Only 5 per cent of people would be put off donating to a charity because of their campaigning activities, new research by nfpSynergy shows.
The research consultancy asked 1,000 people their thoughts on political lobbying by a range of industries, including the charity sector.
It shows that 15 per cent of people said charities should be restricted in their lobbying activities, compared to 41 per cent who thought there should be restrictions on religious groups.
A third thought there should be restrictions on the manufacturing industry, 32 per cent, and trade unions, 35 per cent.
NfpSynergy said the results demonstrate the government “got it wrong” and there is little public support for restricting charities’ lobbying activities.
When asked what would put them off giving to charity, only 5 per cent of those polled said ‘a charity campaigning to change the law’.
More than half of those surveyed wanted restrictions on lobbying by wealthy individuals, 55 per cent, financial services, 50 per cent, and oil and gas firms, 54 per cent.
For a report earlier this year, the Politics of Charities, nfpSynergy asked 157 MPs what they thought about charities ‘being political’.
More than three quarters of Conservatives, 78 per cent, thought it was a negative thing. This compared with 23 per cent of the Labour MPs and 38 per cent of the Liberal Democrat MPs surveyed.
Tim Harrison, head of professional audiences at nfpSynergy, said: “Put simply, these findings show that the coalition government got it wrong. The public trust charities to lobby on their behalf – far more so than any other sector. The Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act simply does not reflect the fact that only 15 per cent of people support restrictions on charity lobbying and 62 per cent support these restrictions on tobacco companies.
“This study raises an important question; why has the government wasted so much political capital and goodwill with the third sector by pushing this legislation through parliament when there is no public support for it?”
