This is our ninth email News Update, please feel free to forward it to friends and colleagues who share an interest in understanding philanthropy.

All past editions of the newsletter are online at: http://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/cphsj/newsletters/index.html

For our latest news, copies of working papers, links to media coverage and other items of interest, do check our website http://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/cphsj which is updated regularly. 

Our new report on Million Pound Donations shows resilience of UK philanthropy

On 9th November we launch the 2009 edition of the Million Pound Donors Report, which shows that 189 donations worth £1m or more were made by UK donors or to UK-based charities in 2007/08. The collective value of these ‘million pound donations’ (MPDs) was £1.4bn, which is 13% less than the value of the 193 MPDs made in 2006/07. This fall is in line with other research, such as UK Giving, which found an 11% drop in all charitable giving in the first year of the recession. But crucially, these falls in giving are not as steep as the falls in wealth – estimated to be as high as 37% - which demonstrates that donors are striving to sustain their giving in these difficult times. Press coverage of the report appeared in the Financial Times http://tinyurl.com/yboagbj and the full report is available online at http://tinyurl.com/yc4xxlm

‘Raising Funds from the Rich’ conference, London, 14th October 2009

CPHSJ gets ready to welcome the world

From 14-16th July 2010, we will be hosting the 4th Voluntary Action History Society international conference. In addition to two excellent plenary speakers – the University of Kent’s own Professor Hugh Cunningham, plus Professor Clare Midgley – there will be tours of historic charities in Canterbury and the Medway area, plus an excellent social programme. Further information and the call for papers is available here http://www.vahs.org.uk/?page_id=6

How do donors choose charities?

The question of how donors choose between the tens of thousands of good causes seeking donations has arisen twice this Autumn. Firstly, we published a paper exploring this question, based on interim findings from a project funded by the ESRC, the Carnegie UK Trust, the Office of the Third Sector and the Scottish Government, available here http://tinyurl.com/yck85zs.  We also contributed to a debate sparked by Martin Brookes, chief executive of New Philanthropy Capital, whose criticism of the greater levels of public support for donkeys than domestic violence, was picked up by Professional Fundraising magazine, available at http://tinyurl.com/yk34nmj

Blogging and Tweeting

We are now posting regular blogs at https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/philanthropy/ and you can follow us on Twitter at UKCPhilanthropy. These interactive sites are a great way to discuss the latest research and news, so please do join in the conversation.

Keeping in touch

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If you want to discuss our research, explore areas of mutual interest or just say hello, then please don't hesitate to get in contact with any of the team here at Kent, we'd be delighted to hear from you.

All staff contact details are online at: http://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/cphsj/staff.html

Best wishes from all at the Centre for Philanthropy, Humanitarianism
and Social Justice at the University of Kent