Purpose: Since it is practically significant to explore how to repair the public’s trust in charities during accidental crisis, this study explored the crisis response strategies that charitable organizations with and without crisis histories could adopt when facing a current accidental crisis.
Participants and Methods: Study 1 (N = 177) used a 2 × 2 between-subjects design to examine the effects of crisis history (no crisis history vs. crisis history) and crisis response strategies (diminish  vs. rebuild ) on charity trust repair during an accidental crisis. Study 2 adopting a 3 × 2 between-subjects design examined the effects of crisis history (victim crisis history vs. accidental crisis history vs. preventable crisis history) and crisis response strategies (diminish  vs. rebuild ) on charity trust repair during an accidental crisis.
Results: The results of Study 1 showed that the diminish  strategy adopted by charities in an accidental crisis can enhance public trust. However, if the charity has a crisis history, the rebuild  strategy will enhance public trust. The results of Study 2 showed that, under the victim crisis history condition, participants’ charity trust was borderline significantly higher than their pre-test charity trust when the diminish  strategy was used. However, rebuild  strategies did not significantly increase trust. Under the accidental crisis history condition, diminish  strategies improved trust after the accidental crisis, while rebuild  strategies did not. Under the preventable crisis history condition, diminish  strategies did not improve trust after an accidental crisis, while rebuild  strategies did.
Conclusion: Charities should adopt a diminish  strategy when experiencing their first accidental crisis. Charities with a victim or accidental crisis history should adopt a diminish  strategy when facing a current accidental crisis. However, if a charity has a preventable crisis history, rebuild  strategies are the most appropriate response to a current accidental crisis.
Keywords: situational crisis communication theory, SCCT, crisis history, crisis response strategy, trust repair, charity