Ahead of a looming election, it is crucial to understand the public's attitudes towards the involvement of charities in politics. This report is a collaboration between the Shelia McKechnie Foundation and nfpResearch, and explores how aware the public is of the political work of charities. This includes whether they feel this is a space that charities should occupy, and who people think should be involved in politics. 

To take stock of the public's opinions on these topics we surveyed the general public and ran two focus groups with charity supporters in December 2023, with quotes from these sessions being used throughout this report. We also wanted to explore what the public thinks of different charity campaigns to change the law or influence government policy, as well as expanding on our knowledge that language can be important in framing charity campaigning work by unpacking the reactions to the different language used when talking about campaigning.