Welcome to the Giving Thought Podcast, a bi-weekly exploration of trends in global philanthropy and civil society from the Charities Aid Foundation’s in-house think-tank, Giving Thought.
In each episode your host Rhodri Davies (formerly with co-host Adam Pickering) explores a big issue, theme or trend and analyses what it means for philanthropy and civil society around the world.
Be sure to check the show notes for each podcast and find blogs, reports and videos from Giving Thought and do get in touch if you have questions or suggestions at givingthought@cafonline.org.
Finally, please subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or your podcast provider of choice.
In part 2 of our bumper end of year special (episode 40), we
make some predictions for what 2019 might hold...
2019 Predictions:
Politics & Economics
BREXIT (or not…?)
General Election?
UK voluntary reporting on SDGs
Ongoing impact of austerity
Local government funding and Local Authorities running out of
money
Populism & ongoing challenges for democracy
Another global financial crash?
Philanthropy & Civil Society
More critiques of big philanthropy; general default more
critical (also in UK?)
Focus on think tanks, dark money etc
Austerity: debating role of charity vs state
Further closing space issues, including digital angles
(misinformation, astroturfing etc)
Networked models for social change
Line between civil society and politics will come under
increasing strain
Shifting power; democratising philanthropy
Next big fundraising/charity scandal?
Technology
Continuing tech backlash?
More funders focussing on algorithmic bias
Pushback on AI ethics- criticism that it frames the debate in
the tech industry’s terms and allows them to avoid discussion of
regulation etc.
Divergence of cryptophilanthropy and blockchain efforts
Blockchain will continue to bubble under surface and back
office blockchain use case will be demonstrated
Self Sovereign Digital Identity will come to the fore
Charity RegTech applications will emerge
Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing for data
collection and analysis on charity finances, philanthropy data
More giving by conversational AI
More commercial platforms adding giving functionality
eSports growth, digital “skins” and giving via gaming platforms
(e.g. Twitch)
Deepfakes and challenges to online authenticity
More awareness of personal data bargain
Charity Data fines
About the Podcast
This is the podcast from CAF’s think tank Giving Thought, where we look at big issues, themes and news stories that relate to philanthropy and the work of civil society.
Our host, Rhodri Davies, leads you through a wide range of fascinating topics, and also speaks to great guests who bring their own insight and expertise on civil society issues.