Author: Beth Breeze

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