Title: Hub - Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: Charitable giving by individuals and philanthropic institutions (such as private Trusts and Foundations) has many benefits for society overall. In addition to providing resources for charitable activities, the act of giving itself helps bind together individuals and contributes to a sense of citizenship. To be able to maximise the contribution that charitable giving and philanthropy can offer it is important for all involved / policy-makers, funders, fundraisers and researchers / to understand what encourages giving so that their decisions and activities can be based on evidence. For example, the Treasury needs to understand how to encourage individual and business giving when reviewing Gift Aid rules, and charity fundraisers need to understand what motivates long-term relationships with donors when planning new fundraising strategies. However currently there is a lack of information about giving which limits success in this area. Partly this is due to charitable giving and philanthropy being a relatively under-developed field of study / certainly in comparison with the USA. Also, the subject crosses traditional subject boundaries within academic study which can mean that, for example, researchers from an economics background are not aware of relevant study on the same topic from a sociology perspective. In fact many charities themselves have developed their own research in this field, and whilst sometimes this lacks academic rigour, charities have much knowledge to share with researchers in this field. The Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy aims to address this need by collating existing evidence from across the widest possible range of disciplines and commissioning new research in areas where there are gaps in knowledge. The Centre will be based on a Hub and Spoke model / with the Spokes focussing on specific areas of research and the Hub taking on a coordinating and disseminating role. The Hub aims to promote this field of study through providing a central point of information about existing and new research, and bringing together key stakeholders (academics, fundraisers, policy-makers, funders) to be involved in sharing their knowledge. Plans for communication and engagement are based upon an understanding that the Centre will need to work with multiple stakeholders via a mix of online and offline channels and activities, including Web 2.0 technologies. Our strategy is based on the premise of two-way communication and engagement rather than one-way dissemination. The project team to deliver the Hub epitomises the marriage of practice and academic research which is at the heart of the Centre's vision. The lead partner is Cass Business School (City University), working closely with the National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) the charity and voluntary sector's leading body. Two Co-Directors (Jenny Harrow and Cathy Pharoah) will lead the Centre, advised by Ian Bruce (Centre for Charity Effectiveness/ Cass), Stephen Osborne (Edinburgh University) and Karl Wilding (NCVO). The Hub's activities will benefit academics and stimulate new ongoing work in this field, beyond the original plans and capacity of the Giving Centre. It will also help policy-makers and independent funders understand how to make best use of their resources. Importantly, it will also enable voluntary and community organisations to better understand how to increase individual and philanthropic income to support their charitable activities. By the end of five years The Hub will have published and disseminated a range of new and collated evidence, and this material will have been shared internationally as well as in the UK. The Hub will also have led to the growth in research in this field in UK universities and provide a innovative example of the benefits of knowledge transfer and sharing between academic and practitioner communities.


Research activity codes: 8.5 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (HEALTH SERVICES);8.3 POLICY, ETHICS AND RESEARCH GOVERNANCE
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE