Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor service has again confirmed its place as the country’s most reputable charity, ranking first in the 2015 Charity Reputation Index for the fifth year running.

Released this week and developed by research consultants AMR, part of STW, the annual index also shows that Guide Dogs also maintained its strong reputation, coming in second place for the second year running. Other charities to fare well include the Fred Hollows Foundation which climbed two places to rank third overall this year, and Medecins Sans Frontières Australia (Doctors Without Borders), which ranked fifth overall in the first year it has been included.

Beyond Blue has also seen a steady improvement of its overall reputation; in 2012 it ranked 17^th overall, and has strengthened its reputation each year since. This year, it ranks fourth overall.

The Charity Reputation Index surveys Australians[1] to measure the overall reputation of the country’s 40 largest charities and ranks them accordingly using a scoring system. The measurement also includes a range of dimensions such as Services, Innovation, Workplace, Citizenship, Governance, Leadership and Cost Management.

AMR’s Managing Director Oliver Freedman said: “The results continue to show the immense trust Australians have for the charity sector as a whole across a breadth of causes.  The top 5 charities now include those focused on the mental and physical well-being of individuals within Australia as well as across the globe.”

Freedman said the Royal Flying Doctor Service also ranked highly across the individual dimensions measured (Services, Innovation, Workplace, Citizenship, Governance, Leadership and Cost Management), coming first in all categories except leadership, where the Fred Hollows Foundation took line honours.

“The RFDS has now ranked first for the fifth year running.  The consistent level of trust, admiration and respect highlights the emotional connection felt by Australians.  Their reputation continues to be built on a broad foundation with the Royal Flying Doctor Service ranking first on six of the seven underlying reputation dimensions,” said Freedman.

“What a terrific acknowledgement for our front line health and aviation staff. But the Flying Doctor is only as good as the clinical care given to the next patient seen by any of our health, dental, or mental health professionals,” Mr Laverty, RFDS CEO said in response to the RFDS being ranked Australia’s most reputable charity.

Several other leading charities improved their rankings this year; Starlight Children’s Foundation rose four places to rank 8^th overall and Save the Children up 12 places to rank 24^th overall. The Salvation Army increased from 27th to 17th but remains below its 2013 rank (10th).

WWF has broken into the Top 20, rising from 23^rd last year to rank 18^th overall this year. It is the first time an environmentally-focussed charity has ranked in the Top 20 since tracking started in 2012.

By contrast, Oxfam showed the biggest decline amongst all charities measured; it fell 13 places to rank 30^th overall this year and The Surf Life Saving Foundation dropped six places to fall outside the top 10 and rank 13^th overall.

Boystown and Greenpeace Australia Pacific were again seen as the charities with the weakest overall reputations, ranking 39^th and 40^th respectively – for the third year running.

“While Greenpeace remains ranked 40^th out of 40, another of the environmentally related charities WWF is showing an improvement.  For the first time, we have an environmentally based Charity in the Top 20 and WWF has seen perceptions of its leadership and vision as well as its services and transparency improve significantly over the past four years,” said Freedman.

2015 Charity Reputation Index – overall results

Charity Name	2014 RANK	2015 RANK
Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia	1	1
Guide Dogs	2	2
The Fred Hollows Foundation	5	3
Beyond Blue Ltd	9	4
Medecins Sans Frontières Australia (Doctors Without Borders)	–	5
St John Ambulance	3	6
Camp Quality	6	7
Starlight Childrens Foundation	12	8
McGrath Foundation	8	9
National Breast Cancer Foundation	4	10
Cancer Council Australia	10	11
Australian Red Cross Society	11	12
Surf Life Saving Foundation	7	13
Diabetes Australia	16	14
National Heart Foundation of Australia	20	15
RSPCA	15	16
The Salvation Army	27	17
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)	23	18
St Vincent de Paul Society	18	19
The Smith Family	24	20
Wesley Mission	28	21
Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect)	21	22
Barnardos Australia	29	23
Save the Children Australia	36	24
Australian Conservation Foundation	31	25
Cerebral Palsy Alliance (Formerly The Spastic Centre of New South Wales)	19	26
Multiple Sclerosis Ltd	25	27
ChildFund Australia	38	28
Vision Australia Ltd	22	29
Oxfam Australia	17	30
UNICEF Australia	26	31
The Wilderness Society	35	32
Plan Australia	–	33
World Vision Australia	30	34
CARE Australia	34	35
Compassion Australia	33	36
Amnesty International Australia	32	37
Mission Australia	37	38
BoysTown	39	39
Greenpeace Australia Pacific	40	40

 

[1] N=4,441 Australians aged 18-64. Data was collected in between 6.11.15 and 25.11.15.