Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy

The CGAP is the UK's first research Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy. We are a consortium of British research institutions with strong links into the charity sector. As such, we bring together the expertise of NCVO and research teams in five universities: University of Strathclyde, University of Kent, University of Southampton, Cass Business School and University of Edinburgh

Visit the CGAP consortium website

Aims and activities

Our aims are to develop relevant knowledge and engage with donors, charities and practitioners. This involves:

• Conducting and promote high quality research on giving and philanthropy;
• Foster creative knowledge exchange between academic and practice communities;
• Developing and disseminating the evidence base to inform policy and practice;
• Building the field through training new researchers;
• Encouraging the development of sector research capacity; and
• Working internationally and in a multi-disciplinary way.

In this way we will build a better understanding of charitable giving and philanthropy for donors, charities and policymakers. We will also be better positioned to promote the strategic role of philanthropy in meeting today's social needs.

Partner roles

Partners lead on different areas of the programme:

• Spoke 1: Individual & Corporate Giving - University of Strathclyde
• Spoke 2: Charity & Social Redistribution - Universities of Kent, University of Southampton
• Spoke 3: Institutions of Philanthropy and Giving Data - Cass Business School, University of Edinburgh
• Hub: Knowledge-sharing and dissemination - Cass Business School, University of Edinburgh and NCVO.

The Centre has been jointly funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Office for Civil Society, Carnegie UK Trust and Scottish Government.

Who we are

Professor Jenny Harrow and Professor Cathy Pharoah are the Co-Directors of the Centre. They bring collective academic and practice experience, and demonstrate the Centre's commitment to working across academic and practice communities.

The Centre is chaired by Professor Arthur Williamson and has a steering committee whose membership represents academic, voluntary sector, government and business worlds.