Dr Beth Breeze
About
Dr Beth Breeze became director of the Global Challenges Doctoral Centre in August 2019, after having co-founded and run the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent since 2008.
Her commitment to doing research to make the world a better place is long-standing. She 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 in London. Noting the lack of substantive research underpinning practice, Beth completed a PhD on contemporary philanthropy and moved into academia in order to better understand how to improve the quantum and quality of private giving. She has since written and edited four books: Richer Lives: Why Rich People Give (co-authored with Theresa Lloyd), The Logic of Charity: Great Expectations in Hard Times (co-authored with John Mohan) and The Reader on Philanthropy (co-edited with Michael Moody). Her latest book, The New Fundraisers: who organises charitable giving in contemporary society? won the AFP Skystone Research Partners book prize for 2018. Beth has also written a wide range of research reports including ten editions of the annual ‘Coutts Million Pound Donors Report’, ‘How Donors Choose Charities’ and ‘User Views of Fundraising’. She has worked on studies of giving circles, fundraising for ‘unpopular’ causes, philanthropy across the life-course and corporate philanthropy on the shop floor.
Beth is delighted to now be supporting outstanding doctoral students whose research responds to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development signed by member states of the United Nations in September 2015. She sees a natural overlap in running the Centres on Philanthropy and the Global Challenges Doctoral Centre, noting:
“For centuries private donors have focused on poverty relief, health care, better housing, improved education, clean water, and so on – these are not new areas of interest for donors. The Sustainable Development Goals encompass every major economic, social, and environmental issue, so it’s not surprising there’s a huge overlap with what the charity and philanthropic sector has long been focused on. The 2030 Agenda provides an unprecedented opportunity for the philanthropy sector to make a greater and more lasting impact on the causes they have long prioritised.”
Beth is keen to take ideas and research findings to a wide audience. She frequently speaks at public and charity sector events around the country and has contributed to discussions about philanthropy, charitable giving and the sustainable development goals on TV, radio, online news, traditional and social media.
You can view Beth’s full academic profile here.