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Running down 'do-gooders' has become a popular pastime in recent years. Journalists and academics alike have lampooned and criticized philanthropists and big donors for their charitable activities, which are often characterized as a means of self-aggrandisement or tax evasion.Yet, it is widely acknowledged that philanthropy - from the establishment of Carnegie libraries in the nineteenth century to the recent global health interventions of the Gates Foundation - has played a critical role in both developed and developing societies.In an impassioned defence of the role of philanthropy in society, Beth Breeze tackles the main critiques levelled at philanthropy and questions the rationale for undermining and disparaging philanthropic acts. She contends that although it might be flawed, philanthropy is a sector that ought to be celebrated and championed so that an abundance of causes and interests can flourish.

The question of how donors decide which charities to support, as opposed to questions about whether to give and how much to give, has been under-researched. This article presents findings from a qualitative study of 60 committed donors in the United Kingdom and concludes that charitable decision making is primarily driven by donors' tastes and personal background, and that inertia and path dependency also account for many of their current donation decisions. Despite subscribing to popular beliefs that charitable giving should be directed primarily to the needy, donors often support organisations that promote their own preferences, that help people with whom they feel some affinity and that support causes that relate to their own life experiences.

What is charity? How does it operate, who does it benefit and what should we expect it to do? This important book helps to tackle the most common misunderstandings and misconceptions of charitable activity in contemporary British society, especially insofar as these affect the thinking of politicians and policymakers. The authors present and discuss over a dozen studies, including public attitudes to giving, large datasets on the geography and funding patterns of third sector organisations, and interviews with a wide range of donors, charity leaders, fundraisers and philanthropy advisers. This data enables them to explore the logic of charity in terms of the distribution of resources across causes and communities in the UK, and the processes behind philanthropic decision-making, to reveal a picture of charitable activity at odds with widespread assumptions

section 1. What is philanthropy? -- section 2. Philanthropy across time and place -- section 3. Being a philanthropist : callings and critiques -- section 4. Philanthropists and beneficiaries : a complex relationship -- section 5. Philanthropic practices and institutions -- section 6. Debates about making philanthropy better.

This article explores gender stereotypes, discrimination and harassment in the fundraising profession and their impact on women's fundraising careers. Using a feminist analysis, we investigate the types of gender-based stereotyping and harassment experienced by women who are members of the United Kingdom professional fundraising membership body, where 75% of female survey respondents reported experiencing stereotyping. Qualitative analysis of 366 respondents' examples of gender-based stereotyping and data from three focus groups demonstrate how the fundraising profession is gendered, its impact on women and what actions need to be taken to tackle visible and unseen barriers that affect women's careers. We conclude by emphasising the necessity for researchers to investigate non-profit and voluntary organisations with a critical orientation that accounts for the ways in which power is reinforced along categories of gender, age, race, class, disability and sexuality in order to realise the full potential of individual employees and the sector.

Whilst philanthropy has long helped fund private initiatives for public good, governments are becoming more interested in expanding this income source as pressures on public spending increase. One outcome of multiple efforts to enhance philanthropy is the growth of giving circles, which involve individual donors collaborating to support causes of mutual interest. This research examines the degree to which giving circles are a good mechanism for enhancing philanthropy. Our overarching interest is to understand if giving circles in the UK and Ireland might serve to grow philanthropy as well as shift the logic of charity to meet the expectations of policy-makers.

Recent efforts to grow philanthropy in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland have focused on increasing the number of donors and size of donations, rather than on developing new methods of giving, despite this latter approach sharing the same objective. This article explores the rise of one such new vehicle – giving circles – defined as groups of individuals who donate money and/or time and have a say in the distribution of these resources. Scholarship on giving circles has largely focused on the United States (US), yet they are found increasingly in other parts of the world. This article focuses on how giving circles in the UK and Ireland are structured and administered; how and why they are formed; their key activities; typical characteristics of members; and why people join. It concludes by noting distinctive characteristics of giving circles in the UK and Ireland and setting out a future programme to further understanding in this area.

"Fundraisers inspire generosity, which fuels the work of millions of charities worldwide. Historically an altruistic role performed by those paid to work on behalf of a charity, it is now becoming increasingly taught as well as professionalised. Several European governments have stepped in to ensure tighter regulation and promote better practice. The UK's Institute of Fundraising was granted chartered status in 2020, offering formal recognition of fundraising as a profession. But the action needed to build a systematic body of knowledge is limited. To ensure this complex and skilled role is taught and delivered to the highest standard, with autonomy, self-regulation, ethics, altruism and systematic knowledge, the work in this area needs to be synthesised and understood in its totality to create a future generation of fundraisers better equipped to inspire generous societies. Answering this urgent need, The Philanthropy Reader draws together a body of empirically grounded literature to establish the body of knowledge needed in one place to ease the work of tutors leading academic courses in fundraising, as well as aid those who seek professional development in fundraising. The book contains a compilation of internationally sourced essential extracts of key writing on fundraising, with a comprehensive introduction that explains the relevance of the content of the chapter to the academic and professional study of fundraising, provides a commentary on the selected texts and describes the contours of core debates. Each chapter also contains an introduction that discusses the relevance of the selected texts to the academic and professional study of fundraising and ends with suggestions for how to incorporate the texts in the classroom, as well as example reading questions"--

In this article, we examine whether and how the institutional context matters when understanding individuals' giving to philanthropic organizations. We posit that both the individuals' propensity to give and the amounts given are higher in countries with a stronger institutional context for philanthropy. We examine key factors of formal and informal institutional contexts for philanthropy at both the organizational and societal levels, including regulatory and legislative frameworks, professional standards, and social practices. Our results show that while aggregate levels of giving are higher in countries with stronger institutionalization, multilevel analyses of 118,788 individuals in 19 countries show limited support for the hypothesized relationships between institutional context and philanthropy. The findings suggest the need for better comparative data to understand the complex and dynamic influences of institutional contexts on charitable giving. This, in turn, would support the development of evidence-based practices and policies in the field of global philanthropy.

In this article, we examine whether and how the institutional context matters when understanding individuals' giving to philanthropic organizations. We posit that both the individuals' propensity to give and the amounts given are higher in countries with a stronger institutional context for philanthropy. We examine key factors of formal and informal institutional contexts for philanthropy at both the organizational and societal levels, including regulatory and legislative frameworks, professional standards, and social practices. Our results show that while aggregate levels of giving are higher in countries with stronger institutionalization, multilevel analyses of 118,788 individuals in 19 countries show limited support for the hypothesized relationships between institutional context and philanthropy. The findings suggest the need for better comparative data to understand the complex and dynamic influences of institutional contexts on charitable giving. This, in turn, would support the development of evidence-based practices and policies in the field of global philanthropy. ; Peer reviewed