Cathy Pharoah

Cathy Pharoah is Visiting Professor of Charity Funding and co-Director of the Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy Research at Cass Business School, a network of researchers dedicated to advancing our understanding of giving and philanthropy, and to sharing and disseminating knowledge in philanthropy research, policy and practice. (CGAP@Cass, www.cass.city.ac.uk/research-and-faculty/centres/cgap)

Cathy is an expert on funding for the voluntary and charity sector, specialising in philanthropic giving. She has just successfully completed a six-year ESRC-funded programme of research and engagement on philanthropy, through CGAP, which has been followed by an ESRC award for a seminar series on philanthropy, jointly with Professor Jenny Harrow and Dr Tobias Jung. She produces the annual Family Foundation Giving report, with the Pears Foundation, now into its seventh edition and is currently collaborating with the Association of Charitable Foundations on a new series of annual Briefings on trends in charitable foundation spending. A new project will look at giving by young employees in the City.

Other current projects include the UK national component of an EC-funded study of charitable support for research and innovation Europe-wide, an update on trends in the measurement of, and levels of, charitable giving in the corporate sector, and two regional studies for the Garfield Weston Foundation on the impact of austerity on income generation amongst smaller local organisations. She recently led an innovative seminar on the morality of charity, and previous studies include multi-cultural giving, the impact of tax incentives and social investment and enterprise.

Cathy has carried out research for government, the ESRC and many charitable clients, works with the donor advisor community, and was Research Director at Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) for 11 years where she produced its flagship annual report on the finances of the major charities. (Charity Trends, 1996 -2006, succeeded by Charity Market Monitor 2008-2011 annual editions, published by Wilmington.) She is a founder and Policy Editor of Voluntary Sector Review, a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Volunteering Research, and presents widely on giving and philanthropy.