Trustee sentiment about the economic outlook for the sector appears to have improved over the last year, according to a poll of 275 charity trustees at the annual Charity Symposium hosted by Rathbones Investment Management.

Last year, 55 per cent of delegates who attended the event said they felt the outlook for the sector was broadly negative.  But this year only 30 per cent felt this way, with 34 per cent saying the outlook was broadly positive.

Asked what they thought was the biggest threat to sector funding, more respondents cited market volatility (28 per cent) or falling public donations (25 per cent) than public spending cuts (24 per cent).

And 24 per cent have already cut their operating costs to plug funding shortfalls, or plan to do so.