By Professor Beth Breeze This month’s post is the text of the of my foreword to a newly published book, The Essential Fundraiser’s Handbook, by … Read more

By Karl Wilding Moonshot philanthropy is an emerging approach where philanthropists deploy capital at scale to accelerate ambitious but achievable ideas or interventions. In an … Read more

‘Vicarious’ is one of my favourite words to say and to think about. Four fricative-led syllables which remind us that the important outcomes we are … Read more

By Dr Emily Lau I have been involved in the University of Kent’s Student Philanthropy module for almost three years now and no matter how … Read more

By Emma Beeston Have you ever met a Philanthropy Advisor? Have you ever met a Philanthropy Advisor? Do you know what kind of person does … Read more

If you’re visiting the Kent Philanthropy blog for the first time, welcome! And if you are a returning visitor, thank you for your patience. It … Read more

Our blog has gone a bit quiet over the past few months whilst we’ve focused on lots of research projects and getting our new Masters degree … Read more

‘The Money’ is a piece of participative theatre in which half the audience (the ‘benefactors’) get to decide how to spend a pile of cash … Read more

The political sphere normally lays claim to a monopoly on momentum, with the oft-quoted line: ‘a week is a long time in politics’. But the last 7 days have … Read more

This blog is about why we are trying to build the field of philanthropic studies in our Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent. Over … Read more

In 2009 I blogged about how much I love being asked to suggest good books on philanthropy. I like to think it’s a type of gift to … Read more

One of the great benefits of teaching is the amount you learn from your students. My current ‘Fundraising and Philanthropy’ class are a particular delight … Read more

You may have already seen this advert as it has had more than 12 million views on YouTube,  but I only became aware of it … Read more

I’m buzzing after spending the morning at our university’s ‘Donor Appreciation Day’. This was a super initiative, led by Anne-Marie Rigley in our development office, … Read more

Just a quick blog today, as I start teaching the new intake of students on our Masters-level class in ‘Fundraising and Philanthropy’ this afternoon. But I … Read more

One of the paradoxes of engaging in social media is that the busier you are doing things that are actually worth blogging or tweeting about, … Read more

This time of year in a university is pretty full-on. We finished teaching last week, and need to tackle the mountain of assignments to be … Read more

I’ve been in Athens this week, teaching a condensed version of my ‘fundraising and philanthropy’ masters level course, to 16 University of Kent students who … Read more

Last week’s front page of The Times made many people’s hearts sink – including mine. The Times had exposed a scam that takes advantage of … Read more

Happy New Year! 2013 is going to be a good year for lots of reasons. But the one I’m thinking about today is that I’ll … Read more

I’m an avid follower of the Institute of Fundraising’s LinkedIn discussion pages. If you have even a passing interest in how fundraising works, and the … Read more

I’ll blog properly soon about the latest Million Pound Donors Report, released today. But for now here’s the press release: The annual Coutts Million Pound … Read more

The past year has been a turbulent one for philanthropy in the UK. Whilst progress has been made in doing more to celebrate and encourage … Read more

Just a quickie today, more to draw attention to what someone else has written than to share anything original from my desk. But with an … Read more

Today’s Third Sector carries an article about a re-brand of a major UK charity. The headline is: Institute of Cancer Research launches £187k rebrand This … Read more

The debate about the relationship between taxes and philanthropy was opened up by this year’s Budget and its (thankfully) ill-fated proposal to cap tax reliefs … Read more

Fascinating new research from the US finds that living in rich-only enclaves rather than in mixed income communities is related to lower levels of philanthropy. … Read more

After a media launch with a comment piece in the Guardian last week, we spent today mailing out copies of our new report User Views … Read more

Yesterday the Chancellor announced he would not proceed with the proposed limits on tax reliefs for charitable donations. This was a surprising, yet deeply welcome … Read more

Yesterday I enjoyed taking part in a lively online discussion organised by the Guardian newspaper’s Voluntary Sector Network. The topic was ‘Managing Major Donors’ and … Read more

Nearly a month after the Chancellor dropped his bombshell in the Budget, announcing a cap on tax reliefs for charitable donors, the House of Commons … Read more

Just over a week ago, I was relaxing after giving one of the final lectures on my ‘Fundraising and Philanthropy’ course, anticipating the chance to … Read more

The headline in yesterday’s Third Sector news made depressing news: ‘Almost half of donors are giving all they can, says Institute of Fundraising survey’. Really? Do … Read more

The Guardian newspaper is my paper of choice, and read by pretty much everyone that I know and like. I met my husband with the … Read more

I love being asked to recommend books, in fact one of the favourite parts of my job is writing book reviews and brief notices of … Read more

I love a challenge, so I couldn’t resist it when Martin Brookes asked me to name the UK equivalent of the US ‘donors to watch … Read more

There’s only one question on people’s lips when we launch each new edition of the annual ‘Coutts Million Pound Donors Report’: “Who are they?” Instead … Read more

As the first coverage of our new report on donors making gifts worth £1m or more is hidden behind a paywall, I’ll paste it here … Read more

I’m not a fan of confrontation but I recently felt the need to pick a fight with those people who knock fundraising research and say … Read more

Today I finally heard some common sense from the Manchester gathering of Tories, as Ed Vaizey MP told his party conference that charity chief executives … Read more

Now I’ve been back from maternity leave for a few weeks, it’s time to get into the swing of one of the best bits of … Read more

As others have noted, there is too much news at the moment. The current UK riots are the latest massive story to grab the headlines … Read more

