Giving for development
Charitable donations for overseas development are important both as a signal of public concern, and as a financial contribution to the UK’s development effort.
Charitable donations for overseas development are important both as a signal of public concern, and as a financial contribution to the UK’s development effort.
However, surprisingly little is known about how giving for development has changed over time, who gives for development and why, and how donations are influenced by government policy. The ESRC-financed project Giving for Development (RES-155-25-0061) aims to shed light on these issues with a range of new evidence drawn from data on charities fundraising over 25 years, surveys of individual giving, microdata from probate records on legacy and estate values, and focus group discussions with both donors and non-donors.
The project has also contributed chapters in each year 2006-8 to the annual flagship report UK Giving, jointly published by the Charities Aid Foundation and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
Evidence based on the project’s research was submitted to the House of Commons Select Committee on International Development 2009 inquiry into ‘Aid Under Pressure: Support for Development Assistance in a Global Economic Downturn’, and may be viewed here.
The project is part of the ESRCs Non-Governmental Public Action Programme. It is directed by John Micklewright (S3RI) and is being carried out in conjunction with Tony Atkinson (Nuffield College, Oxford), Peter Backus (S3RI), Cathy Pharoah (Cass Business School, City University), and Sylke Schnepf (S3RI). Cathy Pharoah co-directs the hub of the ESRC Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy with which the project works closely. For further information on the project, contact John Micklewright.
Professor John Micklewright (Institute of Education University of London)
Professor Catherina Pharoah (Cass Business School)