The Learning Journey:  Meaningful Philanthropy: The Person Behind the Giving

This four-part learning experience is made freely available to all fundraisers by a grant from the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy.

Learn about how the Association of Fundraising Professionals can support you in your professional journey by visiting www.afpglobal.org.

The ‘Meaningful Philanthropy’ research was made possible by Anne and Tony Bury.

Welcome to the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy, Home of Philanthropic Psychology

Philanthropic Psychology (or PhilPsych) brings together the Greek origins of philanthropy and psychology to create a scientific study of how people love. It focuses on three central concepts:

  • Identity: how people understand who they are and who they are becoming through giving.

  • Love: How people make the choice to care deeply, to act intentionally, and to change both themselves and others in the process.

  • Psychological wellbeing: how giving can help people feel connected, capable and free to act in ways that are meaningful to them.

What is meaningful philanthropy?

Meaningful philanthropy takes philanthropic psychology to a new depth and asks a different kind of question. Beyond the impact created, meaningful philanthropy asks what giving means to the person who gives.

Through research with 48 high and ultra-high net worth individuals and philanthropic intermediaries across 10 time zones and five continents, Professor Jen Shang explored how philanthropists start their philanthropic journey, how they set the direction of it, and how they sustain it.

The learning journey

This learning journey includes around four hours of learning: 155 minutes of video lectures and 85 minutes of self-guided exercises.

This four-part learning journey will introduce viewers to the foundational concepts of what meaningful philanthropy is, how it differs from impactful philanthropy, why it is important to cultivate, and the interplay between identity, wellbeing, meaning and love.

By the end of the journey, you will see what it means to move beyond any surface-level giving experiences, taking people from impact to meaning in their giving. It will help provide a language of meaning and meaningfulness that can be applied across organizational stories and situations.

Sign up to access the learning journey below

This four-part learning experience is made freely available to all fundraisers by a grant from the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy.

Register below to access the learning journey.

If you have any questions or wish to contact us about this work please contact: kate@philanthropy-institute.org.uk.