Summary of the impact

This research into rich donors in the UK has impacted on the policies of both governmental and non-governmental bodies. Government policy shapes and incentivises philanthropic behaviour (e.g. through tax incentives), whilst charity sector bodies influence philanthropic norms and build trust: both have used this research to guide their policy and practice. Examples include the influence of the research on the content of the UK Government's Giving White Paper (2011); the decision to abandon the proposed cap on charity tax relief (2012 Budget); and the work of bodies who promote fundraising and philanthropy, for example, the Institute of Fundraising, Philanthropy UK and Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).

Underpinning research

The research was part of the first substantial wave of studies of philanthropy and charitable donations undertaken in UK universities. It was conducted primarily by Breeze (Kent, 2008 onwards) in her capacity initially as Researcher and, from 2012, as Lecturer and Director of the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent. Breeze's work has been funded by a wide range of government, corporate and philanthropic sources. The research consists of a series of linked projects that produced unique insights into the practices of charitable giving, with a focus on those able to make `million pound donations'.

This research firstly explored the scale of charitable giving by the wealthy via an ongoing annual longitudinal study charting the size, source and destination of all donations of £1m or more, given by UK-based donors or received by UK-based organisations, with linked case studies of those giving and receiving seven figure donations. The data and analysis are published in the annual Coutts Million Pound Donors Report [see reference 3.2].

Secondly, this research examined the social and economic characteristics of the c.200 most significant contemporary UK philanthropists and provided the first typology of major UK donors, published in 2008 [ref 3.1].

Thirdly, a study of `How Donors Choose Charities', funded by the ESRC based on sixty in-depth interviews with affluent donors, developed new understandings of charitable donating behaviour.

Fourthly, and finally, Breeze conducted a study of the motivations for giving among rich UK-based donors, via a unique longitudinal cohort analysis of philanthropists. Based on a survey of 82 rich donors and 20 in-depth interviews, this was undertaken with Theresa Lloyd (Freelance Researcher), updating her 2002 research [ref 3.8].

The research identified:

• The low number of £1m or more donations (c.200), their collective value (c. £1.5bn), and, linked to this, a reliance on individual donors over foundations or corporations [ref 3.2].
• An emergence of younger `new philanthropists' [ref 3.4].
• That the most common types of philanthropic motivation are religious reasons (17%); to benefit causes in their locality (17%) and to help set global agendas, particularly in relation to international development (17%).
• Most giving decisions are taste-based, not needs-based, with donors pre-assigning certain causes as intrinsically `worthy' or `unworthy' of support [ref 3.5, 3.6, 3.7].
• Motivation is often personal and relates to life enrichment, self-actualisation and an appreciation of the recognition that comes with being philanthropic.
• Barriers to donation include donors' fears of the consequences of starting to give, lack of faith in the capacity of charities to spend money wisely and lack of empathy for potential beneficiaries.

Cumulatively, the research provided unique insights into changing forms of charitable giving associated with wealthy donors, generated new data sets describing the scale of this phenomenon and produced qualitative explanations of donors' motivations and behaviours.

References to the research

Research funding

Much of the research was carried out by Breeze 2008-2013 funded by the ESRC, the Office of Civil Society, the Scottish Executive and the Carnegie UK Trust. In addition, the projects outlined in section (2) have been funded by a variety of sources, including the following:

• ESRC award number no. RES-593-25-0003, from 2008-2013. `Charity and Social Redistribution: Quantitative and qualitative perspectives', of which c. £315,000 awarded to Kent. This programme included 4 work packages, worked on by Wilkinson, Sanghera, Bradley and Breeze.

• Coutts & Co — annual funding ranging from £10,000 - £15,000, totalling £67,000 over 5 years, from the Family Business and Philanthropy department, to produce an annual study of `million pound donors'.

• The Pears Foundation £25,000 funding from June 2012-Sept 2013, to conduct a 10 year update of a study of `Why Rich People Give'.

Details of the impact

This research into elite philanthropy and `million pound donors' has benefited policy makers and practitioners by providing unique empirical data and understanding of `top end' of charitable giving. The data generated by the research has become the primary source for policy and media enquiries in this area. It has also directly influenced government policy on charitable giving. These impacts have been achieved by deliberate and focused dissemination and publicity, including substantial use of new media [see corroboration 5.1].

Impacts on public policy:

This research has had significant impact on governmental policy-making concerning philanthropy, with the research having been disseminated to policy-makers through a variety of channels. Significant interactions with policymakers included a presentation to HM Treasury charity tax team in 2009; an address to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Civil Society in 2011 [corrob 5.2]; speaking alongside the UK Charities Minister at a Philanthropy Impact event in 2013 [corrob 5.3], and Breeze's membership of the Giving Policy Group, which comprises influential representatives from the charity sector who provide evidence and ideas for policymaking. Evidence of this impact is provided by the influence of the research on the programme of the coalition government. After the 2010 general election, the coalition promised: `we will take a range of measures to encourage charitable giving and philanthropy'. This was realised with a Giving Green Paper (GGP) that same year and a Giving White Paper (GWP) the following. The GGP directly cites research by Breeze. Significantly, civil servants in the Office for Civil Society within the Cabinet Office charged with drafting the GWP were instructed by the Senior Policy Advisor (Cabinet Office) to read the report How Donors Choose Charities [ref 3.7], which documents the barriers facing donors. The research findings contained in the report were mirrored in the final GWP which noted `the evidence both from research studies and our own consultation shows that many people and organisations ...want to give more. They are put off doing so because too often giving is unnecessarily difficult or complicated, and is not as rewarding as it could or should be' (GWP, 2011, p.9) [corrob 5.4].

