Wealthy young philanthropists focus on gap between rich and poor
Howard Lake | 28 November 2012 | News
A survey of 1,428 wealthy philanthropists in six countries revealed that nearly half (44%) of those under 30 surveyed cited this issue, compared with 16% of over 45s surveyed. The latter preferred to give to causes supporting the older generation.Wealthy philanthropists aged under 30 are more concerned with the gap between rich and poor people than philanthropists aged over 45, according to research for Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).
The survey by wealth consultancy Scorpio Partnerships covered donors with an average net worth of more than £1.5 million in the UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia. It looked at their attitudes to money, in particular looking at how those attitudes differed between those under 30 and those over 45.
Personal involvement
A third (33%) of those under 30 wanted to get involved personally with the charitable causes they supported, compared to 16% of those over 45. Of younger donors, 38% got involved in giving circles, networks where people collectively give to a specific cause.
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At the same time, 32% want their giving to remain anonymous, compared to 41% of those aged 45 or over.
Young donors’ top concerns
The Future Stars of Philanthropy report details the different attitudes of younger and older philanthropists:
- 30% of under 30s rated poor standards of education as the most important issue facing society – compared with 26% of the over 45s.
- 29% of under 30s rated corruption as the most important issue facing society – compared with 25% of the over 45s.
- 25% of under 30s rated climate change as the most important issue facing society – compared with 20% of the over 45s.
Surprisingly, the research showed that the under 30’s surveyed gave more on average to charitable causes than those over 45 in 2009-2010 – $10,196 (approx £6,409) compared to $7,382 (approx £4,640).
Director of Philanthropy, John Canady from the Charities Aid Foundation, said: “Our report shows that there is a group of wealthy young professionals who want to roll up their sleeves, get involved and really make a profound difference to the causes they care about.
“We need to make sure that government and business leaders do all they can to encourage young entrepreneurs and professionals to get involved and back charities with finance and expertise.”
First of three reports on wealthy young philanthropists
The research on wealthy young philanthropists is being carried out in three parts. CAF describes it as “one of the most comprehensive studies published into giving attitudes among some of the world’s wealthiest young people”.
The three reports cover the responses from a total of 5,795 people in the UK, the USA, Canada, India, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.