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Beacon Impact Forum: Convening charities, government, the private sector and the philanthropy sector to grow giving and charities

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An image of participants at the Beacon Forum sitting talking at tables in the Guildhall in London

On 29 February, The Beacon Collaborative hosted the fourth Beacon Philanthropy & Impact Forum at the Guildhall in London. The invite-only event brought together 251 participants from across the philanthropy and impact communities and included philanthropists, impact investors, sector leaders, charity leaders, policy makers, academics, think tanks, regulators and media.

The purpose of the day was to bring together cross-disciplinary expertise to answer the question: What will it take to grow giving and impact in the UK?

During the day, attendees heard presentations and panel discussions from:

  • The Rt Hon Stuart Andrew MP — Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport, Gambling and Civil Society
  • Thangam Debbonaire MP — Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in the United Kingdom
  • Sacha Sadan — Director of ESG at the Financial Conduct Authority
  • Rory Brooks CBE — Philanthropist and trustee at The Charity Commission
  • James Broderick — Chair of the Impact Investing Institute
  • Ajaz Ahmed — Philanthropist, Ajaz.org
  • Patricia Hamzahee — Advisor, impact investor and philanthropist
  • Zaki Cooper — Founder of Integra Group
  • Jeremy Rogers — Manager of the Schroder BSC Social Impact Trust and Chief Investment Officer at Big Society Capital
  • Giles Shilson — Chair of City Bridge Foundation
  • Cath Dovey CBE — Co-founder of The Beacon Collaborative

Participants also took part in 60 lively roundtable discussions during which they swapped experiences, insights and wisdom as they tried to examine how we can break down the silos between the impact community and financial community.

Key themes captured

During the roundtables, the points of discussion were captured and the key findings extracted and formulated into the following themes:

  • Nurturing and supporting generosity and social impact requires long-term investment and would benefit from a national strategy for philanthropy
  • We need to continue building tools to support personalised philanthropy strategies
  • Sustainable investment strategies are moving from ESG towards impact investment, but more will be needed from policy makers and regulators

  • The challenge of effective impact measurement is nuanced with different needs and motivations in the philanthropy and impact investment sectors.


Each of these themes have been expanded and can be found in the Beacon Forum summary document.

The document summarises the themes that emerged from our keynote speakers and panel discussions and includes comprehensive notes, insights, quotes and questions collated from the roundtable discussions.

As a summary of key current issues, we hope it will be helpful to inform your ongoing work.

Download the Forum summary document

 

Perspectives and input were so valuable

This year’s Forum was an inspiring day that saw a rich exchange of ideas, dynamic discussions, valuable networking and potential future collaborations from experienced leaders from across the impact community.

We would like to thank all participants for their insightful contributions and range of perspectives and ideas. These will be valuable as we continue working towards advancing the philanthropy and impact agenda.

Thank you

The Forum could not have happened without our volunteer facilitators, note-takers and our wonderfully generous sponsors, supporters and partners:

  • Schroders
  • Barclays Private Bank
  • Redington
  • City Bridge Foundation
  • Charities Aid Foundation
  • Owen James Events

Beacon co-founder Cath Dovey awarded a CBE in New Year Honours List 2024

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We are delighted that Beacon Collaborative co-founder Cath Dovey has been awarded a CBE for services to philanthropy, women and girls, the arts and the economy, in this year’s New Years Honours List.

Here Cath writes about the motivations that have guided and shaped her career.

Cath Dovey CBE

I am honoured to have been awarded a CBE in the Kings New Year Honours List for services to philanthropy, women and girls, the arts and the economy.

Throughout my life I have been motivated by issues of equality, knowing how fortunate I was in my own early years and believing the pathway to progress comes from harnessing the talents and resources of all in service of the common good.

For more than 20 years, I co-founded and built an international strategy consultancy focused on the issues of responsible wealth management, ensuring the voices and values of individuals were heard by the financial and professional services community.

As thought leaders with a global reach, our work highlighted that stewarding wealth with purpose, not privilege, was the principal goal for those who had made or inherited fortunes that exceeded societal norms.

A special opportunity to support the common good

Moving from entrepreneurship to social entrepreneurship, since 2016 I have been working to grow philanthropy and impact-led activity among the UK’s wealthy population by ensuring donors and social investors are fully supported on their impact journeys.

As a former chair and serving trustee of Philanthropy Impact, and as co-founder of the Beacon Collaborative, much of my works focuses on building the UK’s capacity to connect individual wealth with communities, and with social and environmental need.

Philanthropy is a unique form of capital that can work alongside the public and private sector to support and enable civil society.

Community groups, arts and culture venues, charities, educational establishments, health and welfare organisations: this is civil society, the beating heart of our communities. It supports those who are unwell or overlooked and creates common ground where we can live, learn and laugh together.

With purpose and humility, those with financial means have a special opportunity to support this common good.

Pursuing equality for women and girls

I have been honoured to serve as the chair of Rosa for the last six years. The UK’s fund for women and girls works to ensure women and girls can live lives that are safe, healthy and equal.

All steps toward gender equality over the last two hundred years have been achieved by women who have fought for, won and sustained progress through collective effort.

The UK needs specialist women’s organisations, yet there remains a persistent lack of funding for women’s and girls’ rights – particularly for those from black and minoritised communities.

Rosa works to redress these imbalances by drawing in and distributing funds to women’s and girls’ organisations, and supporting them to raise their voices in pursuit of equality.

Charities show such resilience in a challenging climate

It is also my privilege to serve as a trustee of First Star UK, which seeks to improve the lives of looked-after young people by ensuring they have the academic, life skills and adult support to transition successfully to higher education and adulthood.

As a trustee of frontline charities and of those working to build the capacity to drive change, I have witnessed the extraordinary challenges faced by the charity sector in the current economic climate.

I am humbled by the skill, care and resilience of the professionals in each of these organisations. I would like to express my gratitude to them for their commitment to the individuals and communities they serve.

It is wonderful to be recognised in this way, but I feel incredibly lucky and proud to work alongside many talented professionals who are committed to social change.