How Philanthropic Psychology Sparked My PhD Journey
By Emma-Louise Singh, Fundraising Consultant
Some people say they have a book in them. I have always said I have a fundraising PhD in me. Come September, I will begin exactly that and the journey that got me there started with the Certificate in Philanthropic Psychology during lockdown.
I have been a fundraiser for nearly 20 years. Like many in the sector, I fell into it and probably spent the first few years working out what it was all about through trial and error, knowing when something felt right, but not quite having a formula to explain why.
Fundraising can often be seen as a necessary evil, coming with a degree of awkwardness around asking people to part with their money. What those assumptions miss is that fundraising is both an art and a science, which goes far beyond giving money, but gives purpose, fulfilment and joy to the donor. Philanthropic Psychology not only captures this beautifully but grounds it in evidence.
I was delighted to be part of the very first cohort of the Certificate in Philanthropic Psychology. The course didn't just give me new tools and methods to apply, but also confirmed that the art of fundraising has always been about people and about understanding what drives human kindness. Philanthropic Psychology evidences that giving isn't transactional but a deeper act of fulfilment, and for many, a way to express love for the causes and people that matter to them.
It changed the way I approached my work, as well as the way I thought of myself as a fundraiser. And it planted seeds that would keep growing long after the final module was complete…
The CAF Giving Reports of recent years point to a decline in giving. Some interpret this as people becoming less generous, less willing to care, and therefore less motivated to donate to good causes. Whilst there is no denying that the financial climate is tough for many, what I took from Philanthropic Psychology is that giving is joy, and that philanthropy is an expression of love, and that made me question whether the data was in fact telling also hinting to other changes occurring in societies philanthropic behaviour.
What if people are just as generous? What if the impulse towards kindness and connection hasn't diminished at all, but the way it's being expressed, and the values driving it, have just shifted and we simply aren't capturing that in our traditional metrics?
That question grew and grew for me and come September 2026, I will begin my PhD at the University of Sussex, which also happens to be home to the Sussex Centre for Research on Kindness, exploring exactly that territory. My research focuses specifically on the next generation of donors and asks:
What alternative forms of philanthropic engagement are Gen Z adopting, and what do these reveal about how digital socialisation is reshaping philanthropic values?
Whilst Anthropology is my primary framework, I will be combining it with Philanthropic Psychology concepts. Through Anthropology I will explore how we form the values that shape our behaviour, through connection with others, through the communities we inhabit and through our cultural and digital environments. For a generation raised online, that's a particularly rich and largely unexplored lens through which to understand philanthropy.
Philanthropic Psychology then asks why certain behaviours stick, such as how giving fulfils us, and what that fulfilment tells us about the likelihood of sustained generosity. I'm excited to bring the two disciplines together.
I am so excited to build on everything the Certificate in Philanthropic Psychology gave me and to contribute, in whatever small way, to the body of knowledge that makes our wonderful profession better understood and better practised.
If you are curious about how PhilPsych might change your experience of our profession, you can find out more about the Certificate in Philanthropic Psychology course.
You can also watch a recording of my recent interview with Jen Shang where we discuss my PhilPsych journey in more detail, below.