How trust and relationships impact on the giving decisions of philanthropists

Numerous studies have sought to understand why philanthropists are not giving more to charity. Two recently published studies identified a lack of faith in charities and an absence of trust as significant barriers to philanthropy. We report on the findings of a qualitative study which sought to examine the extent to which trust, and relationships influence the wealthy to give or withhold funding to charities. We employed in-depth qualitative research methods and semi-structured, conversational-style, interviews as the major form of data collection. We utilised Braun and Clarke's ‘reflexive thematic analysis’ method of thematic analysis which gave rise to 4 key themes and 9 sub-themes. Findings revealed that trust underpins the relationships that philanthropists have with charities and is an important conduit to forging an ongoing relationship. Trust is frequently relied upon as a proxy for evidence and an absence of trust will usually lead a philanthropist to withhold funding.