Activities of charitable organizations in the UK are diverse, ranging from supporting people in needs, looking after the
environment, to funding medical research. Charities are firmly embedded in the daily lives of Brits where their
importance cannot be overestimated. For example. the swift development of COVID-19 vaccines in the UK, as opposed
to that in Japan, may be partly due to generous money provided by medical research charities.
In recent years, charitable organizations in the UK, many of which started as a small-scale voluntary organization,
became professionalized. In size, budget and membership, many modern charitable organizations operate like
companies where their CEOs may be brought from outside of grassroots members. Consequently, many charities now
have power to influence decision-making processes by politicians who, in turn, may contribute to the charity’s coffer from general taxation. There is evidence that some charities now act as a government’s “arm” meaning charities may perform “governmental work” while scrutiny and accountability may not be as rigorous.
In this course, the students will learn the funding mechanisms and operation of charitable organizations using British
charities as examples. The first case study is the Welcome Trust, one of the largest UK medical charities that
contributed to decoding the human genome. The second case study is OXFAM, one of the most prominent over-sea aid charities that caused international sex-for-aid scandal. Students then evaluate the merit and demerit of large/global
charities and small/local charities. Finally, students will select a charity and make a presentation to persuade the
audience to support a good cause of their choice.