Author: Beth Breeze

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