Do you wish you could do more to change the world but don’t know how? Do you ever look around at the many charities asking for donations and feel overwhelmed? This inspiring and uplifting book explores the effectiveness of charity and calls for more radical giving if we want to contribute to a better world.
During a period when British society seems more divided than ever, and our decision makers are even more disconnected from the issues that keep us awake at night, Giving Back highlights the people and movements taking on some of the most challenging social issues of our time.
A respected figure in philanthropy, Derek A. Bardowell presents a unique insight into what’s going on inside the world of giving and where we can best make a difference.
From redefining the role of charity itself to reimagining philanthropy through a reparative lens, Bardowell introduces a radical new take on how social problems, from climate change to racial injustice, can be tackled in modern society by all of us.
Filled with lively insights and moving stories, Giving Back is here to break down the walls of charitable giving. If you loved Factfulness, Lost Connections, and What White People Can Do Next, this book will challenge some of your truths and change the way you give.
What people are saying about Derek A. Bardowell:
‘Personal, political, powerful.’ Bernardine Evaristo
‘Important and timely… Deeply felt and illuminating… Essential reading for everyone committed to fairness and equality in life.’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars
‘A valuable act of remembrance… While wealth may confer privileges, it doesn’t rid you of melanin or exempt you from prejudice.’ Colin Grant, Guardian
‘Bardowell does an excellent and passionate job of refracting the issues.’ Financial Times
‘I absolutely loved it!… Such a good read on so many levels.’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars
During a period when British society seems more divided than ever, and our decision makers are even more disconnected from the issues that keep us awake at night, Giving Back highlights the people and movements taking on some of the most challenging social issues of our time.
A respected figure in philanthropy, Derek A. Bardowell presents a unique insight into what’s going on inside the world of giving and where we can best make a difference.
From redefining the role of charity itself to reimagining philanthropy through a reparative lens, Bardowell introduces a radical new take on how social problems, from climate change to racial injustice, can be tackled in modern society by all of us.
Filled with lively insights and moving stories, Giving Back is here to break down the walls of charitable giving. If you loved Factfulness, Lost Connections, and What White People Can Do Next, this book will challenge some of your truths and change the way you give.
What people are saying about Derek A. Bardowell:
‘Personal, political, powerful.’ Bernardine Evaristo
‘Important and timely… Deeply felt and illuminating… Essential reading for everyone committed to fairness and equality in life.’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars
‘A valuable act of remembrance… While wealth may confer privileges, it doesn’t rid you of melanin or exempt you from prejudice.’ Colin Grant, Guardian
‘Bardowell does an excellent and passionate job of refracting the issues.’ Financial Times
‘I absolutely loved it!… Such a good read on so many levels.’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars
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Reviews
Part memoir and part manifesto, Derek Bardowell presents a thoroughly-argued case for how charitable giving can be redesigned to make the difference it should be making. Raw, honest and beautifully written, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to make the world a better place.
Giving Back expands the concept of philanthropy by presenting a rich and complex mix of impressive personal testimony, expansive cultural knowledge and analysis of systemic inequality, while challenging the deep-rooted economic order that continues to underpin today's philanthropic structures. Intellectual and passionate, brave and radical, it offers us new and improved routes forward.
Derek's new book is a game changer in terms of how we need to look differently how we approach philanthropy in the context of Black Lives Matter and Covid 19. The legacies of the past and failure to tackle racism since the murder of Stephen Lawrence in society requires new leadership insights and actions a clear commitment for change. Derek book provides and framework and mantra for policy makers, funders and wider voluntary and community sector.
Derek Bardowell masterly exposes everything which is wrong about charities today but gives us hope and a roadmap l reimagining how charity and giving can work to create a better society for all. The book you didn't realise you wanted but desperately need! I will never think about charities in the same way again. Charities beyond inequality, giving without the 'saviour complex'. Bardowell shows how we can reimagine our idea of charities and giving without entrenching the very inequality that is inherent in the idea of the "rich" giving to the "poor".
In Giving Back, Derek Bardowell delivers a delicious yet essential rallying call of a read that will do an enormous amount to help us all understand how we can enhance society.
Equal parts poetic, heart-wrenching and actionable; Bardowell provides the system-level framework needed to change our world.
Derek Bardowell is a criminally underrated writer. This book is an indictment of the world of philanthropy and charity through an unapologetic Black lens. A Trojan horse of a book that is as much about class, race and music as it is about giving, by a writer who has been at the heart of Black Britain for decades and knows what he is talking about.