Beacon is the brainchild of David Charters and Emily Stonor. The idea was first conceived in 2002 whilst Emily was working on a project to investigate the barriers and opportunities to giving in the UK. Since then, they have been supported in their efforts by a wide variety of organisations and individuals, who together have developed the initiative to address the following issues:

• decline in giving and participation rates in the UK since the mid 1980s

• declining minority of givers who sustain the sector (8% of givers account for 60% of all donations received)

• the low profile of giving in the UK

David Charters & Emily Stonor