It found that 88% of people interviewed said the main factor for their trust in charities was an “inherent belief” that they were well managed. In addition, 84% said they were more likely to trust a charity if they’d heard of them, with 44% of people preferring big charities to smaller ones.

The report also found that while 90% of people said they and their family and friends had not received money, support or help from charities, 75% actually had. This was backed up by the lack of knowledge about which organisations were charities with 97% of respondents acknowledging that Oxfam was a charity but only 15% believing the Tate Modern was.

Andrew Hind, chief executive of the Charity Commission, said: “It’s good news for charities that so many people inherently believe that charities are well managed. But this basic level of trust seems to be based on a more limited understanding of the issues than we’d previously expected. This adds up to another challenge to charities and the commission to better explain the role of the sector.”

The commission’s findings come as acevo releases preliminary findings from its own survey into public trust in charities. It found that its members believe it would take just a few big scandals involving major charities to shatter trust in the sector.

Additionally, only one in five chief executives believes that the public supports competitive rates of pay for charity leaders, and only one in ten feels they can rely on their trustees to deal with matters relating to public trust.

The full results from the report are due to be announced at acevo’s annual conference on 1 December. For more information visit www.acevo.org.uk

The commission’s report, A survey of public trust and confidence is available under the Strategies, Plans and Reports section on its website, www.charitycommission.gov.uk