# The Logic of Charity: Great Expectations in Hard Times

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/books/logic-charity-great-expectations-hard-times/
- Published: 2015-12-24T14:28:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**What is charity? How does it operate, who does it benefit and what should we expect
it to do? **

This important book helps to tackle the most common misunderstandings and misconceptions
of charitable activity in contemporary British society, especially insofar as these
affect the thinking of politicians and policymakers.

The authors present and discuss over a dozen studies, including public attitudes
to giving, large datasets on the geography and funding patterns of third sector 
organisations, and interviews with a wide range of donors, charity leaders, fundraisers
and philanthropy advisers.

This data enables them to explore the logic of charity in terms of the distribution
of resources across causes and communities in the UK, and the processes behind philanthropic
decision-making, to reveal a picture of charitable activity at odds with widespread
assumptions.
 

## Reviews

“Based on current research set out in easily assimilable form, this valuable publication
summarises the key issues that define the role of charity in our society. By enhancing
understanding of the challenges facing the charitable sector and the potential for
change it should make an important contribution to current debates.”
**Nicholas 
Deakin**, Gresham College, UK

“This vitally important book expertly deploys a wealth of data to explain why the
logic of charity is not redistributive in the way hoped by many who idealize it 
as a champion of social justice.”
**Peter Halfpenny**, University of Manchester,
UK

## WATCH: The Logic of Charity

## More books by Dr Beth Breeze

 * [In Defence of Philanthropy](https://fundraising.co.uk/books/in-defence-of-philanthropy/)
 * [The New Fundraisers: who organises charitable giving in contemporary society?](https://fundraising.co.uk/books/the-new-fundraisers-who-organises-charitable-giving-in-contemporary-society/)
 * £1 Million Donors: who gives, who gets and why?
 * [The Philanthropy Reader](https://fundraising.co.uk/books/the-philanthropy-reader/)

 **See also**

**[A better world is possible: the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and social progress](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/09/21/a-better-world-is-possible-the-gatsby-charitable-foundation-and-social-progress/)****(
21 September 2017)**
**[The Givers: wealth, power and philanthropy in a new gilded age](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/08/30/the-givers-wealth-power-and-philanthropy-in-a-new-gilded-age-2/)(
30 August 2017)**

**[Giving Circles: philanthropy, voluntary association and democracy](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/08/06/giving-circles-philanthropy-voluntary-association-democracy/)(
6 August 2017)**