Nine out of every 10 Australians made a donation to charity in the last year, research released today by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has found.

The study, Public Trust and Confidence in Australia Charities 2015, conducted by Chantlink, found that 87% of Australians made some form of contribution to charity in the last year and 78% of people support at least one charity regularly.

ACNC Commissioner, Susan Pascoe AM said Australians are renowned for their generosity and the findings from the study support this.

“Australians donate billions of dollars to charity to each year. This can be partly attributed to the fact that Australian charities are seen as very trustworthy,” Ms Pascoe AM said.

The study which examined public trust and confidence in charities found people view charities as amongst the most trustworthy institutions in Australia.

“Charities as a whole were rated as the third most trustworthy institution in Australia, behind only doctors and the police. The public rated charities as more trustworthy than the High Court, Reserve Bank and both State and Federal Parliament,” Ms Pascoe AM said.

There are approximately 54 000 registered charities in Australia which are regulated by ACNC. Over the last two years, the ACNC has built a publicly available and searchable register of charities.

“The Charity Register is significant in creating trust in Australian charities. The research found that 73% of people thought the Register was very important,” Ms Pascoe AM said.

“Members of the public are able to search the Register to see if a charity is registered, and then find out what it does, where it operates, the people who run it, the rules it needs to follow, as well as its financial information.

“The Register creates transparency around charities’ activities so the public can be confident their donation will be used for its intended purpose. To date, the Charity Register has received nearly a million views.”