Beth Breeze, PhD
Principal and Professor
Harris Manchester College
University of Oxford

Philanthropy is facing accusations of being undemocratic, ineffective, self-interested, and an exercise of power that perpetuates inequality. Whilst the essence of such critique is long-standing, concerns about the purpose, motivation, and impact of large monetary gifts have recently become more prominent and call into question the fundamental legitimacy of philanthropy within modern welfare democracies. In response, this chapter notes the distinctive role that philanthropy plays in defining and meeting social needs in a way that complements, co-exists with, and challenges both state and market activity. Responses to the main critiques are offered and Social Policy scholars and practitioners are invited to take a more balanced and nuanced approach that avoids overstating the problematic nature and consequences of philanthropy, and understating – or disregarding – its positive benefits. The chapter concludes that philanthropy is improvable but not illegitimate, and that it has value that urgently needs articulating and defending.

Professor Breeze is Principal of Harris Manchester College. She began her career in the nonprofit sector as a fundraiser, researcher and manager. In 2011, as a mature student, she completed a PhD on contemporary UK philanthropy and has since specialised in researching, teaching, and advancing public understanding of the role and impact of private giving.

Beth has written and edited eight books: Richer Lives: Why Rich People Give (2013, co-authored with Theresa Lloyd), The Logic of Charity: Great Expectations in Hard Times (2015, co-authored with John Mohan) and The Philanthropy Reader (2016, co-edited with Michael Moody). Her book, The New Fundraisers: who organises charitable giving in contemporary society? (2017) won the AFP Skystone Research Partners book prize, as did In Defence of Philanthropy (2021), which is a timely response to growing critiques of private giving. In 2023 she published both: Advising Philanthropists: Principles and Practice (co-authored with Emma Beeston), and The Fundraising Reader (co-edited with Donna Day Lafferty and Pamala Wiepking). In September 2025 she published Rich Expectations: Why Rich People Give, the 3rd decennial update of the Why Rich People Give study.

Beth has also written a wide range of research reports including ten editions of the annual ‘Coutts Million Pound Donors Report’ as well as studies of giving circles, fundraising for ‘unpopular’ causes, philanthropy across the life-course, corporate philanthropy, and the nature, challenges and opportunities of Moonshot Philanthropy.

Beth is chair of the Data and Research sub-group implementing the Irish government’s first National Policy on Philanthropy. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for both the Center on Philanthropy at Geneva University and the ESSEC Chair in Philanthropy, Paris. She is on the review board for the Pan-African International Review on Philanthropy and Social Investment Journal and is a member of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute research committee at the Lilly School of Philanthropy, Indiana University, USA. She has served as trustee for the Cardinal Hume Centre in London for young homeless people, as a Commissioner on the Commission for the Donor Experience, on the Advisory group for the Charity Tax Commission, as publications editor of Philanthropy UK, and as a member of the President’s advisory council at NCVO.

In recognition of her services to philanthropic research and fundraising, Beth was awarded the OBE at Windsor Castle in 2022.

Dr. Beth Breeze
Director of the Centre for Philanthropy
Professor of Philanthropic Studies
University of Kent

We extend our warm congratulations to Dr. Beth Breeze, Director of the Centre for Philanthropy and Professor of Philanthropic Studies at the University of Kent, who has recently been named the next Principal of Harris Manchester College at the University of Oxford. She will begin this exciting new role in October 2025.

Hospice care, for people with life-limiting or terminal illnesses, is increasingly in demand due to rising death rates and is increasingly reliant on voluntary income due to rising costs. Lack of understanding of the specific drivers and needs of donors to hospices, and widespread misconceptions about hospice services are combined with cultural difficulties in discussing death, dying and bereavement to result in a particularly complex environment for hospice fundraisers.

To help navigate that complexity, this paper presents insights on hospice donor motivation and stewardship expectations, based on data from semi-structured interviews with 10 donors who have experienced a bereavement at one hospice in the UK. It generates three key findings: (1) In memory giving plays a developing role throughout the bereavement journey, providing a distraction for people in the immediate aftermath of their loss, enabling them to maintain a connection with the deceased, but, for some, eventually diminishing as they move on with their lives; (2) Awareness of need, gratitude, reciprocity, and future benefit are key drivers of giving to hospices, such that donors become newly aware of needs met by hospices, appreciative of the care received by departed loved ones, and committed to ensuring that they and others will have future access to hospice services; (3) Affinity and bonds with the hospice, including positive experiences with both frontline care staff and the fundraising team, build and sustain donor loyalty.

We conclude that donations by those who have direct experience of the hospice are often a function of the ‘bereavement journey’ and that the extent to which this factor influences giving changes over time and between donors, leading to the recommendation that more bespoke stewardship is needed to best understand and meet the needs of these donors and to maximise the amounts given.

Beth Breeze is Director of the Centre for Philanthropy, which she co-founded in 2008. Beth began her career as a fundraiser for a youth homelessness charity, and spent a decade working in a variety of fundraising, research and charity management roles, including as deputy director at the Institute for Philanthropy. Motivated by the lack of substantive research underpinning practice, Beth completed a PhD on contemporary philanthropy at Kent in 2011, and has been working here ever since. Beth has written and edited seven books, two of which have won the AFP Skystone Research Partners book prize.