In November 2013, nfpSynergy’s Charity Brand Attributes Monitors asked respondents from a nationally representative sample of 2000 people to select up to ten words from a provided list of adjectives to describe their ‘ideal’ charity.

In its SlideZone report on the research findings, nfpSynergy says that transparency came out on top.

“Looking at the broad traits that the public feel an ideal charity should have, transparency tops the ranking, with 45 per cent selecting at least one attribute related to it,” reports nfpSynergy.

According to nfpSynergy, answers such as ‘honesty’ and ‘trustworthiness’ highlight how essential transparency and fairness are in people’s ideal charity. “Interestingly, this category has seen a steep rise of 12 per cent since 2012. This could potentially be due to negative stories about charity wrongdoing in the media over the last year,” says nfpSynergy.

The research found that care and support also remain important, with 34 per cent of the public indicating that at least one related adjective should be among the ten ideal attributes for a charity.

“This implies the public cares a lot about their ideal charity being caring, compassionate and supportive,” says nfpSynergy.

However, ‘speaking out’ – linked to attributes such as campaigning, challenging, outspoken and passionate – features towards the lower middle of the ranking.

“This suggests that, although significant, it is overtaken by other key issues related to service delivery and service users,” explains nfpSynergy.

nfpSynergy adds that a very small proportion of the public, 4 per cent, associate attributes which could be typical of a well-known institution (eg. established, authoritative, traditional and conservative) with the ideal charity.

“The public feels that an ideal charity should keep its focus on being helpful, informative, practical and responsive. It seems people would prefer a charity that is approachable, friendly and welcoming over a traditional, authoritative and exclusive one,” says nfpSynergy.