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Charities Understand Needs Better: Survey By ANDREW FLYNN 7 OCT. 2004 TORONTO (CP) -- More than three-quarters of Canadians believe charities understand the needs of the people better than the government and are better at meeting them, a new poll suggests. The poll, conducted by pollster Ipsos Reid of behalf of the charitable Muttart Foundation, was designed to gauge the attitude of Canadians toward charities. It found that 79 per cent of respondents thought charities understand the needs of Canadians better than governments and 72 per cent believed charities do a better job than government of meeting the needs of Canadians. "I think it's a vote of confidence in charities, that they're closest to the grassroots and that they're listening to the average Canadian," Bob Wyatt, executive director of the Edmonton-based charity, said in an interview. "I think there's more of a message for government, that they need to perhaps emulate what charities do in terms of listening and meeting needs." It also supports what philanthropic organizations have contended for some time, Wyatt said, that governments can learn much about what ordinary people need by working closer with charities on policy issues. Of those who responded to the survey, 80 per cent said they have some trust in leaders of charities compared to 33 per cent who said they trusted provincial politicians and 30 per cent who trusted federal politicians. Wyatt said the survey results suggest that Canadians' confidence in charities hasn't been much shaken by the recent revocation of a Nova Scotia Parkinson's disease foundation's charitable status and a U.S. study that suggested dropping confidence in charities in the wake of controversies surrounding the Sept. 11 relief effort. "I think it tells us that notwithstanding those few situations, Canadians still generally trust the charity sector," Wyatt said. "One of the things that regulators tell us is that when there are some bad actors out there it's very often other charities that turn them in. The sector has an overwhelming desire to ensure that people who are cheating Canadians are put out of business as quickly as possible." National results of the August telephone survey of 3,863 Canadians were considered accurate within 1.6 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The study suggests that many Canadians expect charities to pick up the slack when governments cancel social programs. Of those who responded, 57 per cent said they expect Canadian charities to deliver services that the government stops funding. "First of all, that's not going to happen," Wyatt said. "There is no capability in the sector to pick up de-funded programs without killing other programs." Wyatt said that indicates to him that charities need to do a better job of explaining "the facts of life" to Canadians about the charitable sector's funding. The clearest message charities should take from the survey's results is that lines of communication between philanthropic organizations and the public and government need to be improved, Wyatt said. "There's a need for the charitable sector to have more communication with Canadians other than when they're asking for money," Wyatt said. "We need to tell our story better." SOURCE: The Edmonton Sun, Canada http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2004/10/07/659753.html * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn