Centre for Social Justice report – Supercharging Philanthropy
Following on from ‘The Big Listen’ last year, the Centre for Social Justice’s report ‘Supercharging Philanthropy’ has just been published. The report draws from the roundtable discussions of the six Big Listens across six cities including Leeds and reflects the views from over 220 representatives of trusts and foundations, grant givers, philanthropists, experts in the policy world and charities.
It’s an interesting read, citing good practice from across our region and making 48 recommendations, mainly to government, but also to funders. It also highlights the regional inequality in giving which Yorkshire Funders has reported on in our ‘Funding Ecology’ reports.
Key areas of change recommended include:
- A national strategy to increase philanthropic giving
- Using “unspent” government money to create a £3bn match funding pot
- Appointing a national and 12 regional ‘Philanthropy Champions’ with targets to increase philanthropic giving, working with Community Foundations, local funders and local infrastructure organisations to join up with what is already going on in their region
- Metro Mayors to be required to include deliverables for incorporating philanthropy into their local growth plans
- The FCA mandating that philanthropy advice, including awareness of the tax benefits, be a part of financial advice processes
- HMRC simplifying and automating the Gift Aid system for givers
They also have several recommendations relating to what they call ‘”Good Giving,” namely:
- Publishing acceptance rates as part of their annual report
- Publishing clear acceptance criteria on their websites
- Publishing previously successful grant applications, anonymised, to give prospective applicants an indication of what the funder is likely to fund
- Devising a simple feedback process for unsuccessful applicants
- Providing stability and longevity in their giving by committing to multi-year funding projects where appropriate
- Providing stability and longevity in their giving by measuring how much of their grants are supporting core costs and making commitments to provide unrestricted funding
- Agreeing a standardised application process that can be used across a variety of funders, where appropriate
- Producing separate funding criteria for small- and medium-sized charities, which recognises their unique value and limitations
The full report is well worth a read and can be found here.
The Centre for Social Justice will also be running a workshop based on this report at our annual conference on Thursday June 19th. Full agenda and booking information for this to follow soon.