# Share your fundraising data with us, academics ask practitioners

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/04/23/share-data-us-academics-ask-practitioners/
- Published: 2014-04-23T10:29:55+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**A conference hosted by Bristol and Warwick universities to share latest academic
research about fundraising with practitioners has concluded with a call for charities
to share more of their data with researchers**

Speaking earlier in the day, Kimberley Scharf, professor of economics at Warwick
University, had explained how she set up lab experiments to test predictions on 
the public’s attitudes to fixed costs because she couldn’t find any relevant data
among charities.

And when asked from the floor during the closing panel discussion how practitioners
could help with academic research, the response was clear: share your data with 
us.

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Professor Jen Shang of Plymouth University’s Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy
also pointed out that philanthropic research was a niche area compared to commercial
marketing. There were around 5,000 professors of marketing, but only 20 of so professors
of philanthropy in the world, she said.

 

 [⌊Professor Jan Sheng⌉](https://www.flickr.com/photos/howardlake/albums/72157644164428251/)

## Academic presentations

Here is a playlist of some of the speakers’ presentations:

## View speakers’ slide decks

The [Fundraising Insights – New Research Findings conference](http://www.bris.ac.uk/cmpo/events/2014/fundraising-insights/index.html),
sponsored by JustGiving, was held in at Westminster University in London on Friday
28 March. Presentations included:

 * [Professor Sarah Smith](http://www.bristol.ac.uk/economics/people/sarah-l-smith/index.html)
   of Bristol University presented findings from a [2012 analysis of the behaviour of fundraisers and donors using JustGiving pages](http://www.bris.ac.uk/cmpo/events/2014/fundraising-insights/newfindings.pdf).
   This has been [previously reported on UK Fundraising](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/2012/07/19/research-confirms-online-donors-are-influenced-how-much-others-have-given/).
   Read the full report, _[Peer effects in charitable giving: Evidence from the (running) field](http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmpo/publications/papers/2012/wp290.pdf)_.
 * [Professor Kimberley  Scharf](http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/academic/scharf/)
   of Warwick University looked at the [implications of fixed costs and competition for fundraising](http://www.bris.ac.uk/cmpo/events/2014/fundraising-insights/fixedcosts.pdfsights/fieldexperiments.pdf).
 * [Dr Beth Breeze](http://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/staff/academic/breeze.html) of 
   Kent University and AJ Nagaraj of the Advisory Board Company in the USA presented
   preliminary findings from different studies into the attributes of successful
   major gift fundraisers. Dr Breeze’s study focused on the [Formation of Fundraisers (PDF, 196 kB)](http://www.bris.ac.uk/cmpo/events/2014/fundraising-insights/fundraisers.pdf),
   and AJ Nagaraj’s study looked at [Gifted and Talented ](http://www.bris.ac.uk/cmpo/events/2014/fundraising-insights/giftedandtalented.pdf)
   fundraisers.
 * [Associate professor Alex Imas](http://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds/people/fellows/alex-imas.html)
   of Carnegie Mellon University in the USA shared the [results of tests into prosocial behaviour](http://www.bris.ac.uk/cmpo/events/2014/fundraising-insights/proscialincentives.pdf).
 * [Michael Sanders](http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmpo/people/researchers/sanders/) 
   of Bristol University, who is also head of research at the Cabinet Office’s Behavioural
   Insights Team, ran through [details of the team’s findings on field experiments in giving](http://www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk/sites/default/files/BIT_Charitable_Giving_Paper%20%281%29.pdf),
   which were [first published last May](http://www.bris.ac.uk/cmpo/events/2014/fundraising-insights/fieldexperiments.pdf).
 * [Professor Jen Shang](http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/jshang) of the University
   of Plymouth concluded the day reiterating the need for [rigorous testing](http://www.bris.ac.uk/cmpo/events/2014/fundraising-insights/happiness.pdf)
   in academic research before all speakers convened for a panel Q&A session.

 * **[THINK Digital opens nonprofit digital benchmark survey](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/05/14/think-digital-opens-nonprofit-digital-benchmark-survey/)**(
   14 May 2014)
 * **[Giving by family foundations increases to £1.63 billion](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/07/02/giving-family-foundations-reaches-1-63bn/)**(
   2 July 2014)
 * **[New guide for charities on choosing online giving platforms](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/10/13/new-guide-charities-choosing-online-giving-platforms/)**(
   13 October 2014)