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
Category: Philanthropy Research
Debunking Philanthropic Myths
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
Why do people avoid fundraisers?
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
The Secrets of Fundraising Success
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
More Million Pound Donors but fall in total value of their donations
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
Rich ghettos deplete generosity
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
Views from the receiving end of charity
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
Are donors really giving all they can?
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
Best Books on Corporate Philanthropy
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
What’s the point of the Million Pound Donors Report?
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
Some of my best friends are prospect researchers, but…
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
Media friendly or media tart?
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
Fundraising is about raising money not changing behaviour
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
3 research projects, 2 deadlines and 1 baby
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
How Donors Choose Charities
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
Changing places
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
The real million pound question
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
A new boost for the study of charity and giving in the UK
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
Do Brits lie about their charitable giving?
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
Sugar-coated or cynical? More on books about philanthropy
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
Best Books on Philanthropy
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
How charities can get support from family businesses
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
Natural Philanthropists: philanthropy in family businesses
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
There’s no shortage of major donors…
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
Is the 50% tax rate good or bad news for givers?
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
It ‘aint how you give, it’s the way that you give it
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
Is Social Justice Philanthropy a tautology or an oxymoron?
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
How rich is rich enough to give some away?
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
Gift enclosures in fundraising appeals – the debate rages on
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
What kind of oaks grow from small acorns?
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
The sky is bright, not falling in
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
Donkeys and Downturns in Devon
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