Britain's wealthiest people gave away £2.58bn in the last 12 months, with a record number donating at least 1 per cent of their wealth to charity in the past year, according to figures released by The Sunday Times.
The figures come from the Sunday Times Giving List, the full version of which will be released later this week.
The Sunday Times, which produces The Sunday Times Rich List, analysed donations from more than 300 people who will feature in the list and revealed that 105 have given more than 1 per cent of their total worth in the past year.
On the list, just four people donated around 25 per cent of their earnings. These are led by Labour peer Lord Sainsbury and his family, who donated both the largest proportion of their wealth, at 40.1 per cent, and the largest sum, £203.2m.
Sir Elton John is the most generous celebrity on the list, donating just under £34.1m, or 8.9 per cent of his overall wealth, to charity last year. The majority of this went to his Aids Foundations in the UK and America.
The boyband One Direction gave almost 1 per cent of their wealth to charity last year, donating 50p from each ticket sold for their world tour this year and running a competition to meet the band in the US which raised £225,270 for Stand Up To Cancer.
Coldplay gave £3.75m last year through their J Van Mars Foundation, which included a £1.45m donation to Kids Company. It went on to pay a further £1.25m into the charity to help pay for running costs.
Britons think wealthy should donate 25 per cent of money to charity
A separate survey by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), which works with The Sunday Times to produce the Giving List, revealed that British people think society’s wealthiest should donate an average of 25 per cent of their money over the course of their lives.
CAF’s research, for which 2,085 online interviews were conducted with UK consumers by market research company Populus between 20-22 March 2015, also revealed that 53 per cent of people think wealthy people should give away more than they do.
Those respondents who identified as non-Christian wanted to see the affluent donate an even larger proportion of their wealth, believing rich people should give nearly a third of their money away.
62 per cent agreed that the more affluent giving to charity sets a good example to others, with 46 per cent saying that the wealthy could help to increase giving by talking more about it.
Respondents to the survey also welcomed the idea of a UK version of the Giving Pledge, with 43 per cent saying they would like to see something similar in the UK. This figure grew to 55 per cent among 18-24 year olds.
The Giving Pledge is a project spearheaded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett which asks wealthy individuals to commit to give away at least 50 per cent of their wealth to good causes. Five British philanthropists, including Richard Branson, have already committed to the pledge.
John Low, chief executive of CAF, said: "There is growing awareness of inequality around the world, and it’s clear people believe the richest in society could help to address this problem by giving significant proportions of their wealth away to help those less fortunate."
“We see so many incredible examples of generosity by the world’s wealthiest, and movements such as the Giving Pledge are leading the way in opening up the conversation and bringing giving and charitable organisations into the public eye.
“Driving a project like this forward in the UK could help more philanthropists feel comfortable speaking out about their work with charities, and help further grow giving and support among the wealthy and the public.”
