping people.

"It's telling that public confidence in charities hasn't recovered and that people don't always trust charities to spend their money wisely," said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

The committee plan to introduce legislation that would place tighter financial oversight on nonprofits, close loopholes in tax laws governing charitable organizations and crack down on excessive compensation practices in the sector.

"While the strong majority of charities appear to be doing a good job, I'm discouraged that the more we dig, the more problems we find," said Grassley.

For a PDF copy of the report, click here.

Source: www.jointogether.org