UK's First Philanthropy Research Centre
6 November 2006 at 1:46 pm
The United Kingdom is to establish a centre of excellence for research into charitable giving and philanthropy.
The Carnegie UK Trust in partnership with the UK Government, the Scottish Executive and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is funding the £2m Research Centre,
Discussions are also taking place with the Big Lottery Fund, which it is hoped will provide further funding support.
The aim of the centre will be to support high-quality research aimed at developing a better understanding of charitable giving and philanthropy, and to inform policy and practice decisions in the UK.
The centre will work closely with academics, policy-makers, donors and fund-raisers, to build a credible intelligence base for the sector and to promote its research. It will also provide training support.
Millie Banerjee, chair of Carnegie UK Trust, says that with the recent high profile public interest in the Tsunami and Making Poverty History appeals and the bequest of Warren Buffet’s billions to the Gates Foundation, there is a new era of philanthropy, not seen since the days of Carnegie, Rockefeller and Ford almost a century ago.
Banerjee says that Andrew Carnegie, the general public and the new philanthropists are concerned to see more effective and sustainable ways of addressing concerns such as poverty and global warming.
Carnegie, the Government and ESRC envisage a virtual centre comprising a consortium of research and development organisations with a proven track record of excellence.
Such a consortium will ideally include international research partners. This is likely to involve a range of UK universities and research organisations able to provide a network of research and development support for work across the country and internationally.
Over the coming months, Carnegie on behalf of the funding partners will be coordinating a series of consultation meetings across the UK with Third Sector organisations, the philanthropy and research communities to discuss the work of the proposed centre.
Formal invitations to tender for the contract to host the centre will be published in the new year and it is planned that the centre will be open by summer 2007.
The UK Trust is one of 22 foundations worldwide set up a century ago by Andrew Carnegie, the Scots-American philanthropist, working to support a more just, democratic, peaceful and sustainable world.
