Rhodri Davies

Rhodri Davies is a widely-respected expert and commentator on philanthropy and civil society issues. He is Director of Philanthropy Matters, a think tank focused on philanthropy issues, and the host of the Philanthropisms podcast. He is also a Pears Research Fellow in the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent, and the Philanthropy Expert in Residence at the Pears Foundation.

In 2016 Rhodri published Public Good by Private Means: How philanthropy shapes Britain, a book tracing the history of philanthropy in Britain and what it tells us about the modern context.

He was formerly Head of Policy at Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), and established and led Giving Thought – CAF’s think tank focussing on current and future issues affecting philanthropy and civil society. Rhodri created and hosted CAF’s popular bi-weekly Giving Thought podcast -which ran for over 100 episodes between 2017 and 2020. He has researched, written and presented on a wide range of topics – from charity taxation to the civil society applications of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Rhodri graduated from the University of Oxford with a first-class degree in Mathematics and Philosophy and embarked upon an academic career before migrating into public policy work, where he has spent more than 15 years specialising in philanthropy and civil society issues.