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PODCAST

Philanthropisms

Philanthropisms is the podcast that puts philanthropy in context. Through conversations with expert guests and deep dives into topics, host Rhodri Davies explores giving throughout history, the key trends shaping generosity around the world today and what the future might hold for philanthropy. Contact: rhodri@whyphilanthropymatters.com.

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All Episodes

53:34

Philippa Charles: Foundations and Grantmaking

Philanthropisms ·

2025/12/11

Send us a text On this episode of the Philanthropisms podcast we speak to Philippa Charles OBE, Chief Executive of the DFN Foundation, about the role of foundations and what it means to be a good grantmaker. Including: What is required to make core cost funding work from the funder’s point of view?What challenges do current grant application processes present for charities? How can we minimise or overcome these challenges?The relationship between fundraisers and funders (or donors) is o...

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45:02

Rachael Jarosh & Suzanne Ehlers: Women-led...

Philanthropisms ·

2025/11/27

Send us a text In this episode we talk to Rachael Jarosh and Suzanne Ehlers, Chair and CEO respectively of USA for UNHCR, the US-based support organisation for the United Nations refugee agency, about their new women-led philanthropy project Building Better Futures. Including What is the aim of the Building Better Futures campaign and how did it come about?Why was it decided to focus on access to education? What makes that such an powerful catalyst for wider change?Why do female refugees face...

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59:33

Asha Curran: Radical generosity & the power of...

Philanthropisms ·

2025/11/13

Send us a text In this episode we talk to Asha Curran, CEO of GivingTuesday, about the evolution of Giving Tuesday from its origins as a US-based giving day to its current incarnation as a global generosity movement operating in over 100 countries worldwide; and what she has learned about the power of everyday acts of giving. Including: How has GivingTuesday evolved since its inception over a decade ago?What are the key aims of the organisation today?How important does the actual Giving Tuesd...

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58:24

Sonal Sachdev Patel: Reflections of a Philanthropist...

Philanthropisms ·

2025/10/30

Send us a text In this episode we talk to Sonal Sachdev Patel, CEO of GMSP Foundation, inaugural Philanthropist In Residence at the Marshall Institute at the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) and executive coach working with philanthropists and senior leaders. In a wide-ranging conversation, we discuss: How did the LSE Philanthropist in Residence role come about? What is the aim of the role, and what are the key insights so far?How did Sonal and her family get started i...

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54:37

ERNOP: Connecting Philanthropy Academia & Practice #11

Philanthropisms ·

2025/10/16

Send us a text In the eleventh edition of our podcast partnership with the European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP), we talk to more academics whose work is featured in the latest batch of short, practitioner-focused ERNOP Research Notes. In this episode we hear from: Maria Jedicke (formerly of University of Freiburg), about her research on how to design effective volunteering appeals.Georg von Schnurbein (University of Basel) about his paper (with Alice Hengevoss) lookin...

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71:27

Oli French & Sally Vivyan: Why and how do foundations...

Philanthropisms ·

2025/10/02

Send us a text In this episode we talk to Oli French (freelance consultant) and Sally Vivyan (Co-Director of Gower Street and Grants Advisor/Trustee to the Sir Ernest Cassel Education Trust) about why and how foundations choose to spend themselves down. Including: Are decisions to spend down more commonly about mission, principles or practicalities? Or is it a mixture of all 3 (and how does the balance shift over time)?Who tends to make the decision to spend down in an existing perpetual foun...

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74:07

Philanthropy in an Era of Populist Politics

Philanthropisms ·

2025/09/18

Send us a text In this episode we consider the rise of political populism across the world, the impact this is having on philanthropy and civil society, and what the response might be. Including: What are the key features of populist politics?Has philanthropy played a role in creating the current populist moment?How are funders and NGOs in the US responding to populist attacks on their legitimacy? Are these challenges set to intensify?Can and should philanthropic funders step in to cover gaps...

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56:43

Liv Egholm & Pia Gerber: Philanthropy & Democracy in...

Philanthropisms ·

2025/07/15

Send us a text In this episode we talk to Liv Egholm, Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business School, and Pia Gerber, Director of Freudenberg Stiftung, about philanthropy and democracy in Europe. Including: What is the core role of philanthropy within a democratic society, which differentiates it from either state or market provision? Can philanthropy be used to strengthen democracy, or is it inherently anti-democratic, because it offers a means for those with wealth to bypass the ele...

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44:48

Alisha Fernandez Miranda: Writing fiction about...

Philanthropisms ·

2025/07/10

Send us a text On this episode of the Philanthropisms podcast we talk to Alisha Fernandez Miranda, author of Someone's Gotta Give (out 5th August), a comic novel about the struggles of an American former fundraiser to balance motherhood, life in the UK and a new job working as a philanthropy adviser. Including: How did the book come about?How did the experience of working in philanthropy inform the book?Which archetypes and situations are people who work in nonprofits and philanthropy m...

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55:58

ERNOP: Connecting Philanthropy Academia & Practice #10

Philanthropisms ·

2025/06/26

Send us a text In the tenth edition of our podcast partnership with the European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP), we talk to more academics whose work is featured in the latest batch of short, practitioner-focused ERNOP Research Notes. In this episode we hear from: Bouke Klein Teeselink (Assistant Professor in Economics at the Department of Political Economy, King's College London), about his research on how political affiliation affects charitable giving.Elizabeth Dale (...

