Regressive policies and an atmosphere of suspicion among governments towards charities worldwide risk damaging public trust and the growth of charitable giving on a global scale, warns a new report from CAF today.

The report, Future World Giving: Building Trust in Charitable Giving, found that many countries such as Belarus, Uganda and Kenya are adopting increasingly bureaucratic procedures preventing charities from obtaining the legal status they need to carry out their work.

Further, governments in Algeria, Egypt and Russia have singled out charities that receive foreign funds for additional scrutiny. Russia has legislated to compel such not-for-profits to register as ‘foreign agents’ - potentially undermining confidence in charities and stifling international giving, says the report.
 
It adds that in countries such as Uzbekistan and China, governments retain control of charities by establishing ‘government organised non-governmental organisations’. These organisations are not given the space to earn the trust of the public through their actions and have been involved in various scandals in which the state has recycled unused donations to other projects, damaging the image of charities.

The report makes a number of recommendations for governments, including:
 

• Ensuring that everyone is legally entitled to register a charity without discrimination.
• Reducing red tape for smaller not-for-profits whilst maintaining regulatory focus on larger organisations
• Allowing not-for-profits to access foreign funds and engage in international association without discrimination 

John Low, chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation said: “The emerging middle classes around the world have the potential to contribute on a massive scale to charitable causes and through them make an enormous difference in tackling global problems.

“To make that dream a reality, it’s vital that governments give charities the freedom they need to develop, become effective and earn the trust of the public.
 
“All too often independent charities face suspicion, heavy handed bureaucracy or outright hostility from governments. The international community needs to work together to guarantee charities the effective frameworks they need to harness their potential to change the world for the better.”

The report warns that government-fuelled suspicion of not-for-profit organisations could jeopardise efforts to promote giving among new generations of middle class people emerging across the world, which could contribute up to $224bn a year to good causes by 2030.