Charitable Impulse

The Charitable Impulse
Those who give to charities – and those who run them – talk about what’s needed to keep the public’s trust

A Report from Public Agenda for the Kettering Foundation and Independent Sector

Prepared by Ana Maria Arumi, Ruth Wooden and Jean Johnson with Steve Farkas, Ann Duffett and Amber Ott

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Introduction

Over the past decade, there has been no shortage of headlines about illegal, unseemly and disgraceful dealings in nearly every aspect of American life. The often-spectacularly unethical behavior of some business, government and religious leaders has drawn intense media coverage and heightened public attention to human failing and corruption in all these sectors. So, when reports about ethical lapses in the nonprofit world appear, it is not surprising that they have the ring of truth.

The events of September 11 focused extraordinary attention on the charitable sector. Given the huge outpouring of contributions, volunteers and human interest generated by the crisis, it was probably inevitable that mistakes would be made, judgments second-guessed and communications mangled. The troubles of the American Red Cross – accused of raising money for one purpose (helping 9/11 victims) and using it for another – has become emblematic of credibility problems in the voluntary sector. And the Red Cross dust-up is not the only controversy in the nonprofit sector to attract public attention. Tales of high salaries and high living by some nonprofit CEOs, the rise of Internet giving and scams associated with it, the glitz and ingenuity of money-seeking tactics for both legitimate charities and hucksters, high valuations of donated properties, and other tax avoidance schemes have all raised questions. The Senate Finance Committee is currently considering legislation to address these abuses and will be issuing recommendations shortly.

The reputations of some in the nonprofit and charitable world have suffered. In fact, questions about fundraising and spending at the Red Cross are reverberating anew in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Still, at least one organization, Doctors Without Borders, used forthrightness and candor about its fundraising needs and practices to enhance the credibility of its work.

Americans give generously once again

Despite some polls suggesting that the charitable sector still has not recovered from a crisis of confidence following September 11, the response to both the Asian tsunami and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita demonstrates yet again the durability of the charitable impulse in the American public. ^[1] In some ways, it is not surprising that opinion polls failed to predict the strength of Americans’ willingness to reach into their wallets in times of want and suffering. Whether polls are exploring attitudes about charities or some other topic, they often fail to tell the full story. Polls can be enormously useful for uncovering trends and capturing people’s spontaneous responses to events of the day. They routinely warn us about Americans’ broad skepticism and anxiety about contemporary life.

But polls are often quite inadequate when it comes to teasing out the nuances of human thinking and tapping into the more deeply held bedrock beliefs that under-gird public responses to key institutions. By themselves, they are not especially helpful in exploring attitudes about issues people don’t think about all that often. And they are limited in helping us understand how people define problems and issues in their own words. In polls, people answer questions formulated by someone else. They don’t allow much opportunity for people to describe for themselves what they see and experience. So taking a deeper look using other kinds of research and analysis can often be enormously illuminating.

The Need for a Deeper Look

To provide this deeper look, Public Agenda, in partnership with the Kettering Foundation and Independent Sector, applied its distinctive opinion research expertise to the task. Our mission was to take a look at how Americans today think about the independent, voluntary sector of their society – often referred to by various other descriptors such as the “independent,” “charitable,” “nonprofit,” or “third” sector – and whether there is support for major change and/or stepped up regulation and oversight.

Leaders and Donors

As researchers, our charge was to examine the mindset concerning the entire spectrum of philanthropic institutions, including public and private charities and corporate and community foundations, and to look at issues facing the sector from different vantage points. We wanted to talk to sector leaders to understand their concerns and perspectives and to hear from that group of American givers who form the backbone of the charitable sector’s work – those who give and volunteer (See the Methodology section on page 3 for information on how we conducted the study).

As such, our research set out to shed light on some important questions: Is the bond between sector leaders and charitable givers strong and holding, or have strains and doubt entered the picture? Are those who manage the nonprofit sector operating from the same set of values and concerns as those who give to it? Do the two groups share priorities and judgments or are they miscommunicating, talking past each other, perhaps even operating at cross-purposes. And if that’s the case, what should sector leaders do to rebuild the fraying of that trust?

Our Research Partners

This research project was supported and funded by the Kettering Foundation of Dayton, Ohio, which has long been interested in the public and its role in democracy. Kettering conducts research on the problems behind the problems of democratic self-rule – including the role of philanthropic organizations in the address of community and national concerns.

Another important partner and contributor to this project is Independent Sector, a national membership association of more than 500 nonprofits and foundations. Independent Sector plays an essential role in leading the sector’s efforts to improve effectiveness on all levels. It is the primary voice for the philanthropic sector, and recently delivered the report of the National Panel on the Nonprofit Sector to provide in-depth recommendations to the Senate Finance Committee.

Public Agenda’s discussions with typical givers and a sampling of leaders in the nonprofit sector took place before Hurricane Katrina, but well after the Southeast Asian tsunami. That is, we conducted the interviews during a period of comparatively limited attention to charitable giving and/or questions about their practices and governance. As such, these conversations offer a window on opinions about the charitable sector in what might be seen as “normal times” – when it is being neither lauded for its beneficence nor derided for waste and corruption. Nonetheless, what we heard contains some cautionary tales for those who care about keeping the sector strong and maintaining the bond of trust with both the giving public and the public at large.

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[1] Paul Light, New York University, 2002/2005.