Wonderful to spend time at the Institute of Fundraising convention last week. I bumped into lots of great colleagues and enjoyed hearing Adrian Sargeant, Joe Saxton, … Read more

Today is my first day back at work after a blissful 8 months of maternity leave. I’ll miss hanging out with little Meredith but am … Read more

I was very sad to read about the untimely death of UK philanthropist Jimi Heselden, in a tragic accident yesterday. Mr Heselden kindly agreed to … Read more

Good news over the weekend about John Sainsbury’s £25 million gift to the British museum. That is a seriously large donation by UK standards, from … Read more

In today’s news we learn that Harry Potter author JK Rowling is giving £10 million to the University of Edinburgh to fund a new research clinic … Read more

Nice to see New Philanthropy Capital’s blog about our research on How Donors Choose Charities, which argues that charitable giving is more often ‘taste based’ … Read more

Summers are meant to be quiet times in universities but the pace of my work seems to have increased these past weeks. Two big reports … Read more

Last Friday I launched the final report from the first project I’ve been undertaking within the new ESRC Centre for Giving and Philanthropy, How Donors … Read more

I haven’t blogged in a while as life, work and (finally) summer have got in the way. But I can’t resist writing about today’s news … Read more

Having worked as a fundraiser, and now as a philanthropy researcher, I’ve done a fair bit of asking, and an awful lot of thinking about … Read more

Popes, catholics, bears and woods all came to mind when reading a recent article in the Wealth Bulletin. Apparently,  a new survey finds that a … Read more

The philanthropy research centre where I work publishes an annual report on ‘Million Pound Donors’ which collates and analyses data on charitable gifts worth £1m … Read more

Have you heard that this year’s beneficiary of the X Factor charity single is an organisation working with parents in prison, and that they were … Read more

It’s said that becoming rich means never eating another bad meal and never telling another unfunny joke. On the back of my experience this week, … Read more

It sounds like a rhetorical – or even facetious – question, but I’ve been thinking recently about the role that fundraisers play in raising funds … Read more

Hard to believe it is now July. The aspiration to submit my PhD thesis (on ‘More than Money: the social meaning of philanthropy in contemporary … Read more

This weekend I found myself having  a row with someone I’ve never met, in front of hundreds of people that I don’t know. The row … Read more

Something odd happened after my last blog about my ‘best books’ on philanthropy. An American academic, whose work I admire, criticised my taste for being … Read more

I like being asked my opinion and I like books about philanthropy, so my day was well and truly made when the marvellous Martin Brooks … Read more

About 10 years ago I was asked to contribute to a London radio discussion about whether or not people who play the National Lottery should … Read more

Yesterday I blogged about the key conclusions of  ‘Natural Philanthropists’, the new report I’ve written on family business philanthropy. But as someone who started out … Read more

I’ve just written a report on philanthropy in family businesses, it’s called ‘Natural Philanthropists’ and is free to download here The report is based on … Read more

The newly released figures on charitable giving in the USA during 2008 make very interesting reading. The full press release from Giving USA is available … Read more

Just back at work after a lovely break in North Yorkshire. Today I’m on my way to attend an ESRC seminar at Newcastle University on … Read more

A number of different news outlets are reporting that a group of the most prominent US philanthropists met in secret earlier this month. The meeting … Read more

Just read a nice story on the BBC News website about Northumberland millionaire Brian Burnie’s decision to sell his country pile and give all the proceeds … Read more

Yesterday I got away from campus to visit Save the Children to share some of our latest research and find out what people on the … Read more

Since the Budget announcement that higher rate tax is rising to 50%, those of us who research giving have been bent over calculators trying to … Read more

There’s a new twist on the ‘what happens to giving in a recession’ debate, which is usually framed in terms of donations staying constant or … Read more

After a break away over the Bank Holiday, I’ve been immersed in reading up on social justice philanthropy (SJP). There’s a lot of interest in … Read more

I’m just finishing a paper I’m writing with Dr Pamala Wiepking, an expert on charitable giving who works at Vrije University, Amsterdam. Our paper is … Read more

Today’s newly published Sunday Times Rich List 2009 is getting lots of press interest for all the wrong reasons. Widespread schadenfreude at the news that … Read more

Today’s Financial Times carries a letter from me , responding to a column they published last weekend, expressing a pessimistic outlook for philanthropy in the … Read more

Inevitably – it being the day after the Budget – we’re now fielding calls from journalists asking what difference it all makes to donors. One … Read more

One of the projects I’m doing for the new ESRC Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy involves interviewing donors about how they select charities to … Read more

Media coverage of philanthropy matters because it sends a message that the topic is important and worthy of national debate. The Financial Times has long … Read more

I worked as an in-house fundraiser before moving into researching giving, so never had much to do with fundraising agencies, though I was aware of … Read more

If sneak previews of the forthcoming Sunday Times Rich list are to be believed, this coming Sunday will confirm that (Lord) David Sainsbury has become … Read more

Made the wrong meteorological call today. As wind and rain constitute no excuse for cancelling a promised beach trip to a toddler, I waved off … Read more

Delighted that the Radio Devon discussion was more balanced than much media reporting of the effect of the recession on giving. The host, Pippa Quelch, … Read more

Just had a call from BBC Radio Devon asking me to join a live discussion tomorrow morning about the effect of the recession on animal … Read more

To mark the launch of the Kent Philanthropy Centre blog, the White House has revealed details of Barack Obama’s charitable giving http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/15/Release-of-the-President-and-Vice-Presidents-Tax-Returns/ In the last … Read more