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CSP partners with Caroline Fiennes on COVID-19 philanthropy research

9 July 2020

The article at a glance

The Centre for Strategic Philanthropy has partnered with Caroline Fiennes, the Director of Giving Evidence, to study the response of philanthropy to …

Caroline Fiennes.
Caroline Fiennes

The Centre for Strategic Philanthropy has partnered with Caroline Fiennes, the Director of Giving Evidence, to study the response of philanthropy to the COVID-19 crisis.

Caroline has over 18 years’ experience in the philanthropy sector, with deep expertise on how best to demonstrate and improve the impact of philanthropic capital. She has worked around the globe including in core emerging markets where the CSP focuses (Middle East and Africa). She is an outspoken advocate for better data and research to help improve the sector’s effectiveness: she has written extensively on the topic including in her column in the Financial Times. Caroline has already undertaken significant research on philanthropic behaviour in the undertaken significant research on philanthropic behaviour in the UK.

In this project, Caroline and CSP’s team will use their expertise on philanthropy in development to understand how philanthropic donors have responded to the corona crisis. Specifically the team will seek to understand whether any of the responses triggered by COVID-19 – for instance, in terms of how donors support their grantees – might foretell a permanent change in modus operandi and/or raise broader questions about how the sector can best respond not only to crises but also to the entrenched socio-economic development challenges as embodied by the SDGs.

Caroline notes that: “I am delighted to be part of this project because many donors seem to have adapted and changed in light of the COVID crisis. Such external ‘shocks’ are, mercifully rare. It will be fascinating to see how donors of various types and in various locations have changed their behaviour. We are interested in which of these changes have been positive, and then in whether/how we can support and encourage donors to keep with those more positive behaviours.”