Philanthropic Journeys: new insights into the triggers and barriers for long-term giving and volunteering.

The UK is a generous country: the giving of time and money to help good causes is a normal part of everyday life. But much of that giving is superficial, involving spare change rather than strategic major donations and sporadic ‘helping out’ rather than sustained volunteering. Our charity sector is therefore reliant on the collective impact of intermittent gifts, rather than the sustained commitment of life-long givers.

This report explores how people’s philanthropic journeys – defined as their lifetime voluntary contribution of time, treasure and talent - can be extended and deepened to the benefit of both recipients and the donors. We take this approach because most research takes a ‘snapshot’ of giving at a moment in time, rather than trying to understand philanthropy as a dynamic, life-long activity. Our concern is with how people start and scale up their giving - or indeed how they start and then stop, or never get started in the first place.