I’ve just graduated with an MA in Philanthropic Studies at the University of Kent, the UK’s first and only master’s course in this subject. Studying a whole degree in philanthropy sounds a bit niche to most people. (What even is philanthropy, some people wonder. One of our lecturers says she’s been asked more than once, ‘Is that about stamps?’. It’s not.)

There are very good reasons not to do a degree. It’s a lot of money, especially for something that isn’t necessarily going to get you a new job at the end of it. There’s the cost of your time, too – whatever else you’re delaying or not doing to make space to study. You’ve got to adjust to a whole new style of writing, which – especially for those of us coming from journalism and communications – can feel frustratingly wordy at times. You need a certain amount of patience to navigate the administrative jungle of academia: all those new systems and setups and logins. And, as a distance learning course, you need to be comfortable doing almost everything online, which can add up to a lot of screen time during busy periods. 

For me it’s been worth it, though – here’s why.

It offers depth

As a journalist, I’d spent years jumping from one topic to another, multiple times a day. Even when you specialise in a particular beat, you tend to dip into one corner at a time, get something published, and then move on. I wanted to work at a different pace, and to dig a bit deeper into some of the ideas I’d been circling around my whole professional life. 

In reality, even in an MA course, you only get to consider a lot of big ideas quite briefly (try covering the whole of Chinese philanthropy, or grasping how philanthropy intersects with the state, in one week’s reading). But it did give me a new perspective on some things. One example: I’ve always been involved with charities in some way, but the module on fundraising made me see this role in quite a different light (more on that soon in another post).

You get weird and wonderful insights

Philanthropy – private giving for public good – is everywhere, even if most people don’t realise it. Healthcare, culture, education, politics, business: all of these are influenced by philanthropic giving in some way. 

The best way to make that point, though, is by recounting some of the weird and wonderful facts that I’ve come across through the course. Like the fact that the white lines painted on roads to prevent accidents only exist thanks to a forward-thinking philanthropist in the 1950s. Or that the development of the contraceptive pill was almost entirely funded by one donor. Or that an American billionaire once left $12 million to her dog – and zero to some of her grandchildren – in her will. Or that the Green Revolution, funded in large part by the Rockefeller Foundation, was credited with preventing the starvation of 1 billion people. Or that hospitals in England were originally voluntary; even the doctors were not paid. 

Some of these nuggets turned into ideas I followed up outside the course – like when we discussed the philanthropy advisors helping their clients to give more money away, which turned into this story I wrote for Reasons to be Cheerful. Or the research on how children learn about charity at schools in a pretty transactional way, which turned into this piece for Nonprofit Quarterly.

It’s flexible

In 2022, I signed up for just one module, Global Philanthropy, taught over one term. I enjoyed it so I added another module. Then I signed up for a few more – may as well go for the postgraduate diploma… And once I’d got that far, I filled out yet another course change form and switched to the full MA. I don’t think I’d ever have taken the plunge and committed to a full MA from the beginning, so I’m really glad the university allowed the flexibility to dip a toe in first. 

As a part-time distance degree, this one is also designed to fit around work and life – there are live lectures but you can always catch up with the recordings afterwards, and if you need to skip a few weeks entirely you can still get a decent mark. Assignments have strict deadlines, but extensions are usually possible.

You get a bunch of philanthro-nerd buddies

One of the best bits about immersing yourself in any subject is the discovery that some other people are equally fascinated by it. Though we’ve only met in person a couple of times (and even then, only among those who can make it to Kent), I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that it is actually possible to form a strong bond among an online study cohort. That group has been a huge support during the course itself, but also outside of it – our WhatsApp group covers everything from career ups and downs, to dogs’ fancy dress costumes, to discussing dubious billionaire philanthropy… and will hopefully continue for many years. 

Find out more about the University of Kent’s Centre for Philanthropy.