Liz Lowther is CEO of the Association of Chairs

For a long time, charity brand building has focused on awareness:

• Are we well known?
• Are we visible enough?
• Are we cutting through?

Awareness still matters (if people don’t know you exist, they can’t support you) – but recognition alone is not what drives preference, advocacy or long-term support. The more pressing question today is not “Do people know us?” but “Do we feel relevant?”.

What do Scottish donors and politicians really think about charities? A preview of our Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations findings

If you work in the Scottish charity sector, you will probably recognise the mood. Public goodwill can feel fragile, political attention is stretched and the pace of the news cycle leaves little room for reflection. Against that backdrop, it is worth asking a simple question: what do Scottish donors and politicians actually think about charities right now?

nfp co-director, Cian Murphy, writes:

Public support for overseas aid has been declining

When we first explored public understanding of charitable trusts and foundations in the UK, the findings were stark. Despite their central role in funding charities, few people could explain what these organisations are or what they do. But how does this picture look elsewhere?

At nfpResearch, we’ve just completed our summer wave of research in Canada. The picture is mixed: trust in charities remains relatively strong, but participation in giving is flat, and optimism about the future feels fragile. Drawing on our latest data, as well as wider sector insights, here are three recommendations for Canadian charities as we head into 2026.

Broaden the base of givers

As we head into the final quarter of the year, many nonprofits are deep in review and planning for the year ahead. With this in mind, we've run a series of webinars across the US, Canada, UK and Ireland to share some of the key trends we're seeing in our research that should be on your radar.

In July 2021, 41% of the public said climate change was one of the top five issues they were most concerned about. By June 2025, this had fallen to only 28%. Its ranking has fallen from the second most concerning issue to fifth. 

These trends are taken from our nfpIntelligence research with the general public, a quarterly tracking tool that helps charities understand attitudes towards the issues they’re working on. 

As Reform UK gathers a head of steam, charities are asking themselves fundamental questions. Should they engage with the party on policy issues like they would with any other? Or should a party with very different values from many in the sector be beyond the pale for charity public affairs teams? We debated this topic at nfpResearch in one of our recent monthly knowledge meetings. Views were split. Some colleagues argued that charities must take the pragmatic approach and work with those in power.

Charity brands don’t live in your logo, and they don’t live in your brand guidelines either. A brand exists where your charity exists in the minds of others – in what people believe you stand for, how you make them feel, and what they say about you when you’re not in the room.