Member Article

First major UK study to assess philanthropists motivations

Think tank New Philanthropy Capital is to conduct a major study on what drives donors to give in this country.

In what will be the first research of this scale in the UK, 2,000 medium and high income households will be surveyed, as well as in-depth interviews.

The Money for Good UK study is being supported by the Pears Foundation, Oak Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and NESTA.

Dan Corry, chief executive of NPC, commented: ’This is a great opportunity to find out how charities can understand donors better and ensure they give them the information they need to inspire more giving.

’Understanding this is even more important at present as the state is clearly withdrawing from certain areas and civil society is being asked to pick up the slack.

“Working as we do with both charities and funders we see the real potential to transform how they work together to improve the lives of all those who benefit from the services provided by charities and social enterprises.”

As public services in the UK are being cut by up to 40%, the voluntary sector is estimated to lose £900m in public funding by 2016.

At the same time, charities are seeing a rise in demand for their services, and for some years there has been a significant interest in developing private philanthropy.

Hope Consulting originally conducted the Money for Good research in the US in 2009/10 they found that US donors were willing to give $20bn more if the giving experience better met their needs.

The UK research aims to assess the importance of the impact their giving is to donors, and how charities should communicate what they do.

Charles Keidan, Director of the Pears Foundation, believes it will give an important insight into what influences donors and how charities work with them.

“At a time of increasing need and reducing resources we are delighted to be working with NPC and our Foundation peers in a joint effort to advance understanding of donor motivation.

“We very much look forward to seeing the outcome of the research which we hope will
yield substantial benefits for the UK charitable sector and beyond.”

The results of the research will be shared with charities, wealth advisors and the sector as a whole, through a series of events, practical guides and training.

NPC plans to ask key figures from the sector to join an advisory board for this study to maximise its potential usefulness to all.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .