Strategies for Nonprofit Leaders in an Era of Declining Confidence

What must nonprofit leaders do to counter the public’s declining trust in institutions?

First, the decline is real and pervasive, as can be seen through several studies, including the Edelman Trust Barometer.

Second, evidence of the decline can be seen in the loss of individual giving and in the ebbing of broad institutional support, as noted in many analyses, including the 2016 US Trust study of high-net-worth individuals, and the parallel trend of philanthropists increasingly targeting their investments to catalyze specific aspects of mission delivery rather than support institutions in traditional unquestioning ways.

Third, there is no evidence that these trends will slow or reverse anytime soon.

Nonprofit leaders, therefore, need to acknowledge these new realities and accept the fact that, no matter how well they think their organization is doing, they have been and will be even more affected by them.

At the bare minimum, they need to be far more intentional in communicating:

  • How their organization continues to live up to the trust of previous individual donors;
  • How they will become more accountable to current and future donors;
  • What their singular institutional assets will allow them to achieve on behalf of society that otherwise would or could not be done.

Jim Langley is the president of Langley Innovations. Langley Innovations provides a range of services to its clients to help them understand the cultural underpinnings of philanthropy and the psychology of donors, and with that knowledge, to develop the most effective strategies and tactics to build broader and more lasting communities of support. Jim has authored numerous books, including his most recent book, The Future of Fundraising: Adapting to New Philanthropic Realities, published by Academic Impressions in 2020. 

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