Impact on legislation:

The research has also influenced government policy decisions, notably the decision to abandon the proposed cap on charity tax reliefs announced in the 2012 Budget. As the only source of data on the biggest donations, the research made it possible to identify a number of potential problems with the proposal, meaning it was regularly cited by journalists from both mainstream and sector media. The `Give it back George' campaign, which was launched to fight the proposal, cited the research data on its `key stats' page [corrob 5.5] and mainstream media citations of the research (including headline news in the third sector supplements) during the campaign included: The Economist, Financial Times and The Guardian [corrob 5.6]. The research was described as `invaluable' by the FT's charity correspondent, who attests, `the Million Pound Donor report has proven a vital tool in my reporting' [corrob 5.7]. After 10 weeks of intensive campaigning, during which the data was repeatedly cited and Breeze quoted, the proposal was withdrawn. The campaign was named as `Voluntary sector campaign of the year' and the contribution of the research described as `immensely useful' to the campaign's success by the Charities Aid Foundation [corrob 5.8].

Use of research findings by charities and lobby groups:

The research has helped charity sector bodies to improve professional practice and standards in fundraising as they seek to attract more major donations. The research was presented to the UK's biggest fundraising charities (e.g. Cancer Research UK, NSPCC, RNLI, Marie Curie, MacMillan, ActionAid), as well as at major sector and training events (e.g. Institute of Fundraising national, regional and major donor conferences, European Association of Planned Giving, Philanthropy Impact, and Raising Funds from the Rich which draws 1,000+ audiences of fundraisers). Breeze has been consequently named as one of the most 50 influential people in fundraising in 2013 on the prestigious civilsociety.co.uk website, only one of two academics to be listed [corrob 5.9]. Breeze also served as a member of the advisory committee for an influential report funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Money for Good [corrob 5.10] and was a member of the Working Party that helped write the Manifesto for Community Philanthropists [corrob 5.11]. This has allowed the research to inform the most influential non-governmental initiative during this REF cycle, The Philanthropy Review (TPR), which involved leaders from the business and charitable sectors seeking to catalyse a step change in the giving of money in the UK [corrob 5.12]. The contribution of the research to the work of TPR is confirmed by its Director, `in the course of our work...we drew on a number of papers and articles authored by Dr Beth Breeze' [corrob 5.13]. The Director of Professional Development at the Institute of Fundraising also comments that `the research ... has had a positive impact on our efforts to professionalise fundraising' [corrob 5.14]. Finally, one of the government's key strategic partners, supporting and informing their policy in this area is Philanthropy Impact (previously Philanthropy UK). Breeze served on the Philanthropy UK editorial board from 2008-2012 and its Director has confirmed that the `research into understanding the motivations and perceptions of donors informed many of the features and articles that we produced for our donor readership and helped us in our communication with donors, funders, fundraisers, charities and other media' [corrob 5.15].

Sources to corroborate the impact

5.1 - Breeze has 2,250 followers on her @UKCPhilanthropy Twitter account, and has tweeted 1,306 times (as at 24/10/13). She has blogged widely on issues relating to the research, and written for online national media, e.g. BBC News Online and The Guardian.

5.2 - The record of Breeze's presentation to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Civil Society (APPG) is given in the June 2011 minutes which were distributed to all 367 members of the APPG. This corroborates the dissemination of the research to governmental decision-takers.

5.3 - Details of the Philanthropy Impact event can be found on the website of the Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy.

5.4 - Evidence of impact of research on governmental consultation on charitable giving can be found in the Giving White Paper (HMSO, 2011).

5.5 - Use of research data in media coverage visible at: http://giveitbackgeorge.org/the-stats/.

5.6 - Media coverage during the `Give it Back George' campaign citing the research included:

• The Economist (`One hand giveth: Why the dispute over tax and charity is so politically toxic')
• Financial Times (`Charitable Britain unites against tax cap' and `Charities warn Osborne over tax move')
• The Guardian (`How the chancellor's tax-relief caps will deter the big philanthropists')

5.7 - Statement provided by ID 1 (Charity Correspondent, Financial Times). Corroboration of the impact of research outcomes on the ability of journalists to report on policies affecting charities.

5.8 - Statement provided by ID 2 (Director of Research, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)). Corroboration of the impact of the research on the success of the `Give It Back George' campaign.

5.9 - List of the most influential individuals in the fundraising sector substantiates the impact of the research recommendations within the charities sector.

5.10 - The advisory board is listed on p.2 of the final Money for Good report.

5.11 - The Manifesto for Community Philanthropists.

5.12 - The full list of 56 items of literature referenced by The Philanthropy Review, of which six are research outputs by Breeze.

5.13 - Statement provided by ID 3 (Director, The Philanthropy Review). Corroboration of the impact of the research upon the work and final report of The Philanthropy Review.

5.14 - Statement provided by ID 4 (Director of Professional Development, Institute of Fundraising). Corroboration of the impact of the research on efforts to `professionalise' fundraising.

5.15 - Statement provided by ID 5 (Director, Philanthropy UK). Impact of the research on the policy direction given by Philanthropy UK (now Philanthropy Impact) to their audience.