Rebuilding trust, reducing grievance: the NFP sector must be part of the solution

Leadership and power have been hijacked by outrage, and outrage has been sold to the highest bidders.

In Australia it has become “popular” to say that climate change is a hoax, there are no war atrocities in the Middle East, multiculturalism is a dangerous threat, and AI requires no guard rails.

Australia’s emerging populism echoes the daily spectacle of dismay we see in the United States, where a naked emperor parades ignorance on ever more lavish gilded stages. It would be high farce if it weren’t so consequential.

The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer survey tells us that in Australia, 62 per cent of people have a moderate or high sense of grievance, which is defined by a belief that government and business make their lives harder and serve narrow interests, and wealthy people benefit unfairly from the system.

It tells us that 31 per cent of Australians support at least one or more of the following actions: attacking people online, intentionally spreading disinformation, threatening or committing violence, damaging public or private property. This sentiment increases to one in two for Australians aged 18 to 34.

It can be hard to look away, even harder to look forward. And what does it mean?

In the Australia I live in, we say hello to our neighbours, spend time with our families, and come together to cheer for our teams, watch performances, play, work and lend a hand when needed. We interact in the small rituals that make life feel shared: dogs running together in parks, meals with friends, and being welcomed and valued in our families, schools, workplaces and communities.

Our lives don’t exist on screens or through the AI agents that entice us to watch, to become engrossed, to be captured, or to spend. Our lives are grounded in human interactions, the good and the not so good.

This is what makes working in the charity and not-for-profit (NFP) sector a privilege. We get to see the values that connect us enacted and realised. And through these connections, we deliver the antidote to outrage, the building blocks of trust, the foundations of flourishing communities.

It’s no accident that the communities best able to prepare, react, respond and rebuild in times of crisis are those where the social infrastructure, connections and belonging are the strongest.

At the Community Council for Australia (CCA) we are now committed to investing in connection, in community, in building understanding and trust. The first focus of this work will be to engage more actively with the broader NFP sector.

We want to develop the “Australia we want” set of values into a movement of trust building and community empowerment. And we want this movement to develop its own presence and the power to influence national policies.

It’s important to note that for the CCA, this is not just about the words we use, not about making motherhood statements or expressing “do gooder” sentiments that preach to an already converted congregation.

Our report The Australia We Want, published in 2019, identified 14 core values and paired them with agreed measures to show whether those values are being realised in practice. Values matter most when they shape outcomes. For instance, a society cannot claim to be just while it continues to lock away more and more of its citizens, a community cannot be safe if women feel unsafe walking alone in their own neighbourhoods at night, a country cannot be fair if the rich keep getting richer while the poor are pushed further behind. Enacting values means driving real change.

We intend to make a difference, and we believe the best drivers of change in communities are charities and NFPs.

The Australia we want involves building on the remarkable successes happening every day in communities across Australia. It’s about positive stories of human connection, not outrage. It’s about empowerment rather than disempowerment, opportunity and hope rather than dismissal and discrimination, respect and understanding rather than division and hate. Enacting these values delivers positive change, real outcomes that benefit Australia.

Over the coming months the CCA will be asking you to tell us how you and your organisation enact values to make a difference in your community. It can be as simple as bringing people together to better understand each other, or more structured programs that drive increased opportunities and achievements for people in your community.

We hope our sector will continue to do what we already do to build trust and stronger communities, but that many more organisations will be part of collectively driving reform by connecting with other charities and NFPs and the CCA.

Our challenge is to become better at telling our stories, promoting our values, and demonstrating the value our sector delivers. If we don’t, mistrust will grow and we risk losing the kind of Australia we want to live in.

David Crosbie has been CEO of the Community Council for Australia for the past decade and has spent more than a quarter of a century leading significant not-for-profit organisations, including the Mental Health Council of Australia, the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia, and Odyssey House Victoria.