Public is no longer as supportive

Children’s charities are not as favoured as they once were by the public.

New figures by research consultancy nfpSynergy reveals the proportion of people who named children and young people as one of their top causes had fallen from 42% in 2010 to 23% in a poll conducted in November.

The coronavirus crisis seemed to have exacerbated the fall in popularity for children and young people’s charities, the survey said.

“Covid-19 has made it extremely difficult for charities not intimately related to the pandemic to maintain relevance in the public eye, which might well be behind this recent trend. However, animal charities have managed to maintain that connection, despite not being obviously linked,” nfpSynergy said in a statement.

“Children’s charities have dropped to a point now where non-cancer health charities are just one point away, on 22%

“The popularity of health charities has remained relatively stable despite the pandemic, so this is another concerning indicator that children’s charities are simply becoming less prominent in the public’s mind.”

Although health charities had been unable so far to capitalise on the current climate and increase as a favourite cause during the pandemic, it is highly likely this sector could cement a position among the top three favourite causes with the public, said nfp.

However it warned that 16% of the sample said they did not have any favourite charities, second only to the 17% figure recorded in August last year.

“During a year in which the reliance on charities has increased and the sector has played a key role in providing much-needed support, advice and services, this is worrying evidence that the public have become less engaged with charities overall,” nfpSynergy said.

The consultancy usually polls about 1,000 respondents for each survey.