Top tips for the giving season

Giving effectively means different things to all of us and Philanthropy UK has regularly sought the insights of an eclectic range of influential individuals, who have contributed their advice in the Top Five Tips column of this newsletter. As this is the season of frenetic generosity we offer you an inspiring selection of their top tips to support more thoughtful giving.

Lord Victor Adebowale CBE, chief executive of the social care charity Turning Point (September 2007) 

• "Invest rather than give. Take a long-term attitude to your contribution, and make sure any conditions are mutually agreed, and not opaque and overly demanding on the organisation."

Jon Snow, presenter of Channel Four news and chair of New Horizon youth centre, of which he was director 1970-73 (June 2007)

• "Core funding: So many funders balk at much of a commitment to core funding. So many want to fund new initiatives…but the base costs of a project are what keep it alive… What we need is core commitment!"

Sarah Brown, president of the charity PiggyBankKids, which she founded in 2002, and married to Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister (March 2007)

• "Don’t go away too suddenly. Of course, new directions will be attractive, but do signal early to funding recipients if you are not going to keep up your support so that they can start to look elsewhere."

Andrew Philips, solicitor and ‘former’ Life Peer who founded Bates Wells & Braithwaite (December 2006)

• "Keep things simple; go with your instincts.  Be adventurous with at least part of your giving, and get as close to your beneficiaries as you can."

Geraldine Peacock CBE, previously chair of the Charity Commission and chief executive of Guide Dogs for the Blind (September 2006)

• "Be bold.  Be imaginative.  Where necessary, challenge orthodoxy with conviction."