Study: Religiously affiliated individuals are more likely to trust charities

Atheist, agnostic and unaffiliated participants in a new study are less likely to report high trust in charities than participants in other religious affiliations. New data shows 4.6% of atheists rate their trust in charities as 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale, as compared to 55.6% among Muslims or 32.1% among Jewish participants and 20% among Protestants and 8% of agnostics. 

At the same time, only 1.2% of atheists say they would like charities to approach them more, as compared to 40.7% of Muslims and 20.3% of Catholics. 

The data is from the report Give.org Donor Trust Report 2024: Trust and Giving Attitudes Across U.S. Regions and Religious Affiliation from the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. 

More than 2,200 adults in the United States (and a separate section with more than 1,000 adults in Canada), were surveyed for insight on how people with self-reported religious affiliation – from different U.S. regions – vary in their charity trust and giving attitudes. 

When asked to choose factors that most signal that a charity is trustworthy, the most commonly selected choices were accomplishments shared by the organization (53.1%), third-party evaluation by an independent organization (36.1%), financial ratios (27.5%), name recognition (25.0%) and passion and sincerity in the appeal (22.5%). 

Third-party evaluations and financial ratios are relatively more important among agnostics, atheists, Jewish, and Protestants. For example, 43% of agnostics and 39% of atheists chose financial ratios as a top trust signal, as compared to 21% of Muslims or 22% of Catholics. 

Respondents were asked to assess their trust across 13 charity categories. Participants identifying as unaffiliated, atheist or agnostic tend to be less trusting of the charity categories. For example, while overall 18.2% of respondents report high trust for civil rights and community action organizations, only 9.4% of agnostics, 9.2% of atheists and 8.4% of unaffiliated did so. 

There is space to build trust in the charitable sector, with 67.4% of respondents rating the importance of trusting a charity before giving as 9 or 10 (Essential) on a 10-point scale, as compared to 22.1% of respondents saying they highly trust charities. 

Among those who say it is highly important to trust a charity before giving, 74% rate their trust in charities less than eight. Perhaps more disturbing, 44% rate their trust in charities as 5 or less. 

In assessing trust for charities, BBB’s Give.org focuses on “high trust” indicators – the portion of respondents who rate their trust as a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. This approach is based on the idea that a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale captures the most loyal and enthusiastic constituents.  

Between December 2017 and December 2023, the portion of participants who highly trust charities fluctuated between 16.8% (December 2019) and 22.1% (December 2023). Younger generations are less likely to rate the importance of trusting a charity before giving as 9 or 10 (essential). For example, 52.9% of Gen Z respondents said it is essential to trust a charity before giving, as compared to 78.8% of Matures. 

Trust for charities varies across different U.S. regions. For example, 27.6% of participants in the Northeast region highly trust charities, as compared to only 19.4% in the Southern region. 

When considering channels used to donate during the past year, including mailed appeals, social media appeals, fundraising events and 10 other options, participants most frequently reported contributing at the checkout counter (23.7%), through a charity’s website (23.5%) or as a response to mailed appeals (17%). 

Data was not captured on what drove those donors to a charity’s website. 

Atheists, unaffiliated and agnostics participants are most likely to report no contributions during the past three years, with 29.9% of atheists, 29.7% of unaffiliated and 23.6% of agnostics report making no contributions during the past three years, as compared to 19.3% of the entire pool of respondents.