Legitimacy and Trust-Building in Non-Profit Organisations

Trust is both the foundation and outcome of legitimacy in non-profit organisations, shaping their capacity to mobilise resources, influence policy, and sustain long-term partnerships. This article explores the cyclical relationship between legitimacy and trust, showing how accountability, transparency, and stakeholder engagement reinforce one another to sustain credibility. While transparency and reporting are essential for donor confidence, overemphasis on technical compliance can erode community trust. The paper analyses divergent stakeholder perspectives—donors valuing efficiency, governments emphasising compliance, and communities seeking moral and representational integrity—and demonstrates how these competing expectations shape non-profit legitimacy. Drawing on global trust data and comparative studies, the article concludes that NGOs remain more trusted than other sectors but face increasing fragility in politically contested contexts. It offers scholars a conceptual synthesis of legitimacy–trust dynamics and provides practitioners with practical strategies for maintaining balanced, adaptive, and ethical trust-building mechanisms.