Jun 10, 2022Keeping Bad Company: What Does the Blackbaud/NRA Controversy Mean For Nonprofits?There was controversy in the nonprofit sectors on both sides of the Atlantic this week, thanks to a TechCrunch article exposing the long-standing and seemingly very close relationship between “social good” cloud computing provider Blackbaud and the National Rifle Association (NRA). …Philanthropy12 min readPhilanthropy12 min read
May 20, 2022Cold as Charity: philanthropy and the notion of the “undeserving poor”A UK Member of Parliament, Lee Anderson, caused a furore this week by claiming that the rise in people using food banks is partly down to people “not being able to cook or budget properly”. Critics accused him of being “out of touch” and holding “Victorian” views on the nature…Philanthropy21 min readPhilanthropy21 min read
Feb 4, 2022Funding Change: Lessons from the history of philanthropy & the fight for LGBT+ rightsIt is once again LGBT+ History month. This will no doubt bring to light many fascinating facts and stories from the long struggle to ensure equal rights and freedoms for the LGBT+ community, and perhaps has even greater relevance this year in the wake of the recent announcement that a…Philanthropy8 min readPhilanthropy8 min read
Jan 27, 2022GIVE FULL MEASURE: Why are we so bad at measuring giving & why does it matter?How much giving is there? This seems like a relatively straightforward question, but it is actually remarkably difficult to answer. In fact, when it comes to quantifying levels of giving, it is safe to say that there are significantly more unknowns than knowns. This never fails to surprise (and usually…Philanthropy20 min readPhilanthropy20 min read
Dec 11, 2021Mock Generosity: A Brief History of Satirising PhilanthropyWe may well be living in a golden age of criticising philanthropy. Barely a week goes by these days without a new book taking aim at elite giving or a story about a big donor in the mainstream media that leads to widespread critical analysis of the role and legitimacy…Philanthropy27 min readPhilanthropy27 min read
Nov 12, 2021The Edgelord Giveth: Elon Musk & a new era of discourse about philanthropy?One of the biggest philanthropy stories in recent months has been the emergence of Elon Musk as a major philanthropic player. Musk has been fabulously wealthy for a long time, but for most of that period he has shown little apparent interest in philanthropy: either in the concept, or in…Philanthropy12 min readPhilanthropy12 min read
Oct 29, 2021Is This The Real Life, Or Is This Just Fantasy?Philanthropy, Civil Society & The Metaverse If you pay attention to the news you’ve probably noticed an explosion of mentions of “the Metaverse” recently, particularly in light of Facebook’s announcement that it is going all-in on the idea, to the extent that the company has now changed its name to “Meta” . The basic idea behind…Philanthropy20 min readPhilanthropy20 min read
Oct 8, 2021Voluntary Woke?: Philanthropy, Civil Society & The Culture WarsA recurring motif in current media and political debate is the idea that as a society we are engaged in a “culture war”. In fact, just this week UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson doubled down on it in his speech to the Conservative Party conference, declaring that “it has become…Philanthropy19 min readPhilanthropy19 min read
Jun 23, 2021MacKenzie Scott & the History of Challenging Philanthropy’s Status QuoMackenzie Scott has just made her latest announcement about the progress of her philanthropic efforts, detailing $2.9 billion (yes, billion) of grants to 286 organisations made in the first quarter of 2021. This comes hot on the heels of $4.2bn of grants announced in December 2020 and $1.9bn …Philanthropy24 min readPhilanthropy24 min read
Apr 30, 2021Language Barriers: why the ways in which we talk about philanthropy & civil society are holding us backAs anyone who has ever worked on a research project about philanthropy will tell you, it is traditional to spend at least 30 minutes at the outset arguing over how to define “philanthropy”. Likewise, anyone who has dipped a toe in civil society policy work will be aware of the…Philanthropy15 min readPhilanthropy15 min read