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60:05

Róisín Wood: Philanthropy & Civil Society in Northern...

Philanthropisms ·

2025/06/12

Send us a text In this episode of the Philanthropisms podcast we talk to Róisín Wood, CEO of the Community Foundation Northern Ireland (CFNI), about the landscape for philanthropy and civil society in Northern Ireland. Including: How and why was CFNI originally formed, and what is the organisation’s focus today?What is the history and current context for civil society in NI?What is the overall makeup of the NI civil society sector, in terms of formalised vs informal orgs, large vs small, diff...

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63:40

The Gates Foundation and timescales for philanthropy

Philanthropisms ·

2025/05/22

Send us a text In this episode we take a look at the recent announcement by Bill Gates that he now plans to give away 99% of his wealth and spend down his foundation over the next 20 years. Including: Should we be excited about this news?Why has the announcement been made now? Should it be seen in part as a response to the Trump administration? Do the sums stack up? Can we square what has been said so far about the total amounts that will be given away with the projected annual spending ...

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48:36

Allison Fine: Using AI to make fundraising better

Philanthropisms ·

2025/05/15

Send us a text In this episode we talk to Allison Fine (President of Every.org and nonprofit tech expert) about the impact of AI on philanthropy, and how it can be used to make fundraising more relational at scale. Including: Is everyday giving in decline? If so, what are the key drivers?Are there particular declines among certain demographics or age groups?Has this led to an over-reliance on a small group of donors giving larger amounts? What are the practical and ethical issues with t...

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72:03

Sarah Jeffrey, Victoria Tayler & Lonnie Hackett:...

Philanthropisms ·

2025/05/01

Send us a text In this episode we discuss risk, success and failure in the context of international development and philanthropy, with Sarah Jeffrey (Vitol Foundation), Victoria Tayler (Risk Pool Fund) and Lonnie Hackett (Healthy Learners). Including What is the Risk Pool Fund and how does it work?What are the key market failures or needs it is designed to address?Are grantees often unwilling to highlight “failures” to their funders, for fear of losing future support?Are funders less likely t...

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51:38

Natasha Friend and Maria Ahmed: Participatory...

Philanthropisms ·

2025/04/17

Send us a text In this episode we discuss participatory grantmaking with Natasha Friend, Director of Camden Giving, and Maria Ahmed, a participant in Camden Giving's own participatory grantmaking work. Including: How did Camden Giving’s experiments with participatory grantmaking first come about?How does it work in practice?What has been the primary driver for keeping going?What have been the main insights from grantmaking meetings? Do the citizen grantmakers have full autonomy ove...

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57:31

ERNOP: Connecting Philanthropy Academia & Practice #9

Philanthropisms ·

2025/04/03

Send us a text In the ninth edition of our podcast partnership with the European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP), we talk to more academics whose work is featured in the latest batch of short, practitioner-focused ERNOP Research Notes. In this episode we hear from: Mark Ørberg (Department of Business Humanities and Law, Copenhagen Business School), about his research on Enterprise FoundationsMichele Fugiel Garnter (Carleton University, Ottawa; and formerly University of...

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52:45

Marina Jones: The history of fundraising

Philanthropisms ·

2025/03/20

Send us a text In this episode we talk to Marina Jones, Executive Director of Development & Public Affairs at the English National Opera and project lead on the history of fundraising for the fundraising think tank Rogare. Including: Why is a historical perspective on fundraising valuable? Is fundraising a particularly hidden part of the history of charity/philanthropy? If so, why? Are there useful practical lessons modern fundraisers can learn from their historical count...

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45:03

Farai Chideya: Philanthropy, Democracy & Multiracial...

Philanthropisms ·

2025/03/06

Send us a text In this episode, we talk to Farai Chideya, journalist, writer, academic and lead author of a recent report from Bridgespan Group, "Philanthropy for a Multiracial Democracy: How Investing in Pluralism Can Open the Aperture for Democracy Funders". We discuss: Why is pluralism so important as an ideal, and what barriers/threats prevent it being realised?Why is it particularly important to emphasise multiracialism as an aspect of pluralism?What does it look like in practice to fost...

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59:45

Edouard Morena: Climate philanthropy

Philanthropisms ·

2025/02/20

Send us a text In this episode we discuss climate philanthropy with Edouard Morena, Senior Lecturer in French Studies and International Politics at the University of London Institute in Paris. Including: How much philanthropy is currently aimed at climate issues?Can philanthropy play a meaningful role with respect to an issue of the scale of climate? If so, what is that role?In terms of existing climate philanthropy, what is the balance between downstream activity (i.e. direct interventions d...

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51:00

Ted Lechterman: The philosophy of philanthropy

Philanthropisms ·

2025/02/06

Send us a text In this episode we talk to political philosopher Ted Lechterman about why philanthropy should be an important topic of study for philosophers, and what some of the key questions a philosophical approach raises are. Including: Why is a philosophical perspective on philanthropy valuable/important?Is there a danger that philosophical critiques of philanthropy too often confine themselves to the realms of ideal theory, or fall into the trap of comparing worst-case examples of phila...

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96 results

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