‘I prefer to give direct to the cause I want to support,’ said the man in Immigration as he took my fingerprints (a first for me!) in Los Angeles airport when I told him I was on my way to the Council on Foundations 56th Annual Conference in San Diego. ‘I just don’t like the idea of those big salaries and all those people driving Cadillacs.’ Sadly, stories about charitable sector abuses seem to be tarnishing the once pristine image of charities. This loss of trust, and how to address it, was something that came up time and again during the conference.