BIVAR Seminar 4 - Tackling poverty, giving money
The fourth seminar of the 2010/11 BIVAR seminar series took place on Thursday 12th May where Julia Unwin and Cathy Pharoah presented their thinking and research on Tackling Poverty, Giving Money and Getting Involved in the era of Big Society.
The new regional strategy looks set to draw more investment to the south of England. Yet people in low paid jobs or benefits do not tend to move. What will the result be for the demographics of poverty? Neighbourhood planning may be promising in some settings but will there be losers? These were some of the messages emerging from a fascinating discussion generated by Julia Unwin CBE, Chief Executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust at the BIVAR seminar on the 12th May in London.
JRF is a research and development charity founded in 1904 which remains committed to examining the root causes of poverty, inequality and disadvantage and identifying solutions. Julia Unwin explored some of the implications of the focus on localism and the Big Society agenda for deprived communities, drawing on JRF’s research on poverty, neighbourhoods, and community engagement.
Cathy Pharoah, Professor of Charity Funding at the Sir John Cass Business School spoke next. She argued that there is little evidence that if government steps back, philanthropy steps in. Using an ingenious set of slides built from her extensive research into philanthropic giving she argued that the total amount of philanthropic giving would amount to less than 1% of public expenditure. At the same time such giving is not divided equally around the country nor is it necessarily given for the most pressing social needs.
The session was chaired by Margaret Harris, Emeritus Professor of Voluntary Sector Organisation, Aston Business School, Birmingham; Visiting Professor at Birkbeck, University of London; and Academic Adviser to IVAR.
The next BIVAR seminar takes place on Thursday 9th June 2011. The theme is: Funders, philanthropy and engagement with speakers Beth Breeze, a co-founder of the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent, and Ben Cairns, Director of the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR) and a Visiting Fellow of Birkbeck, University of London.
If you would like to receive information about future seminars, please email your contact details and key interests in the sector to diana@ivar.org.uk