Philanthropy to the Rescue? Exploring the opportunities, strengths and challenges of philanthropy

There is a renewed global interest in philanthropy. While philanthropy, the use of private resources for public benefit and change, has a very long history, the last few years have seen marked changes in our expectations of philanthropy and in the way in which philanthropy is conducted, perceived and judged. For example, faced with declining budgets and complex social problems, governments are turning to large charitable foundations and wealthy donors in the hope that these can come to the aid of the welfare state and assist in the design, provision and funding of public services. The extent to which such and related expectations of philanthropy are realistic is questionable and has seen limited critical debate. Furthermore, the knowledge-base regarding philanthropy is only slowly starting to emerge. While some significant work has taken place in different academic disciplines and within different professional contexts, there has been limited knowledge-exchange and bridging across academic and non-academic debates.

Focusing on the changing relationship between charitable foundations and wealthy individuals on the one hand, and on government and society on the other, our seminar series will bring together experts from academia, philanthropy and policy to: discuss and synthesise existing knowledge; develop theories and practices that help academic and non-academic audiences; reflect on barriers and challenges to philanthropy research; explore how we can improve research approaches and practices; strengthen the evidence-base and knowledge-sharing on philanthropy for informed policymaking and practice; identify key questions that need to be researched in the future; and jointly work together on developing a better understanding of philanthropy. Furthermore, by directly involving early career academics, PhD students and young talents of foundation staff in the design, delivery and publicity of the seminar series and its outputs, we will help to build a future generation of academics and non-academics that will work together and understand and appreciate their respective working contexts.

To make sure that our seminars and findings are widely available, accessible and appropriate for different audiences, we will provide a selection of live-streamings, seminar recordings, short briefing papers, academic papers, and social media outputs. To be cost effective and guarantee that we can reach as big an audience as possible, we will use existing and established webpages (such as www.cgap.org.uk), Twitter accounts (for example, @CassCCE), and links to professional and academic networks and membership organisations (like the Voluntary Sector Studies Network, the International Society for Third Sector Research, and the European Foundation Centre).

The seminar series (a) supports and promotes increasing understanding of philanthropy and philanthropic action within the changing nexus of state, citizens and society; (b) strengthens the academic, practice and policy evidence-base on philanthropy; and (c) builds K* activities, research knowledge, and research co-production across academic and non-academic stakeholders in and researchers on philanthropy. The series has three clusters of main beneficiaries:

Seminar participants - established and early career academics/PhD students, philanthropists, representatives of charitable foundations and policymakers will benefit directly, through: immediate involvement in shaping, running and contributing to the seminars; co-producing and developing a synthesised and more informed knowledge-base on philanthropy research and practice; gaining experience and developing skills in shared knowledge-production; expanding their professional networks to bridge academic, policy and practice divides; shaping a research agenda on philanthropy that is relevant to academics and practitioners alike; gaining a more informed and nuanced understanding of academic/practice/policy work contexts; offering a forum for ongoing knowledge-exchange; and, building partnerships for future collaborations and research co-production.

Academic and non-academic researchers - the series provides an interdisciplinary pooling, synthesis and development of the knowledge-base on philanthropy and discusses methodological challenges associated with philanthropy research and how these can be overcome. It thereby helps to build an increasingly informed and stronger foundation for philanthropy research at national and international level and advances the field empirically, conceptually and methodologically. As outlined in the Pathways to Impact, the applicants will disseminate their work through key academic and non-academic research networks and use both traditional academic outputs - such as briefing papers, journal articles and conference discussion - as well as online and social media. Direct links will be examined between the series and pedagogical developments in university philanthropy programmes' curriculum content and direction in European and international contexts, both through individual programme leaders and internationally through the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC).

Policymakers/practitioners - the applicants will use the outputs from the series to inform and provide a current and comprehensive knowledge-base to those within UK local and national governments and public service providing organisations who work with and are interested in philanthropy; for foundations and philanthropists who are interested in ensuring that their work is as effective and impactful as possible, the series and its outputs will help them to reflect and inform their practices, approaches and outcomes. Of the numerous United Kingdom trusts and foundations, most are networked through membership bodies (including the Association of Charitable Foundations, Community Foundations UK, the Association of Charitable Organisations ('benevolent societies'), or looser organisations such as the Scottish Grantmakers' Forum) to whom the findings will be provided and with whom the applicants will enter into a dialogue about effective dissemination to their members so as to inform philanthropic practices and processes. Similarly, the applicants will engage with international umbrella bodies, including The Funders' Network and the European Foundation Centre, to encourage knowledge-exchange and dissemination of findings.